NHSBT delivering more advanced transfusions with second wave of spectra optia funding

NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) will be providing more advanced blood transfusions, closer to home, for people with the serious blood disorder sickle cell.

We will deliver a significant number of new services announced today through the NHS England-run MedTech Funding Mandate.

NHSBT Therapeutic Apheresis Services (TAS) teams will give more transfusions with the automated Spectra Optia machine, which gives faster and more effective care than normal transfusions.

Currently, many people with sickle cell need to travel long distances to get automated red cell exchanges, which can be especially difficult for them. The tiredness, dehydration, temperature changes, and immobility which can come with travel can all make symptoms worse.

NHSBT's Therapeutic Apheresis Services team will now be giving around more 100 people a year these specialist red cell exchanges on behalf of 3 hospital trusts - Bedfordshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Basildon and Thurrock University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, and East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust.

The Department of Health and Social Care and NHS England announced £9m funding for various trusts today at London Tech Week, including the 3 which NHSBT will partner.

NHSBT already treats around 100 people a year thanks to the first round of MedTech Funding Mandate funding announced in 2022 - at Central Manchester NHS Foundation Trust, Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust, South Tees NHS Trust and Whittington Health NHS Trust.

Sickle cell affects the shape and function of red blood cells and is more common in people of African or Caribbean descent.

Red cell exchange transfusions are a crucial treatment option, reducing painful and serious complications.

Automated transfusions – almost a whole blood replacement - are better because they are faster, more efficient, and reduce the need for additional top-up transfusions. The Government said today's new funding has the potential to save the NHS up to £12.6million a year.

Patients receive the treatment every 6 to 8 weeks or occasionally as an urgent treatment.

Toks' Story

Toks Odesanmi from Colchester has sickle cell disorder and will be treated by NHSBT closer to her home.

The 51 year-old has previously had to travel to London or Cambridge for her transfusions.

Her sickle cell means Toks, who is an advocacy worker for the Sickle Cell Society, has had complications which have made travel difficult. She's needed hip replacements and an ankle fusion and had bleeds in the blood vessels in her eyes.

"When I had to go to London, it was twice for each transfusion – firstly to give a sample and then two days later for the procedure. For someone with mobility issues travelling by public transport and carrying everything you need for the day was very difficult. I also had childcare  issues. I could do everything on the same day at Cambridge but I still had to take the whole day off work.

"Being treated closer to home will mean that I don't have to miss work or miss my daughter's school events and parents' evenings - and less exposure to triggers for a sickle cell crisis."