North District Hospital Apologises Over Wasted Blood

The North District Hospital on Sunday blamed miscommunication for leaving four packs of blood plasma out in room temperature all night earlier this month, causing them to have to be discarded.

The hospital said it had received the plasma from the Red Cross Blood Transfusion Service on September 8, and staff members had completed the needed registration procedures.

However, four packs were left inside a delivery box instead of being stored properly in a designated refridgeration unit due to a “communication problem, a hospital spokesman said.

The box was left outside for the entire night, and was then sent back to the transfusion service the next day, where the packs were finally found.

The hospital acknowledged that the plasma had to be thrown out because they cannot be left at room temperature for more than half an hour.

The hospital apologised to members of the public, and blood donors, saying it is very concerned about the incident.

It said it would set up an investigative panel to review the procedures for handling blood products, make recommendations for improvement and work to prevent similar incidents from happening again.

It said no patient was affected by the incident.