The guideline asks that the right product goes to the right person when it leaves the blood bank, that authorised staff carry it in a temperature-controlled bag, and that it reaches the place of transfusion as soon as possible after collection. Who counts as authorised is written in the hospital's own procedure; a job title is not the test, since the carrier has to know the component, its temperature and its time limit.
For red cell concentrate the National Guide on Blood and Blood Components asks for transport equipment that holds +2 to +6 °C and for a product temperature on delivery that neither falls below 1 °C nor exceeds 10 °C. Temperature is checked and recorded at departure and at handover.
For a component taken to the ward and not used, the guideline accepts a return within 30 minutes of leaving the blood bank refrigerator; after that the return cannot be accepted. A component whose bag was entered, whose temperature range was not kept or that leaks is not put back into use. The departure time therefore has to be in the record.
