Part 5: Keeping the New Zealand Blood Service in line with international best practice
5.1
In this Part, we discuss how the Blood Service keeps its operations in line with international best practice. We focus on:
Our overall finding
5.2
The Blood Service improves its services and systems – as appropriate – in line with international best practice.
International networking and monitoring
The Blood Service keeps strong relationships with international organisations relevant to transfusion medicine and blood services. This includes being involved in international forums and conferences covering best practice and improving the safety and provision of blood services.
5.3
The Blood Service's international relationships help it to effectively:
- build networking opportunities with blood service providers in other countries;
- access international experts in blood transfusion medicine and blood products;
- monitor, and contribute to, international advances in transfusion medicine and blood products; and
- keep its standards and operations in line with international best practice.
5.4
In particular, the Blood Service's standards – which state technical requirements for collecting, making, distributing, and storing blood and blood components – use as an external reference the European Directorate for the Quality of Medicines & HealthCare's Guide to the Preparation, Use and Quality Assurance of Blood Components.10 This guide, updated every year, sets and updates international best practice in blood transfusion medicine, and the safety and quality of blood components. The Blood Service is a member of the guide's drafting group.
5.5
Figure 3 summarises the Blood Service's main international relationships.
Figure 3
The New Zealand Blood Service's work with international organisations
| Organisation | Nature of involvement |
|---|---|
| European Directorate for the Quality of Medicines & HealthCare | The Blood Service is a member of the drafting group for the Guide to the Preparation, Use and Quality Assurance of Blood Components. This guide is one of the main international standards for blood services. The Blood Service's Medical Director chairs a working group on Quality Management Systems, which keeps the guide's chapters on quality in line with a European Union directive on quality systems. |
| International Plasma Fractionation Association (IPFA) | The Blood Service is a member of the executive board of IPFA, a professional association for not-for-profit organisations that separate blood plasma into its components. |
| International Society of Blood Transfusion (ISBT) | The Blood Service's Medical Director is currently the President Elect of ISBT, an international professional organisation for blood transfusion services. |
| Biological Excellence for Safer Transfusion (BEST) collaborative | The Blood Service is a member of BEST, a professional organisation that focuses on blood components and clinical transfusion. |
| International Haemovigilance Network (IHN) | The Blood Service is a full international member of IHN, a forum for those working in haemovigilance. |
| Australia and New Zealand Society of Blood Transfusion | The Blood Service holds one of six positions on the council of this professional organisation for blood transfusion services. |
| World Health Organization (WHO) | The Blood Service is a member of the WHO Expert Panel on blood transfusion. |
| American Association of Blood Banks (AABB) | The Blood Service is a member of the AABB. This provides access to AABB's latest information about blood transfusion. |
| Asia Pacific Blood Network (APBN) | The Blood Service is a member of APBN, which promotes blood safety and efficient blood service operations. Every year, APBN compares its members' benchmarking. |
Benchmarking internationally
The Blood Service works with other blood service providers to create international performance benchmarks, although large differences in how blood services operate in different countries mean useful international benchmarking is difficult to achieve.
5.6
Directly benchmarking the Blood Service's performance against that of other blood service providers is inherently difficult. This is because of differences in:
- the policy, medical, and regulatory frameworks under which blood service providers operate;
- the products they provide; and
- the number of organisations involved in providing a blood service. (New Zealand is one of a few countries where a single organisation runs a vein-to-vein blood service.)
5.7
In 2007, Australia's National Blood Authority found it difficult to compare international performance after it had commissioned a detailed study to compare the costs and performance of Australia's fresh blood products services with those of other countries. The Authority concluded that:
It is important that these benchmarking data [presented in the study's report] are treated with caution … we have not been able to apply robust data definitions or guarantee we are comparing ‘like' with ‘like'.
5.8
However, we note that the Blood Service is working with other countries to internationally benchmark some indicators and understand reasons for differences. As a member of the Asia Pacific Blood Network, the Blood Service takes part in benchmarking that compares practice.
10: European Directorate for the Quality of Medicines & HealthCare (2010), Guide to the Preparation, Use and Quality Assurance of Blood Components – 16th edition, available at www.edqm.eu.
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