National standards for blood transfusion were launched this afternoon to safeguard the health and safety of patients.

The standards, issued by the Superintendence for Public Health, provide the necessary framework for health care establishments and providers of a health care to draft their own internal policies, guidelines and standard operating procedures.

Standards, which are mainly documenting practices that are already in place, include correct identification and documented informed consent to treatment.

They also cover the appropriate completion of a request for transfusions, positive patient identification and appropriate transport and storage of blood components.

The standards call for the inspection of the blood bag before each transfusion, patient monitoring, traceability and the reporting of adverse events and reaction associated with the transfusion

Speaking during the launch, Health Minister Joseph Cassar said that 8,219 patients at Mater Dei received 19,000 units of blood last year.

Only 45 reactions were reported, most of them mild. The reactions included fever and allergies.

There were no reactions related to blood quality and no mistakes were reported related to the administration of blood, such as transfusing blood to the wrong patient.