The National Blood Transfusion Service
1947-04 1947 1940s 4 pages THE NATIONAL BLOOD TRANSFUSION SERVICE Many hundreds of thousands of men and women volunteered to give their blood for civilian and military casualties during the war. Their magnificent response saved thousands of lives, and helped to establish a service which is proving...
| Institution: | MCR - The Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick |
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| Language: | English English |
| Published: |
April 1947
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/10796/56C5AA13-D018-423B-AC77-0BBD756B225F http://hdl.handle.net/10796/741168D9-9709-448A-86B2-D67A389FF64F |
| Summary: | 1947-04
1947
1940s
4 pages
THE NATIONAL BLOOD TRANSFUSION SERVICE Many hundreds of thousands of men and women volunteered to give their blood for civilian and military casualties during the war. Their magnificent response saved thousands of lives, and helped to establish a service which is proving of ever-increasing value in peace. But many people still think that the need for blood transfusion ended with the war. It is not yet generally realized that the need for blood is as urgent now as it was in the war years. Transfusion has become part of everyday medical treatment, and the demands of the hospitals are rising every month. The Need Over 440,000 blood donors are needed in England and Wales this year, but so greatly has the response fallen off since the war that to-day there is an estimated deficiency of 170,000 donors. In 1944 there were 1,005,000 donors enrolled on the regional panels. The number dropped to 453,000 in 1945 and to 270,000 by December, 1946. The amount of blood used, however, has not decreased. For instance during the three months October to December, 1946, 38,000 bottles were used, as much as during the comparable war period, while the use of dried plasma (14,000 bottles) is more than during the war. In the same three months 192,636 donors were called, but only 40 per cent. of them responded. All but three regions reported a deficiency in stocks of plasma at the end of 1946. The impetus given by the war to medicine generally has led to a greatly extended knowledge of transfusion and a wide expansion of its use. Many doctors are now more aware of the value of transfusion for the treatment of accidents, haemorrhage, burns, anaemia, childbirth and operations, to mention some of its many uses. How the service operates In 1921 four members of the Camberwell Division of the County of London Branch of the British Red Cross Society volunteered to give blood which was urgently needed at King's College Hospital. From this donation grew the first blood transfusion service in the world. Now there is a National Blood Transfusion Service, organised by the Ministry of Health, with 12 regions in England and Wales. Each region is centred on a university town namely at Newcastle, Leeds, Sheffield, Cambridge, London (2 regions), Oxford, Bristol, Cardiff, Birmingham, Liverpool and Manchester. At each of these towns an organisation is maintained for collecting blood within the region. When an appeal is made in these areas donors attend "bleeding sessions" where each gives about three quarters of a pint of blood. The blood collected is placed in a refrigerator and taken to the regional blood transfusion laboratory for grouping and testing. The whole blood is either kept in the Regional Blood Bank, or issued to Area Blood Banks which are maintained at general hospitals in each county. Each of the principal hospitals holds a supply of blood, sufficient not only for its own needs, but also for the smaller hospitals, nursing homes and general practitioners in its district. This supply is replenished from the Regional Blood Bank every week, or oftener if the necessity arises. In this way, it is ensured that no one who needs a transfusion will have to go without, even if the patient lives in a remote country district. If the blood issued is not used within 28 days, it is returned to the Regional Transfusion Centre, where the fragile red cells are removed. The fluid which remains (plasma) is then sent to the M.R.C. Laboratory at the Lister Institute in London to be dried. Blood plasma in this dried state can be stored indefinitely and is a valuable adjunct to whole blood. It is particularly
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| Physical Description: | TEXT |