Blood Transfusion Laboratory and Clinical Transfusion Team at Guy's and St Thomas' Hospitals

Laboratory overview

Our laboratory provides a comprehensive Red Cell Immunohaematology service as well as meeting the blood transfusion needs of patients at Guy's and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust.

We operate 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

Blood sciences is a UKAS accredited medical laboratory (No.8710), accredited to ISO15189:2012 for the tests listed in the schedule of accreditation on the UKAS website (https://www.ukas.com/wp-content/uploads/schedule_uploads/00007/8710-Medical-Multiple.pdf).

Key features:

We provide the full range of immunohaematological services at St Thomas' Hospital, including antenatal screening for the prevention of haemolytic disease of the newborn. We support the trust programme for routine antenatal anti-D prophylaxis.

The blood bank provides both standard and highly specialised blood and blood components to meet the diverse requirements of patients.

We have a comprehensive range of clinical policies for blood transfusion incorporating every aspect of the transfusion process and its complications. Guidance is provided, for example, in surgical blood ordering; blood ordering in complex clinical situations such as ABO-mismatched transplantation.

Ante-natal patients with red cell allo-antibodies are regularly monitored by a Haematology consultant in conjunction with Guy's and St Thomas' Trust Fetal Medicine unit. ABO incompatible renal transplants performed on the Guy's site are supported by the blood bank at St Thomas' performing both routine and urgent titres of anti-A and anti-B pre and post surgery.