Keeping enough blood and blood products on hand to meet patient needs makes a certain level of discards inevitable and appropriate. We define wastage as 'the proportion of discards that are neither inevitable nor appropriate'. This can be a result of holding too much inventory.
Together with good inventory management, reducing blood product wastage is a key component of blood product management.
Effectively managing blood and blood products is a responsibility for all Australian Health Providers (AHPs), as described in both the:
Reporting blood discard data
A range of reports are available for AHPs in BloodNet. These reports allow you to monitor your:
- orders
- issues and receipts
- transfers
- discards and wastage.
These reports include both:
- fresh blood and blood products
- commercial products issued by Australian Red Cross Lifeblood.
The BloodNet reports tell you your AHP's discards:
- as a percentage of your issues (DAPI)
- compared to similar sites in your state and nationally
- compared to benchmark targets.
Blood product wastage benchmarks
BloodNet reports include the target rates we have established for:
- red blood cells
- platelets
- clinical fresh frozen plasma
- and cryoprecipitate.
We review discards for commercial blood products to determine whether benchmarks should be set.
You can use the targets from BloodNet reports as benchmarks for your blood wastage.
Promotional campaign
We have developed a targeted range of wastage-reduction promotional material for clinical staff, including:
- laboratory staff
- transfusion nurses
- clinical champions.
We have designed these materials to move discussions of blood product management from laboratories to clinical areas, such as wards or operating theatres.
To order materials, email support@blood.gov.au
National discard data
The public release of high-level summary discard data increases transparency and accountability.
These graphs provide a snapshot of national red blood cells and platelets discards in Australia over time.
While hard work reduces the wastage rate, in the 2023-24 financial year, we recorded 8,106 red blood cell donations discarded, costing over $3 million.
The graphs show the rate of Discards as a Percentage of Issues (DAPI). Supplier faults are excluded unless otherwise stated.
Red blood cell donation discard rates
Red blood cell net units issued, discards and DAPI 2019-20 to 2023-24
Red blood cell DAPI by state 2019-20 to 2023-24
Red blood cell DAPI by public and private 2019-20 to 2023-24
Percentage of red blood cell discards by reason 2019-20 to 2023-24
Table note: Discards include supplier faults.
Red blood cell discards by blood group 2019-20 to 2023-24
Table note: Discards include supplier faults.
Red blood cell DAPI by remoteness 2019-20 to 2023-24
Table note: Remoteness data is based on the ABS Australian Statistical Geography Standard remoteness area (ASGS-RA) classification.
Platelet donation discard rates
Platelet net units issued, discards and DAPI 2019-20 to 2023-24
Platelet DAPI by state 2019-20 to 2023-24
Table note: Platelet DAPI in the NT ranged from 68.6% to 37.2% during the reporting period. The numbers of issues and discards were low.
Platelet DAPI by public and private 2019-20 to 2023-24
Percentage of platelet discards by reason 2019-20 to 2023-24
Table note: Data for platelets discarded due to 'Transport' and 'Damaged' appear combined on the chart due to the small percentages.
Platelet discards by blood group 2019-20 to 2023-24
Table note: Data for AB+ and AB- do not appear on the graph due to small numbers.
Platelet DAPI by remoteness 2019-20 to 2023-24
Table note: Data from Very Remote Australia does not appear on the chart due to very low issues, transfers and discards. Remoteness data is based on the ABS Australian Statistical Geography Standard remoteness area (ASGS-RA) classification.
Get in touch
If you have a query about reducing blood product wastage, please contact us.
Last updated: 27 Mar 2024