Development of a district Cord Blood Bank: a model for cord blood banking in the National Health Service

The Bristol Cord Blood Bank was established as a pilot project within exist ing health services to establish cost-effective recruitment, collection and processing suitable for use in the NHS should cord blood become a routine source of haemopoietic stem cells for transplantation in the UK, An importa nt aim of the project was to evaluate the feasibility of establishing a mid wifery-based collection network, thus utilising expertise already in place. Collection was performed on the delivery suite immediately after the place nta was delivered, The clinical experience of the midwife collector/counsel lors allowed rapid pre-collection assessment of the condition of the cord a nd placenta. This prevented collection attempts from diseased or otherwise damaged placentas, leading to conservation of resources by preventing colle ction of most small volume donations. The bank was established within the N ational Blood Service, Bristol Centre to achieve Good Manufacturing Practic e standards and ensure that processing was subject to the same stringency r equired for other sources of haemopoietic stem cells. Cord blood is an expe nsive resource. By utilising existing expertise in district Obstetric and N ational Blood Services, the Bristol Cord Blood Bank may serve as a model fo r health economic evaluation of cord blood banking of volunteer donations w ithin the NHS.