In my hospital we irradiate all blood for neonatal top-up transfusions, and because we reserve units for the neonate to reduce donor exposure, some blood is even irradiated up to the unit being 35 days old. All irradiated blood is transfused within a few hours.
I have just belatedly read the 2020 British Committee for Standards in Haematology (BCSH) guidelines for the Use of Irradiated Blood Components. These guidelines are now saying that blood for neonatal top-up transfusions does not need to be irradiated (with a couple of exceptions of course, such as after an IUT). They also state that blood should only be irradiated up to the unit being 14 days old, and then the unit can be used for up to 14 days afterwards, even for neonates.
So my questions are: What are other facilities doing for neonatal top-up transfusions? Is the blood irradiated or not? If it is irradiated do you transfuse as soon as possible, or the unit can be used for a neonate up to 14 days post irradiation? Do you irradiate units that are more than 14 days old? Do you reserve a blood unit for a neonate for the shelf-life of the unit, or do all your neonates get as fresh blood as possible?