Provision of a Blood Establishment Computer System (BECS) on behalf of the Welsh Blood Service

NHS Wales Shared Services Partnership sought to appoint a strategic partner on behalf of Velindre University NHS Trust, to deliver and maintain a Blood Establishment Computer System (BECS) for use by the Welsh Blood Service (WBS), replacing their current BECS.

WBS is responsible for the collection of blood in Wales, and for the distribution of blood products to hospitals, as well as other related functions. In common with the other UK Blood Services and other NHS diagnostic laboratories, the WBS faces significant challenges for the future, such as changing donor behaviours and demand for blood products, challenges in respect of the recruitment and retention of new donors, the need to develop a more individualised donor care package, as well as wider population and system challenges, including the need to deliver services in a challenging economic climate. A failure to recognise, understand and analyse these challenges, and to identify options for the future, could jeopardise the security of the blood supply and specialist services in Wales.

WBS aims to collect in excess of 100000 donations each year, necessitating around 300 blood donations every day to meet patient need. Future demand for blood will be influenced by advances in cancer care, the changing population demographic with an ageing population and a more diverse case mix of patients. The UK ambition to increase self-sufficiency in plasma-derived medicines will further increase demand for donations.

WBS currently work with 4000 community influencers to help promote the importance of donating and utilise over 200 locations across Wales by providing a community-facing blood collection service.

As well as whole blood products the WBS also supply platelets, enabling patients to help fight chronic diseases, cancers and to aid recovery from traumatic injuries. WBS aims to collect around 11000 platelet donations each year for transfusion into NHS Wales patients, of which around 40% come from apheresis donation. In the future, WBS plans to introduce additional apheresis services to collect approximately 30,000 donations of plasma per year for the manufacture of medicines, in partnership with the pharmaceutical industry (fractionation partner).

WBS also supports transplantation services in Wales, via the Welsh Bone Marrow Donor Registry (WBMDR) and the Welsh Histocompatibility & Immunogenetics (WHAIS) Services. The WBMDR and WHAIS enable solid organ, bone marrow and peripheral stem cell transplantation by supporting the matching of potential donors to transplant recipients, as well as providing testing services to confirm a donor/patient matching. These services interact with the wider WBS blood supply chain via its BECS platform.

BECS is a business-critical system and is the enabler for the delivery of key service and business objectives identified within the Welsh Blood Service 5-year ‘Blood and Transplant Services for the Future’ strategy. A central pillar of that strategy is an ambition to “deliver a more person-centred service and experience for our donors”, to provide individualised and tailored services to our users. The BECS will provide the Welsh Blood Service with a future-proof system, which allows for progressive and iterative change, in accordance with regulatory and statutory guidelines and the ever-evolving opportunities provided through the adoption of new and innovative digital technologies.