Given the recent disruption in flight schedules there was a potential issue with supply of screening cells. Is there any way of building a capacity plan to cover this?

I ordered some cells from a supplier (insufficient to cover a 4 week period), and have validated them for future potential use. However our options are limited.

We can order cells from a secondary supplier and just throw them away unused!

We can use cells from two suppliers but that means two types of testing and also doubling risk if one of the suppliers fails

We can order as and when required but why should a secondary supplier hold huge stocks on the off chance that an order might come in.

We can buy head sized buckets of sand!

I would welcome comments

Cheers

Steve

We were similarly affected by the ash cloud and just scraped in by the skin of our teeth. I have ben giving thought to seeing if there are suppliers in continental Europe ( at least we can get them shipped by boat). Cells coming from America could still be problematic as the crisis could well recur (more flights in Ireland cancelled today, with liklihood of cancellations again Thur to ?.

Anybody else have a bright idea?

Cheers

Eoin

Toss the ball to the suppliers. See if they have any plans for helping you (the customer for a change) meet your needs. It is amazing how creative vendors can be when it comes to customer service. This may not help much, but is an angle to try as you deal with the delays.

It is unlikely that your local NHSBT Centre RCI Department could help by doing all your screening, as we are not equiped for mass screening.

It may be worth your while getting together with another Hospital Blood bank that is fully automated and uses a different cell supplier to you (e.g. NHSBT Reagents) and see if you could come to some sort of reciprocal arrangement whereby, if this happens again, they can pro temporum take your work, and vice versa if they run into trouble.

:confused::confused:

By the supplier I mean the manufacturer (i.e. Ortho, Immucor, etc.) I would imagine these companies have contingency plans for situations such as this. I did not mean to imply that all testing should be forwarded to your reference lab (I would think that might send those people over the edge).

I may not understand the distribution of reagents in the UK now that I think on it and may have spoken out of turn. Assumed the reagents arrived from the manufacturers shipped directly to your facility. Is this correct?

By the supplier I mean the manufacturer (i.e. Ortho, Immucor, etc.) I would imagine these companies have contingency plans for situations such as this. I did not mean to imply that all testing should be forwarded to your reference lab (I would think that might send those people over the edge).

I may not understand the distribution of reagents in the UK now that I think on it and may have spoken out of turn. Assumed the reagents arrived from the manufacturers shipped directly to your facility. Is this correct?

Don't worry Deny, it wasn't you.

Steve emailed me earlier today and made the suggestion (I hope, tongue in cheek)!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

:eek::eek:

Ahh, I understand better now. I would think the manufacturers would be looking at alternatives to maintain the shipping schedule . They are aware of the outdate situation as are we. Will be curious to find out what their resolution will be.

Hi Steve,

If you validate the NHSBT screening cells once a year ( by getting in a couple of one-off sets), in the event your supplier fails to deliver you just order what you can from the NBS (though I'm not sure they would be able to cope with the extra demand) and just convert over at the time of crisis. If you're really bored you could try validating from two different supplier!!!

The main thing is to keep your validation up to date, but this does not mean you have to regularly purchase these.

Don't worry Deny, it wasn't you.

Steve emailed me earlier today and made the suggestion (I hope, tongue in cheek)!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

:eek::eek:

Hey Malcolm, I thought Steve only mentioned cross-matching in his e-mail. I thought about using my manual expertise but decided the distance was too far. I don't know how he was going to cope with his antibody screens though.:confused:

Steve

:)

Hey Malcolm, I thought Steve only mentioned cross-matching in his e-mail. I thought about using my manual expertise but decided the distance was too far. I don't know how he was going to cope with his antibody screens though.:confused:

Steve

:)

He did, but I was ahead of him as far as doing the screens were concerned.

If you can't do the screens, what is the point of a group and save? You will only know that you have an atypical antibody when the cross-match is performed - and if it's urgent - that may be too late.

:eek::eek:

Hi Steve,

If you validate the NHSBT screening cells once a year ( by getting in a couple of one-off sets), in the event your supplier fails to deliver you just order what you can from the NBS (though I'm not sure they would be able to cope with the extra demand) and just convert over at the time of crisis. If you're really bored you could try validating from two different supplier!!!

The main thing is to keep your validation up to date, but this does not mean you have to regularly purchase these.

Thanks for that Rashmi,

I will pursue. At least they could get it on a ferry to us - a bit slow by boat from Ortho, USA.

Cheers

Eoin

I don't guess that any of those supplies come from Europe and could ship through the tunnel (not to Ireland, obviously - sorry Eoin!)? Did you actually run out of the cells or were they outdating?

The answer to this dilemma could be quite relevent to all of us. We had similar difficulties after 9/11/01 here in the US when planes were grounded.

Hi Adiecast,

Sorry for late answer, but have been on the other side of the hosp scene with viral pneumonia.

We normally get our cells from Ortho supplier here in Ieland, but they are shipped via air from USA. The cells were getting close to outdating and in low quantitiy. Another alternative I spoke to some folks about was flying to another city in Europe and trucking them on - the cold chain maintenance might be a problem for the company though.

I have been put on to an alternative source for other cells in England, so may well get some in and validate.

Cheers

Eoin

I'm sorry to hear you have been ill, Eoin. I'm glad you are up and about now.

Thanks for your patient answer to my ignorant question!

I know that Ortho gets their fetal screen kits from the other side of the pond for US use. The beginning of the big volcano eruption delayed a shipment by a couple of days until they rerouted it through Spain and then on to the US. I think the vendors have been doing some creative problem solving. It wouldn't hurt to ask them what their emergency plan is - I think it's been a wake up call for a lot of companies in our global economy.

Dear all

Finally read this!!!

We did validate NHSBT cells but supply would be difficult, especially if other users had urgent demand.

The supplier is looking to their contingency plans but have no concrete reply as yet

Cheers

Steve