Blood team keeps UK Ops flowing worldwide
2 Feb 09
The remarkable work of a small team of military and civilian personnel at Birmingham Research Park, near the city's Selly Oak hospital, is key to the maintenance of British military expeditionary operations. Report by Lt Cdr Susie Thomson.
Blood units
[Picture: Andrew Linnett, DE&S Photography]
They are the Blood Supply team of Defence Equipment & Support (DE&S)'s Medical and General Supplies Integrated Project Team (IPT) and without them, and the National Blood Service and military logistical chain that underpins their work, UK military and supporting personnel could not easily deploy around the globe.
The Blood Supply team comprises three Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC) personnel: Major Steve Smedley, Captain Michael 'Jack' Dawe and Staff Sergeant Paul Lund. Neil Dalzell provides the pharmacy lead from within the IPT. Clinical oversight is provided by Colonel Sam Rawlinson RAMC who is a consultant adviser in blood transfusion. Major Smedley's team works alongside the NHS' National Blood Service which has several regional laboratories.
The team is responsible for supplying blood components in the form of red cell concentrate, fresh frozen plasma, cryoprecipitate and platelets to UK forces round the clock. It routinely supports Operations HERRICK and TELIC, and UK forces – and their civilian dependants where required – in Belize, Brunei, Cyprus, the Falklands (plus the whole of the resident population there), Gibraltar and Kenya. In addition there are non-routine customers such as the RAF's Aeromedical Evacuation Team, plus the support given to major UK military exercises worldwide, eight in 2008 alone.
The Blood Supply Team frequently has to respond with little or no advance notice:
A member of the Blood Supply team prepares blood units for theatre
[Picture: Andrew Linnett, DE&S Photography]
"There is a member of the team 'on call,' at any one time so we have always managed to supply to their respective timelines – it is a team effort and everyone plays a part in getting the job done," said Major Smedley.
Blood and blood components for deployed personnel are provided via an agreement with the National Health Blood and Transplant Service. Donated blood is brought to one of several centres throughout England where it is processed and tested; these same stocks also provide supplies for UK deployed personnel. Blood required for the MOD is packed into enhanced cold storage 'Golden Hour' boxes, and despatched to an RAF airhead.
The Blood Supply team responds to a request within an hour and is expected to have a delivery plan in place within four hours, and to execute it within eight. A shipment is often en route within four:
"If there is an urgent requirement, our NHS colleagues will supply the required components, often at very short notice, to meet a particular flight deadline," said Captain Dawe.
"And on more than one occasion the RAF have delayed flights for us to allow us to ship an urgent resupply out to theatre. They are all, without exception, terrific and we are always grateful for the support we get from every member of the team."
And no blue light run for this team – they often get into their own cars and drive the precious packages to RAF Brize Norton or RAF Lyneham themselves.
"It is the greatest privilege to be part of this team because you know that everything we do really does make a difference and frequently it can be a matter of life or death."
Staff Sergeant Paul Lund
The team distributes all blood groups routinely and can supply more specialised blood if requested. During the last financial year the team shipped 7,908 blood components at a value of £880,000; in 2008, as the operational environment has become more challenging, those costs are likely to exceed £1m.
The Blood Supply Team is licensed by the Medical and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency to supply blood from the UK and to bleed donors in the UK for apheresis training. Apheresis – Greek for 'to take away' – is a medical process used on Operations HERRICK and TELIC, where the blood of a donor is passed through an apparatus to separate out one particular constituent and return the remainder to the donor's circulation. Apheresis supplements rather than replaces the usual methods of supplying blood and blood components in the deployed environment and is used in emergency situations.
All members are highly qualified biomedical scientists doing what they consider to be more than just a job:
"Recently we had an urgent call from Afghanistan on a Saturday for 100 units of fresh frozen plasma – the vast quantity of this urgent requirement was for the rare type AB FFP," said Staff Sergeant Lund.
Medical facilities at Camp Bastion
[Picture: Andrew Linnett, DE&S Photography]
"As the Birmingham centre could not fulfil the order they arranged for the component to be brought into Birmingham from other centres throughout England. Even with this delay, the shipment was still received in theatre the next day.
"Those guys in the NBS and the RAF did a stunning job not only for us but for our injured colleagues out there on the front line who were badly in need of this component. It is the greatest privilege to be part of this team because you know that everything we do really does make a difference and frequently it can be a matter of life or death to the people who need our help. How many jobs can give you that kind of satisfaction?"
Blood Components
RED CELLS
• Lifespan in the body – Approx 120 days
• Lifespan in a blood bag – 35 days but can be extended to 42 in an emergency.
Stored at 2–6 degrees Centigrade
A technician prepares blood for transfer at Selly Oak Hospital in Birmingham
[Picture: Andrew Linnett, DE&S Photography]
FRESH FROZEN PLASMA (FFP)
• Can be stored for up to two years at minus 30 degrees Celcius
• The team supply Group AB and Group A plasma only. Supply of these two groups ensures that we have FFP available to transfuse into any blood group.
PLATELETS
• Very temperature dependent and with a lifespan in a platelet bag of five days
• Must be transported at 18-24 degrees Celcius
• The team supply Group A platelets, which can be transfused safely into any recipient.
CRYOPRECIPITATE
• Specialised blood component which can be stored for up to two years at minus 30 degrees Celcius.
This report by Lt Cdr Susie Thomson was first published in the January 2009 issue of desider - the magazine for Defence Equipment & Support.