As part of the Integrated Blood Shortage Plan, all hospitals will be required to reduce demand in AMBER and RED status. In order to facilitate this, the Blood Stocks Management Scheme was asked to produce an estimate of normal demand in GREEN status for each hospital supplied by the NBS. Using this estimate hospitals and the NBS can evaluate how much blood should be used per day during AMBER and RED status. We have called the amount ‘the daily budget’; it is specific to each hospital and will be recalculated each month to take account of recent trends. The figure is derived from analysis of your hospital monthly issue data.

Budget information will be provided to each hospital on the 2nd day of each month by email.

The daily budget is currently calculated as a balance of a hospital's average monthly demand over the last 6 months and the average monthly demand for each specific month over the last 4 years. The monthly forecast produced by this system is then divided down into a figure for each day.

During GREEN status, The Daily Budget may be used as a guide to the amount of red cell demand that you can expect at your hospital on any given day.

If you would like to discuss any aspect of the forecasting system, please contact Rob Hick

IBSP Links

Blood Matters. Spring 2004: Summary of plan
DH Policy and Guidance: Introduction to plan
DH Policy and Guidance Article. Gateway Ref 3344: Outline Plan (PDF)
NBS Communications: Full Plan (PDF)