Group O negative red blood cell management

The NBA and the Australian Red Cross Lifeblood are working together to manage increasing requests for group O RhD negative red blood cells across Australia. Whilst only 6.5%[1] of the Australian population are group O RhD negative, group O RhD negative red blood cells have represented up to 17% of issues to Australian health providers.

Current Projects

National Statement for the Emergency Use of Group O Red Blood Cells

The NBA, National Blood Transfusion Committee (Australian Red Cross Lifeblood), Australian and New Zealand Society of Blood Transfusion, National Pathology Accreditation Advisory Council, Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine and Australian College of Emergency Medicine have developed and published a joint national statement:

National Statement for the Emergency Use of Group O Red Blood Cells (pdf)

The NBA formed a group O RhD negative red blood cell expert working group consisting of representatives from key organisations. The working group  developed the joint National Statement . Expert working group members included representatives from:

  • National Blood Transfusion Committee
  • Australian and New Zealand Society of Blood Transfusion
  • National Pathology Accreditation Advisory Council
  • Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine
  • Australian College of Emergency Medicine
  • Small and large jurisdictions; South Australia and Queensland
  • Independent experts from Queensland and New South Wales who have implemented a program in their hospital or jurisdiction

The expert working group requested consultation on the National Statement from key professional clinical organisations and jurisdictions before finalisation.

Posters 

The NBA has created two posters available to download on general group O RhD negative red blood cell management and emergency group O red blood cell issue. The posters are available on the NBA website at: National Standard for Blood and Blood Products Safety and Quality | National Blood Authority.

Managing O Negative Inventory

Please visit Use of Group O RhD negative red cells | Australian Red Cross Lifeblood (transfusion.com.au)(link is external) for information on managing your group O RhD negative red blood cell orders and inventory.

Together we can ensure blood and blood products are available for those who need it most.

1Hirani, R., Weinert, N., Irving, DO. The distribution of ABO RhD blood groups in Australia, based on blood donor and blood sample pathology data. MJA 2022