All components must be appropriately labelled in accordance with these guideline specifications including those general guidelines outlined in section 6.5 and Chapters 23 and 26.
Standard procedures must ensure that blood and blood components cannot be released to stock until all the required laboratory tests, mandatory and additional, have been completed, documented and approved within a validated system of work and it has been ascertained that conditions of production and storage have been satisfactory. Compliance with these requirements may be achieved by the use of a computer program, or suite of programs, which requires the input of valid and acceptable test results for all the mandatory and discretionary laboratory tests before permitting, or withholding, the release of each individual unit.
Where a computer-based system is not used or is temporarily unavailable, documented approval for the release of each individual unit should be by a designated person.
All biohazard donations and components otherwise unsuitable for issue should be reconciled and accounted for, preferably prior to releasing accompanying ‘usable’ blood components to stock.