'Children receiving a blood transfusion, A PARENTS GUIDE' by NHS Blood & Transplant

[Beaaware]

The NHS publishes various leaflets for adults and parents of children who may need a blood transfusion, you can order these leaflets directly from the NHS website, from experience I was never shown or made aware of these leaflets by medical staff, apparently every patient or parents of young patients should be given timely information before a blood transfusion. I cannot understand why these leaflets (which must be costing the NHS a lot of money to produce) are not widely available in hospitals, has anyone come across them or been offered them by NHS staff?

Here is a link to the website: hospital.blood.co.uk (enter 'Will I need a blood transfusion' in the search bar and follow links)

ooops need to put a slash at the end of the link:

hospital.blood.co.uk/

My dd had a planned blood transfusion and we werent told anything about it, just that it would be given in the operating theatre, rather than on the ward.

When she is sent for different scans now, they always include the leaflets with the letters

hospital.blood.co.uk/library/pdf/2011_Will_I_Need_English_v2.pdf should be a direct link.

We were never given any info before or after DD#3 had blood transfusions, or platelet transfusions. In her case she was seriously ill in intensive care and needed these products urgently, but even so sounds like we should have had some info.

I have a letter signed by Anne Milton who is the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Public Health in which she says & I quote " NHS Blood & Transplant (NHSBT) provides a patient information leaflet for hospital staff to give to patients who may receive a transfusion. Patients should be told that transfusions should only be given if the benefits outweigh the risks, and they should be informed of alternatives to transfusions if these are appropriate and available. the infection risks are clearly stated"

She gives the hospital.blood.co.uk link in her letter and this where I found the leaflets all about blood, I have never seen these leaflets in hospital nor have I ever been consulted by medical staff as Anne Milton suggests we should be.
I'd like to know who these leaflets are given to, they are produced specifically for NHS patients, but I have yet to talk to anyone that has even seen one.

Forgot to say that the ' Parents Guide package' contains a detailed leaflet for parents plus 2 comics one for older children called ' Microsub Discovery' and one for younger children called 'Amazing You with Billy Blood Drop'. I think this information pack is really well done and informative, but is it getting to the people it is suppose to be for.