The Kingscord model: a public cord blood collection service

To evaluate the impact of offering cord blood (CB) collection as a public service within the Anthony Nolan CB Bank, a research study was conducted at King's College Hospital to assess the attitudes of health professionals, explore the perspectives, knowledge and experiences of donors and to analyze quality and risk of the collection methods. A midwife developed the required services for the CB collection programme, to be evaluated after an eight-month period. Initially a series of questionnaires given to midwives showed a high level of enthusiasm for the project, though they expressed concerns regarding staffing levels as a potential problem. Mothers interviewed felt their participation was worthwhile. During this time 72 mothers gave their consent, of whom 50 had CB collected from their baby's placenta, and 27 were interviewed. Collected CB units were transferred to the Anthony Nolan Cell Therapy Centre at Nottingham Trent University for quality assessment and storage. The major quality issues detected w...