RCOG World Congress 2025

AUDIT : EVALUATION OF GROUP & SAVE INDICATIONS IN OBSTETRICS & GYNAECOLOGY.

Authors: Dr M Tokonyai ( FY1 Doctor )

& Dr R Stubbs (FY1 Doctor)

Supervisors : Dr A Fisher ( Consultant Gynaecological Oncology Surgeon

& Dr J Pettit ( Anaesthetics Specialty Doctor)

Email : mitchell.tokonyai@lthtr.nhs.uk

Background

LTHTR blood transfusion guidelines provide a list of all procedures that require a Group and Save as part of the preoperative preparation.
Some of the included procedures are minor day case procedures that are unlikely to require a blood transfusion
A single G&S costs approximately £28 including staff time and consumables.
Many patients may need several G&Ss due to guidelines, errors or insufficient samples

Aim

Determine frequency that blood transfusions are required in or following gynaecological procedures
Identify procedures where a G&S could be safely removed from the standard pre-op workup
Reduce hospital expenditure on this procedure while still maintaining patient safety

Method

The audit team provided us with data : every patient who underwent a gynaecological procedure in the past 6 months and had a G&S
We then searched for each patient on the hospital system to determine if they had a blood transfusion, any transfusions that occurred outside of their visit to hospital for the surgery were excluded.
We then calculated the percentage that required blood transfusion for the whole cohort, as well as each individual surgical procedure.

Results

Conclusion

The data shows that blood transfusions are rarely required for all the procedures they are mandated for
Assuming each of these patients required 2 G+S bloods on average, we would be saving approximately £10,136 every 6 months (£20,272 a year).

Recommendations

Removing all the procedures which required no transfusions from the guidelines
Re-audit in 6 months to determine if these changes have resulted in any incidents with patient care.

Evaluation of Group and Save Indications in Gynaecology