The Blood Matters program is underpinned by the Department’s values, vision, and priorities. Read more about the priorities on the Our priorities page.
The program aims to support best practice in all areas related to blood management safety and governance.
The content of these pages is intended for use by health care staff; clinical, quality, and scientific.
What's new
-
Sample collection errors can result in serious consequences for patients, therefore, require investigation and strategies to reduce the risks of these events.
The Blood Matters 2026 audit aims to identify if health service and laboratory policies and procedures for pretransfusion specimen collection and testing are consistent with best practice guidelines.
The audit will include a policy assessment and a review of pretransfusion specimen collection and rejection data to determine rejection rates, causes, and the associated investigation and reporting processes.
Pretransfusion specimen collection and rejection audit instructionsFor the full details of the audit, see Blood Matters audits.
-
This audit focused on the pretransfusion patient identification and blood component checks conducted at the patient bedside.
Positive patient identification and pretransfusion checking procedure audit reportAll reports are available on Blood Matters audit reports.
-
This STIR bulletin focuses on the risks and mitigation strategies to help prevent TACO in susceptible patients.
STIR bulletin No. 13 – Transfusion Associated Circulatory Overload (TACO) mitigation strategiesAll STIR bulletins are available at Serious Transfusion Incident Reporting system (STIR).
Reviewed 16 February 2026