What does SNBTS provide?

In 1816, James Leacock published a series of experiments carried out in Edinburgh, which showed that blood transfusion could save the life of animals. James Blundell, a contemporary of Leacock's during his training in Edinburgh Medical School, was the first to transfuse humans with human blood in 1818. Some of the earliest attempts to emulate Blundell and the largest series of transfusion in the 19th century were carried out in the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh (RIE). However, it was not until Landsteiner discovered the major A, B and O blood groups in 1901 that blood transfusion could develop as a rational treatment.

The first Blood Transfusion Service was established in 1930, a blood bank in 1938 and the first plasma processing centre in 1943, all based at the Royal Infirmary, Edinburgh. It was not until the second World War that volunteer donations of blood were routinely provided, rather than using emergency panels of donors who would come forward at times of a particular patient's need.

The first nationally organised transfusion service in Scotland may be traced to the first meeting of the Scottish National Transfusion Association (SNBTA) in 1941. The SNBTS was responsible for the management of SNBTS until the NHS reorganisation of 1974, and continues to this day to represent the interests of blood donors in Scotland. www.scotblood.co.uk/

SNBTS is very firmly part of NHSScotland and delivery of our mission statement focuses on supporting Scotland's health. The purpose of our donors' contributions and the existence of SNBTS within NHSScotland is to assist the treatment of patients. This is at a time when advances in medical science and greater resources going into healthcare are increasing the number of treatments that may require our support, for example cancer treatment, heart surgery and hip replacements. The SNBTS transfusion centres are sited in major medical centres in Inverness, Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh and Glasgow and bring specialist transfusion medicine expertise right into the front line of healthcare. Although blood transfusion remains essential for many patients and is necessary to enable much major surgery to go ahead, in fact blood usage per operation has reduced greatly over the years, as better surgical techniques and improved understanding of blood clotting have made surgery safer. However, the sheer number of people who need medical and surgical treatment means that SNBTS must collect around a thousand donations daily to keep Scotland supplied.

As well as being the specialist service for the provision of blood components, plasma products and diagnostic reagents, SNBTS is also NHSScotland's preferred provider of bone and certain tissues.

Meeting the transfusion need of patients in Scotland

SNBTS is the specialist provider of transfusion medicine in Scotland supplying high quality blood, tissues, products and services. SNBTS works with communities, hospitals and professionals to ensure that the donor's gift is used wisely and effectively for the benefit of patients.