- New Zealand Blood Service
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New Zealand Blood Service Te Ratonga Toto O Aotearoa 
Logo of the New Zealand Blood Service Agency overview Formed July 1, 1998 Jurisdiction Government of New Zealand Headquarters 71 Great South Road, Epsom, Auckland Annual budget $103 million NZD (2011)[1] Minister responsible Hon. Tony Ryall, Minister of Health Agency executive Fiona Ritsma, CEO Website www.nzblood.co.nz The New Zealand Blood Service (NZBS) is the body primarily responsible for blood donation and related services in New Zealand.
Unlike its Australian counterpart, the NZBS is a service operated by the New Zealand Government, not the New Zealand Red Cross.
Contents
History
The New Zealand Blood Service was formed on 1 July 1998 with the primary responsibility of gathering and maintaining safe levels of blood needed to help in a variety of ways. The NZBS was formed under the guidelines of the World Health Organisation (WHO) on the collection and clinical use and distribution of blood. [2]
Approximately 42,000 New Zealanders need blood or blood products every year and 4% of New Zealanders donate.
Duties
Blood testing for infectious diseases.
The NZBS collects more than 150,000 whole blood donations per year, 23,000 apheresis plasma donations and 6,000 apheresis platelet donations to meet the requirements of the New Zealand Health Care System. Whole blood donations are separated in 3 components - Red blood cells, blood plasma and platelets. [3]
To ensure that the blood is safe for the patient and the blood donation process is safe, donors are screened each time before donating to eliminate potential risks. Blood donations themselves are tested for diseases such as Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C, HIV, AIDS and HTLV-1. No reliable tests exist for Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease (CJD) so donations are not accepted from persons who have lived in CJD affected areas such as the United Kingdom, France or the Republic of Ireland between 1980 and 1996.[4]
The New Zealand Blood Service has over the past years, developed close working relations with similar organizations such as:
- The Australian Red Cross Blood Service
- The Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service
- and The Finnish Red Cross Blood Service
This is because these countries are "geographically close in either proximity or terrain" and face similar challenges in blood collecting, testing and distribution. The NZBS also modelled itself after the National Blood Service (NBS) in England and learnt through its revolutionary and evolutionary changes and providing the best methods for delivery of services. [5]
- NZBS is the appointed body for all New Zealand blood.
- NZBS is the organization who is responsible for all donations and distribution of blood in New Zealand, nationally; New Zealand's blood service is based on a voluntary basis and unpaid donations.
- NZBS is responsible for all blood from collection to distribution and for other controlled human tissues.
- NZBS is a not-for-profit Crown Agency responsible to the Ministry of Health
Blood collection
Typical method of blood donationThe NZBS visits high schools, community centres and businesses in towns all over New Zealand and appeals to all eligible donors to give blood. Donations from mobile collections account for approximately 50% of the blood collected, with the other 50% collected at the donor centres.
Donor Centres are present at 6 main locations across the country, with 3 centres in Auckland, and one each in Hamilton, Palmerston North, Wellington, Dunedin and Christchurch. There are also smaller donor centres in Napier, Tauranga, and Nelson, with mobile collection sites available to be set up in community centres around the rest of the country.
They also offer a shuttle service to transport donors during blood drives held at various places like school halls and convention centres in towns and cities across New Zealand.
The NZBS also travel to businesses who agree to let NZBS to collect blood from workers through special venues established by both the employer and the NZBS. [6]
References
External links
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