The blood bank of the Capital Region of Denmark receives logistics award of the year

Robust world-class blood supply

In merely three years an integration of three blood banks in the Capital Region of Denmark has resulted in a robust world-class blood supply and has meant the difference between life and death for almost 100 people. The impressive achievement has been rewarded with the Danish Logistics Award 2011 by effektivitet.dk and the Danish Association of Engineers.

Present in the picture are Jan Lythcke-Jørgensen, board member of effektivitet.dk and chairman of the award committee, and the award recipients from the blood bank DMSc Morten Bagge Hansen and Medical Laboratory Technician Susan Mathiesen.

Within a few years, the blood bank has succeeded in innovating, developing and transforming the blood supply in the entire region by placing Supply Chain Management on the agenda in an environment in which logistics is not a natural core competence – and what is more, it is used as a lever for innovation. 

Among other things, the new system examines the blood composition right down to the last detail and is able to match it to the patient’s needs profile at the time of the transfusion. Preliminary figures concerning patients with life-threatening bleedings reveal that survival rates have increased by up to 50% after the introduction of the new measures as to the blood supply and composition of blood components at the time of transfusion.

”During the process, the management and the employees at the blood bank have been far-sighted, innovative and ambitious in the concept development. They have demonstrated that it is possible to optimise resources in the public sector, they have created impressive results along the entire value chain from the collection of donor blood, production and storing of blood components and blood products with short storage life by developing customer-adapted supply models”, states the award committee and expresses its deep recognition of the great entrepreneurship and ability to put Denmark on the global map within an area in which logistics is not a natural core competence.

However, the story about the impressive blood logistics is far from over. With the prospect of a substantially increased need for blood in treatments and fewer donors, a blood management programme is being worked on which, in addition to capacity management of the blood supply, is to ensure the possibility of managing the demand for instance by means of preventive treatment prior to hospitalisation.

Moreover, a web-based, interactive donor booking system is also on its way. The system allows for the individual donor to monitor the need for blood and compare it to the current blood situation in the blood bank – including stock levels, lack of certain blood types, donor statistics and health data.

Read more on Logistikkonferencen.dk under ”Logistikprisen”, where you will also find the nominees for the award. Under ”Præsentationer 2011”, you will find the speakers’ presentations.

Additional information
You are welcome to contact Partner Jan Lythcke-Jørgensen (jlj@implement.dk,
+45 2338 0017) for more information on how the blood bank of the Capital Region of Denmark works with Supply Chain Management.