Lookback Programme
SANBS Guideline - Updated August 2023
This programme traces any patient who received HIV- and hepatitis-negative blood from a donor whose subsequent donation is found positive for either infection (donor-initiated). The programme also investigates all reports of patients contracting infections via blood transfusions (recipient-initiated).
Patients are contacted through the hospital or their private physician and are offered further testing to determine whether an infection was transmitted via a transfusion.
Contacting the recipient is obligatory and may help prevent secondary spread to others through sexual contact. The doctor who ordered the blood transfusion is responsible for counselling and testing the recipient and for managing and treating the patient, or for referring the patient to a specialist, where appropriate. (Clinical Guidelines for the use of Blood and Blood Products in South Africa, 6th Edition). Nurses play an important part in tracing patients by checking the patient’s details and by ensuring that the unit/s of blood transfused are correctly recorded in the patient’s file.
Challenges faced by the Lookback programme:
- Incorrect hospital number has been written on the Blood Request Form.
- Patients supply incorrect contact information when booking in.
- Hospital file is untraceable in some provincial hospitals.
- Intensive follow-up is often required to get a response from the doctor or hospital so the case file can be closed.
- Many cases remain unresolved because there is no response from the hospital or attending doctor.
Since 2005 and the implementation of ID NAT testing, confirmed transmission of HIV/Hepatitis has been less than 3:12 00000 transfusions.
Navigation to a Safe Blood Transfusion - Updated August 2023