Organisation & Work Programme
Organisation
The Steering Committee
Its primary responsibilities are to:
- examine questions related to human blood transfusion, notably as regards quality and safety standards and their implementation, including collection, preparation, storage, distribution and appropriate use;
- assist members states in improving blood transfusion services, and if needed, in restructuring their blood transfusion services by promoting the principle of voluntary non-remunerated donations;
- define and promote the implementation of quality and safety standards in blood and blood components collection, storage, distribution and use;
- propose ethical, safety and quality standards on professional practices and on specifications of products;
- ensure the transfer of knowledge and expertise through training and networking;
- monitor practices in Europe and assess epidemiological risks linked to blood and its components, in particular for new transmissible diseases, and,
- ensure the availability of rare blood products by means of the European Bank of Frozen Blood of Rare Groups.
The Committee meets once a year for 3 days.
Membership
The Steering Committee is chaired by Dr. Jeroen De Wit and consists of 44 representatives (33 members and 11 observers).
List of Members - CD-P-TS
List of Members - TS-GPUQA
Work Programme
The CD-P-TS has given priority to the following projects:
- Guide to the Preparation, Use and Quality Assurance of Blood Components
An experts working group consisting of members from Europe, Australia, New-Zealand and the United States of Americas was convened to two meetings in order to prepare the 14th edition which should be published in the first trimester of 2008.
- European Bank of Frozen Blood of Rare Groups
Enquiry to update details of current custodians and stocks for frozen rare blood groups in 2008.
- Questionnaire on Collection, Testing and Use of Blood Components in Europe
Publication of 2004 report, performance of 2005 and 2006 data collection campaign in 2007. Performance of feasibility studies on the development of an on-line questionnaire and of a trend analysis from 2001 to 2005 in 2008.