Maintaining a continuous programme of support and education for hospital transfusion laboratory professionals during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic

Implementation of stringent infection prevention and control measures, including social distancing, created a significant challenge for laboratories to maintain an on-going programme of training, education and continuing professional development for professionals working in blood transfusion during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. The NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) Patient Blood Management (PBM) team developed a remote, free at the point of access education group, open to newly qualified biomedical scientists and those new to transfusion science. Meeting monthly, an industry expert speaker is invited to deliver a lecture on a specialist area of blood transfusion before opening the session for discussion between delegates and speakers. The curriculum is flexible and reactive to feedback from delegates and considers key industry recommendations, such as those published in the 2019 SHOT annual report. We have received 650 registrations to join the Biomedical Scientist Empowerment and Discussion Group. The membership spans the whole United Kingdom, as well as Ireland and overseas. We invited the delegates that attended the sixth meeting of the group to respond to a short survey. 72 delegates responded. 62.5% (n = 45) respondents felt that blood transfusion training time been reduced or difficult to facilitate during the last 12 months, due to the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. 98.61% (n = 71) respondents felt that the education provided during these sessions enabled them to provide a better service to patients and service-users. By operating remotely, we were able to maintain a continuous programme of support and education for hospital transfusion laboratory professionals during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. As a result, delegates felt empowered to provide a better service to patients and serviceusers. This accessible, cost-effective, and successful model should be considered by other organisations working within other pathology specialisms to enhance individual and service performance.