West Suffolk Hospital takes ‘immediate action’ to improve blood transfusion services

West Suffolk Hospital was forced to take ‘immediate action’ to improve its blood transfusion services last year after serious issues were found.

The Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) carried out an inspection of the service in January 2017 and, according to a spokesperson, found ‘serious non-compliances with good practice’.

The issues raised during the inspection were related to quality assurance within West Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust’s (WSFT) lab management processes and computer system.

A cease and desist order was not issued to the trust and an MHRA spokesman said there was no evidence of patient harm.

“We have since worked with the trust to support its return to a fully compliant state and maintain essential supplies of blood components,” he said.

“Immediately following the initial inspection, the trust provided us with a comprehensive remediation plan, and satisfactory progress has been made towards the trust reaching a fully compliant state.”

Nick Jenkins, medical director for WSFT, said: “We took immediate action to review our service, and create a robust improvement action plan which we’re continuing to deliver in close collaboration with the MHRA.

“We have been re-inspected three times since the initial inspection, and though we still have further work to do, we have continued to satify inspectors that we provide a service that is safe.”