New recommendations on patient consent for a blood transfusion have been published by the Expert Advisory Committee on the Safety of Blood, Tissues and Organs (SaBTO).
The purpose of these new updated recommendations is to clarify existing practice and enhance standards for the provision of information about blood transfusion and obtaining patient consent.
These guidelines supersede the previous SaBTO 'Patient consent for blood transfusion guidelines' (October 2011).
Since then there have been landmark judgments concerning consent, and changes in advice on consent from professional and other bodies. Audits show there is still wide variation in consent practice around the country, and in light of these events and the ongoing Infected Blood Inquiry, SaBTO agreed that these guidelines should be reviewed.
The review work undertaken by SaBTO follows a stakeholder consultation in June 2020 and the final report was amended after professional and lay consultation.
While the principles underlying consent remain much the same, the latest recommendations provide additional guidance specific to consent for blood transfusion, including identification of which patients should be consented (for example, where transfusion might occur during a procedure where the patient is incapacitated) and duration of consent.
The recommendations are pertinent to all patients who may be exposed to blood components (therefore including, for example, patients undergoing extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, pump priming or organ perfusion), and to both autologous and allogeneic transfusions as many of the most frequent serious risks of transfusion are similar (for example, transfusion-associated circulatory overload and wrong blood component transfused).
It should be noted that SaBTO is an independent advisory body. The Department of Health and Social Care has not mandated the recommendations, and it is for the NHS and other UK health care bodies locally to decide on their implementation.
The recommendations are due to be reviewed again in October 2025.
