The committee's primary focus remained to ensure the safety of donors, recipients and employees while SANBS implemented the final year of the iHEALTh strategy and reinforced its role as a fundamental part of the healthcare ecosystem. Key issues addressed include:

Human centred donor care

• Oversight of the execution of the Donor Iron Strategy which places emphasis on providing donors with more tolerable iron tablets, improved communication with donors and employees, education on the importance of iron testing and supplementation, and further research into factors associated with and the outcomes of iron deficiency among blood donors, especially young female donors
  • Cheliron Forte was recommended in FY24 as the appropriate iron replacement tablet
  • The introduction of Cheliron Forte has increased iron tablet uptake among donors, likely due to its low reported side effects and extensive donor education on SANBS social media platforms prior to its launch
  • Considered the results of a survey on donor uptake, tolerability, and impact on iron status

Blood collections

• The committee noted FY25’s significant success for the Whole Blood Group O Programme, achieving the highest number of Group O units collected in five years and maintaining an average national days cover of seven days. This stability allowed SANBS to avoid cutbacks and reduce weekend and overtime work without compromising supply
• Strides were made in expanding and diversifying the donor panel through new blood drives and targeted promotions, which was crucial for building resilience in the blood supply chain
• Noted the increase in whole blood collections from Black donors, who now make up 54% of the donor panel and are a testament to the success of our transformation journey
• Noted ongoing effective stakeholder engagement:
  • Prescriber engagement: Ongoing training on the appropriate use of group O red cell products and patient blood management has raised awareness among medical professionals
  • Donor engagement: Campaigns focused on encouraging youth aged 16 to 24 to donate blood and emphasising the importance of giving the gift of life. These include outreach in schools and universities and featured social media promotions, campaign videos, and special events. See details on the increase in first time donors

Blood issuing

• Noted the arrival of a new 20-unit haemobank SMART fridge in the country that will be used for testing the stability of 3G/4G connectivity
• Monitored causes of process gaps and staff errors: Incidents of administrative errors were found to be primarily related to the manual transcribing of information into digital systems, insufficient or inadequate equipment and staff training needs. A major intervention to address these gaps and challenges -was implemented, leading to a decline in such errors