Supply of Sample Tubes

NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) is a Special Health Authority in England, with responsibilities across the United Kingdom for organ donation and transplantation. Our core purpose is to ‘save and improve lives’ through the provision of a safe and reliable supply of blood components, solid organs, stem cells, tissues and related services to the NHS, and to the other UK Health Services where directed.

Testing function in the Blood Supply Directorate performs a wide range of testing services, these include but are not limited to the large-scale blood grouping and microbiological screening of blood and tissue donations.

The Authority has two testing sites in England, in which approximately 1.5 million donations are tested each year. Each donation bled requires a minimum of 3 x 6mL sample tubes to be taken into K2 EDTA tubes which have colour coded caps for identification purposes. Some donors also require additional tubes these include but are not limited to 4mL EDTA and K3 EDTA tubes. Tubes are of the evacuation type and the Authority requires a unique bar-code label to be affixed at bed side over a blank manufacturers label.