Mother's and baby's blood groups 'could be confused'

The National Blood Service says blood is sent for tests without it being made clear it is the baby's, rather than the mother's, blood.

It warns this could cause confusion if the mother later needs a transfusion.

The British Journal of Midwifery report says samples must be labelled clearly as soon as they are taken.

Otherwise, it warns hospital records could show a mother has two different blood groups, potentially causing confusion and delay.

Mislabelling

Jan Green, who wrote the editorial, highlighted a recent report on transfusions which found three quarters of errors - accounting for around 100 cases out of a total of 358 - were related to an incorrect blood component being transfused.

The advice is obvious, but often ignored Jan Green, National Blood Service

Around half of these incidents were related to mislabelling of samples.

Other mistakes in the preparation, collection and administration of blood supplies.

Such incidents can prove fatal, or cause serious illness.

In the last year, there were 16 cases of serious side effects, usually kidney damage, and one person may have died because of this kind of error.

Mrs Green, a transfusion liaison nurse with the National Blood Service, said anecdotal evidence from hospitals suggested a significant number of these errors occurred in maternity units.

She said that while the number of incidents did not sound high when compared against the three million blood components transfused annually, it was still too high.

NHS numbers

All health staff who take blood samples should follow a protocol from the British Committee for Standards in Haematology which says samples should be labelled as soon as they have been taken, and staff should only take samples from one patient at a time.

But Mrs Green says protocols are "only as good as the people who use them."

She said: "Avoiding errors is really simple: follow the guidelines, take time to read them.

"Examine ways in which practice can be improved, especially with cord blood samples."

She highlighted one hospital where baby's blood samples are labelled with their NHS number, which is allocated at birth.

The mother's identity is also noted, but on a different part of the form.

Mrs Green added: "The advice is obvious, but often ignored."

A spokeswoman for the Royal College of Midwives said: "We fully endorse the use of NHS number for babies to reduce the risk of confusion between blood samples taken from the mother and the baby.