Welcome to Pet Blood Bank!

This course is designed to give you a background into Pet Blood Bank and how we work. First, a little about how we started.

Pet Blood Bank – How we started

• The need for easy access to blood was recognised by Vets Now staff, who as an emergency service saw a higher percentage of cases that may require blood products. A project was set up to allow the Vets Now clinics to screen several cats and dogs to allow them to be called upon in an emergency. However, with donors not always available at night or weekends, it wasn’t a reliable service
• In October 2005 a change to The Veterinary Medicines Act  made it possible for vets to store blood. Click on the link and scroll down to Part 3 for full details of the legislative change.

 

            https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2005/2745/schedule/2/made

 

• In January 2006 Vets Now started a research project led by Wendy Barnett to investigate setting up a blood bank for Vets Now
• The research involved Wendy, visiting blood banks in America, where pet blood banking had been common place since 1988, to investigate blood banking
• A range of organisations were visited from companies, referral hospitals and universities all operating a blood bank.  These organisations are either:
  • Commercial – where the company make a profit from selling the blood products
  • Not for Profit (Charity) – where any profit made is reinvested into the charity
  • Colony – where dogs are kept in groups (i.e. closed colonies) for the purpose of being blood donors.
  • Voluntary Scheme – where dogs are pets and provided by veterinary staff members, students or general public
• Wendy also visited the voluntary donor programme at the Royal Veterinary College (RVC) and liased with the Veterinary Medicines Directoriate (VMD) to ensure we could meet the requirements to obtain a license to operate a blood bank. Wendy also received advice and support from the National Blood service
• The proposition to Vets Now after Wendy had completed the research was that a blood bank should be set up as a not for profit (charity) running a voluntary scheme, where pet owners are invited to enrol their dogs as blood donors. This charity would supply the whole of the UK veterinary profession rather than just Vets Now clinics. Market research confirmed the UK public would prefer to support a charity rather than a commercial organisation
• A pilot project was run in the North East by Jenny Walton with the knowledge and equipment Wendy had brought back from America, where pet owned dogs were invited to donate blood at Durham Vets 4 Pets. This pilot project helped us gain valuable insight in how best to run a collection session and also proved the need for a blood bank service in the UK as Jenny then used the blood components on her patients at Vets Now Gateshead clinic
• Pet Blood Bank UK was launched at Crufts 2007 to the pet owning public and at BSAVA 2007 to the veterinary profession
• Vets Now provided a loan to set up and establish the charity (which was paid back over a number of years)
• Pet Blood Bank is completely independent of Vets Now, however they still work closely together to advance transfusion medicine

The charity has expanded over the year and is now supported by the Directors, Department Managers and a host of specialised department team members as you can see from the chart below.

 

Organisational chart

 

 

To find out more about the PBB journey since 2007 visit PBB website and check out “Our Journey”

To continue please select each lesson below 🙂

What is GMP?

It is the application of Good Manufacturing Practice principles into our working environment and although you may not see us as a manufacturer we do manufacturer blood products starting with the selection and communication with our donors, through collection and processing and ending with the distribution of our products to our veterinary practice customers.

Why is GMP important?

Completion of this course is a statutory requirement to work within Pet Blood Bank UK in all and every role regardless if it is an administrative or clinical role.

Statutory requirement “A requirement written into a law passed by a legislative body”

• GMP is important to assure the quality of the processes we follow when we collect, process, store and distribute our blood product to make sure it is safe and protects the well-being of the patient to whom it will eventually be given*

There are FIVE GMP topics we must always consider when working within Pet Blood Bank UK. These are:

• Cleanliness
• Tidiness
• Documentation
• Dealing with errors
• Confidentiality (Data Protection)

Your role as a Line Manager means you are involved in the production of our controlled documents. Controlled document production must follow a specific process and they must be produced in the appropriate format with the correct content.

These training courses will explain the process for document authorship from beginning to end.

The following courses will cover Management Process Description (MPD) MPD.QUA.01 & the Controlled Document Procedure SOP.QUA.07  for Heads of Department.

The purpose of this training is to explain:

• How our documents are identified and managed
• The process for production of a Controlled Document
• How to validate a Controlled Document

Please note that the author training must be undertaken by any of your team that you ask to produce a controlled document on your behalf. Please notify the Training Department when you wish this training to be allocated to a staff member allowing them time to complete it beforehand.

As you are also likely to validate documents please also watch the validator training. This presentation will be provided to all permanent staff that may be involved in controlled document production or review.

Transfusion Medicine CPD.

We are very fortunate to be supported by some amazing veterinary specialists and veterinary nurses that give willingly their time, knowledge and experience so that we can continue to support you, whilst you treat and nurse the nation’s pets.

Thank you Mark Dunning for this wonderfully engaging and enjoyable presentation on platelet disorders.

In patients with haemostatic disorders it can be difficult to determine whether this is primary or secondary or anything more complicated. This fundamentally impacts both treatment and prognosis. Mark will discuss how to approach animals with primary haemostatic disorders and the current options for management in primary care practice particularly when restrictions such as those imposed by Covid are in place.

To receive a certificate for this course to enable you to claim 1 hour of CPD please email CPD@petbloodbankuk.org

Transfusion Medicine CPD.

We are very fortunate to be supported by some amazing veterinary specialists and veterinary nurses that give willingly their time, knowledge and experience so that we can continue to support you, whilst you treat and nurse the nation’s pets.

Thank you Ludivine Boiron for this relevant and comprehensive update on canine and feline blood types and evidence on current recipient compatibility screening.

The use of blood transfusions in veterinary practice has increased dramatically in recent years. Providing safe and effective transfusion therapy is essential.
Acute haemolytic transfusion reactions due to blood group incompatibilities between recipient and donor are serious complications, but are mostly avoidable when transfusing dog and cat blood typed and cross matched blood.
During this webinar, Ludivine will review the different blood types of these two species, the ones we all know but also those which were discovered recently and will describe the utility and application of different techniques of blood typing and cross matching.

To receive a certificate for this course to enable you to claim 90 minutes of CPD please email CPD@petbloodbankuk.org

The following webinar was recorded live for Pet Blood Bank UK on the 12th May 2020 as part of their commitment to their charitable remit to provide the veterinary profession free access to high quality transfusion medicine CPD.

We are very fortunate to be supported by some amazing veterinary specialists and veterinary nurses that give willingly their time, knowledge and experience so that we can continue to support you, whilst you treat and nurse the nation’s pets.

Thank you Monica for this interesting and informative presentation.

To receive a certificate for this course to enable you to claim 1 hour of CPD please email CPD@petbloodbankuk.org

The following video lessons cover a couple of the critical roles of the Quality Administrator. They are best viewed full screen on a laptop or desktop computer.

Now you know a bit more about the organisation and how we started you should complete the following lessons. These provide more information about how PBB UK works as your employer to train and support you and of some of the key areas you need to be aware of.

Introduction

Why do we use a Values-Based Approach?

A values-based approach to recruitment helps us attract and select employees whose personal values and behaviours align with the values of Pet Blood Bank.

Evidence suggests that values-based recruitment is a good recruitment practice and benefits both the individual and the organisation.  Staff whose values align with that of their employer report greater workplace satisfaction and motivation; employees are less likely to leave an organisation with whom they share values and likely to work more effectively in teams to deliver excellent service.

 

What are Values?

Values are a set of beliefs that people hold about what is right or wrong. They influence what we do and who we are, what we believe is important, the way we live and how we treat others.

Values can be described as evaluative.  They guide individuals’ judgements about appropriate behaviour both for themselves and for others. Values also influence behaviour, although this relationship is complex and there are other influential factors including knowledge, skills, experience, personality and motivation.

Organisational values describe the culture or ‘the way things are done around here’.  These values are often linked to an organisation’s vision, goals and strategy.

Pet Blood Bank is built on strong values, they are the threads that bind us as a charity. We are caring and have welfare at our core, but we are also pioneering and will push to the next level while staying grounded and real, knowing what is possible. Most importantly, consistency is key, which is why every team member must know, understand and embody our values. They must be applied to everything we do.

‘Recruit for values, train for skills.’

 

This training course explains how our values are embedded and applied in our recruitment process as well as discussing how to plan and conduct an interview along with some useful questioning techniques.

Once completed, you can reference this course whenever you are going to conduct an interview to refresh yourself on the guidance so the interview can be carried out effectively and we can recruit the right  individuals into our organisation.