Welsh Blood Service
Welcome to our Always on Quality Performance reporting page. Here you can see how we’re doing in providing services to donors and where we’re working to improve.
The year is divided into four quarters. This report concerns quarter 4 2024/25 (January, February and March).
More information can be found in our full Quality & Safety Quarterly Report.
Donor experience
At the Welsh Blood Service, we’re always looking to learn from your experiences. To make giving feedback simple, we use our survey system in two ways:
• Handheld tablets at each donor session
• Easy QR codes that link to online surveys
We share all survey results with our leadership team and departments, as well as in our quarterly and annual reports. By listening to what you have to say, we can celebrate successes, spot areas where we can do better, and plan new ways to improve our services.
We look at the common themes in all the feedback and use that information to address concerns. By hearing from our donors, we’re able to make meaningful changes that reflect your needs and experiences.
2% of the donors who provided feedback through CIVICA indicated that they were dissatisfied with their experience.
Based on feedback received, operational managers have:
- Reviewed cleanliness of Mobile Donor Units (MDU) to ensure a high standard of cleanliness is always maintained.
- The MDU’s receive a deep clean weekly when the vehicle is available to facilities. The team clean the surfaces and equipment every day and between donors as appropriate.
- Supported staff to undertake Welsh language learning.
- All staff who have expressed an interest in progressing their language skills have been supported with either study leave or fixed working days to allow them to attend.
- Provided mobile heaters for Collections Teams.
- New Dysons purchased and sent out to both Trailers.
- Undertaken a full review of venues to identify and address issues that would affect donor experience.
Welsh Blood Service Wall of Thanks
Every month our Wall of Thanks intranet page is updated with the latest heartfelt messages that have been shared with us by patients. The messages recognise the amazing difference our staff make.
Complaints
We always aim to provide the best possible service, but we know sometimes things might not go as well as they should. If you're unhappy with any part of our service, we want to hear from you - your feedback helps us improve.
You can raise a concern:
- Talk to us in person
You can speak to a member of staff who will share your concern with the Concerns Team.
- Phone or write to us
Phone: 02920 196161
Email: handlingconcernsvelindre@wales.nhs.uk
Executive Director of Nursing, Allied Health Professionals and Health Sciences
Trust Headquarters
2 Charnwood Court
Heol Billingsley
Parc Nantgarw
Cardiff
CF15 7QZ
- With help from our team if needed
We follow the Wales Putting Things Right guidelines, which means:
- We'll acknowledge your concern quickly
- We'll look into what happened thoroughly
- We'll be open and clear about what we find
- We'll tell you what we're doing to make things better
Between January and March 2025, we received 14 complaints - that's about 0.05% of donors. While this is a small number, each concern matters to us and helps us learn how to improve our service.
- 11 complaints managed as Early Resolution - within 2 working days.
- 0 complaints managed formally under the Welsh Putting Things Right regulations
- 0 complaints reopened, indicating that complaints were managed satisfactorily.
We’ve been listening to your concerns and have made some key changes to improve your donor experience:
- Operational Managers reminding staff of the importance of:
- Professional conduct
- Being open and honest with effective communication with our donors at the time that errors occur.
- The Welsh Blood Service Futures programme are focused on looking at how WBS can implement new technological advancements to help provide our Donors with the best experience possible.
- Collections Team continuing to work in collaboration with the Planning Team to look at alternative venues across the Service, particularly in North Wales.
- The Interim Head of Nursing has undertaken an international review of the policies for accepting children at donation clinics. A proposal to update the current guidance has been developed. This was an action taken following areas of concern raised by both Staff and Donors.
Incidents
Making sure everyone stays safe is our top priority. That’s why we encourage our staff to report any incidents—or near misses—through our incident management system. Once an incident is reported, we:
• Investigate what happened straight away
• Address any immediate concerns
• Identify and fix any root causes to prevent it from happening again
We also share what we’ve learned with the whole organisation and track trends to help drive improvements. When something results in moderate or more serious harm, we take an even closer look, carrying out a detailed review and investigation to make sure we do everything we can to keep our donors and staff safe.
Learning and outcomes
14 incidents relating to quality and safety of blood components were reported via Datix. The majority relate to late (post- donation) donor information.
One of these events was assessed as ‘moderate harm’ and relates to a Human Tissue Authority reportable event involving a temperature excursion during transport of a stem cell donation.
Transcription errors in manual processes have been a theme in a number of incidents’ a factor that contributes to this is high workload and operational pressures, working environment, senior staff changes. A designated quiet area for report writing and authorisation has been implemented. Additional actions to reduce recurrences are implementation of a temporary digital solution, adoption of a two-person writing and authorisation process, and reallocation of workload.
All events have been investigated, with no significant trends identified.