B Medical Systems, a global leader in cold chain and medical refrigeration products, predicts that there will be a surge in need for blood storage and transportation technologies in the UK.
Today is World Blood Donor Day, and as the UK continues to rebound from the COVID-19 pandemic, which has caused blood donor levels to reach record lows, medical cold chain specialist B Medical Systems has revealed they expect the demand for blood storage and transportation products to spike as the country looks to re-establish its donor base.
How COVID-19 impacted the UK blood donor base
COVID-19 restrictions have been widely alleviated across most European countries, therefore increasing the opportunity to collect and donate blood. Due to this service being suppressed in recent years and other factors such as the impacts of the war in Ukraine, blood donations are in hot demand.
This prediction comes on World Blood Day, which aims to highlight the essential need to recruit more blood donors for routine medical procedures, in addition to emergency medicine. In England alone, around 5,000 blood donations are required each day to meet patients’ needs, and more people are becoming blood donors.
NHS Blood and Transplant have revealed that its donor base reduced by nearly 5% in April 2021 to 761,467 people, the lowest level in 25 years. However, the organisation has since implemented its largest campaign to date to grow the blood donor base in the UK and is aiming to expand it to more than 800,000 people. Nevertheless, increasing the donor base will require more blood storage and transportation technologies to satisfy the demand.
B Medical Systems blood storage and transport solutions
During transportation, each blood product must be stored at a specific temperature and placed in specialised boxes, similar to cool packs. B Medical Systems is already increasing the production of its blood storage and transportation technologies to supplement the forecasted demand.
Andrea Scammacca, the Chief Operating Officer at B Medical Systems, said: “On the back of the projected increase in demand for the distribution of blood, we are ramping up production of our Blood Transport Boxes which have been designed for the safe transport of blood and its components such as cells, plasma and platelets in a temperature-controlled, secure environment.”
The B Medical Systems range of blood storage and transportation solutions comprises five passive boxes with optional cooling elements and one active unit working with a compressor. The range is specifically designed for blood banks and blood centres and offers a variety of transport solutions in terms of storage volume, ranging from 2.2L to 90L, and temperature requirements, which include -32°C, +4°C, +22°C and +37°C. All six models meet the highest safety standards for end-users and patients and are classified as medical devices (Class IIa) according to the European Medical Device Regulation.
