Welsh Blood Service Strategy 2023 - 2028

Blood and transplant services for the future

The Welsh Blood Service Strategy sets out our vision for blood and transplant services in Wales for the next five years. It sets out where we are now, where we want to be in 2028 and the steps we will take to get there.

Importantly, it describes how we will work with our staff, donors, patients and communities to ensure they have a safe and enjoyable experience which helps to improve their overall health and well-being; together with our role in making a wider contribution to the communities and society we serve.

To be recognised by the people of Wales and our peers as a leader in transplant and transfusion services.

Our vision

Looking to the future

The future for blood and transplant services in Wales is an exciting one. We will seek to build upon our existing services and capabilities to improve what we do currently; and develop a new range of services and expertise to support the development of healthcare and well-being across Wales. Our areas of focus will include plasma for medicines and support national resilience in the supply of plasma-derived products.

Seven Strategic Themes

• Make it easy for people in Wales to repeatedly donate.

• Make it easy for the people of Wales to become bone marrow volunteers.

• Improve our donor experience and increase donor retention, loyalty and advocacy.

• Have the right type and number of donors, in the right place at the right time, collecting only what hospitals need.

• Develop a donor base which represents the diverse communities we serve.

• Put donors at the heart of our decision-making ensuring service development is informed by them.

• Use innovative solutions to provide the best donor experience before, during and after donating.

• Deliver a more person centred service and experience for our donors.

• Provide our donors with the information they need to make informed choices.

• Provide system leadership in prudent use of blood.

• Support the maintenance of good blood health in donors across Wales.

• Work with partners to deliver a system which utilises blood components in clinical settings in an efficient and prudent way.

• Implement the Duties of Quality and of Candour in line with legislation.

• Minimise potential harm to our donors, patients and staff.

• Implement innovative service improvement opportunities to improve the quality and safety of the services we provide.

• Maximise the use of technology to deliver efficient services and no avoidable waste.

• Nurture a culture of learning and continuous improvement.

• Utilise research, development and innovation to support the evolution of existing services and the development of new services and products.

• Develop our research, development and innovation capacity and capability.

• Develop our research, development and innovation infrastructure to support increased activity.

• Reduce our impact on the environment.

• Achieve carbon neutral.

• Increase the bio-diversity on our sites.

• Provide a wide range of benefits and value to the communities we serve.

• Develop a culture where staff feel valued, their opinion matters and their well-being is paramount to our shared success.

• Create an environment which enables our staff to feel motivated and able to achieve their potential.

• Promote transparent and collaborative decision making.

• Create high quality places to work from and more flexible ways of working that attract and retain the best talent.

Everything you need to know...

Blood donors

We aim to collect around 100,000 whole blood donations each year. We need around 300 blood donations every day to meet patient need. We currently work with 4,000 community advocates to promote the importance of donating.

Bone marrow volunteers

The Welsh Bone Marrow Donor Registry (WBMDR) is a panel of donors who have volunteered to become stem cell donors (donating bone marrow or peripheral blood stem cells). Stem cell transplants are used to treat certain types of cancer including blood cancer and other blood, immune system and metabolic disorders.

Currently, there are around 72,000 volunteers registered on the WBMDR volunteer panel. We need around 4,000 donors to join the panel each year. There were 32 stem cell donations from WBMDR donors in 2022.

Platelet donors

Platelets are a component of blood. They are tiny cells in your blood that form clots and are essential for helping patients fight chronic diseases, cancers and recover from traumatic injuries.

We aim to produce around 11,000 platelet donations each year, of which around 40% come from our platelet donors.

Read the full Blood and Transplant Services for the Future document below.

WBS 5 Year Strategy (English) GGC Strategaeth 5 Mlynedd (Cymraeg)

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Welsh Blood Service Strategy 2023 – 2028