What is the challenge your project is going to address and how does it connect to the theme of 'How can we improve across system boundaries?​

Anthony Nolan is a key provider of unrelated donor stem cells, however a growth in transplant numbers and stem cell treatments for other conditions has resulted in an increased need for donated stem cells, and growing pressure on the current donation infrastructure we rely on.

Difficulties in booking donation slots at the required time results in a delay for the patient, meaning clinicians must choose whether to wait and opt for further chemotherapy or move on to a potentially less optimal donor from overseas.

We will address the crisis in cell collection capacity through the establishment of a new centre for cell collection, with capacity to facilitate the entire process; medically screen donors, facilitate cell collection, and process these donations for transport to transplant and research centres, ultimately improving time to transplant for patients.

What does your project aim to achieve?

Establishing a cell collection centre, within an NHS Trust, specifically for the donation of stem cells; including the setting up of operational and clinical processes, necessary regulatory and accreditation approvals, recruitment and training of staff (increasing staffing numbers within both the NHS and Anthony Nolan) and purchasing of equipment to enable the delivery of a first-class service.

The cell collection centre processes will feature an integrated live scheduling system allowing the Anthony Nolan Donor Provision team to coordinate both donor availability and the transplant or research centre’s requested dates, mitigating the current need to consult back and forth multiple times with existing providers and the selected donor all within a critical timeframe.

This will rapidly increase efficiency and drive up the percentage of UK donations able to be made on the first date requested by transplant centres, reducing time to transplant, and therefore positively impacting patient outcomes.

How will the project be delivered?

Project managed by Anthony Nolan, in partnership with an existing NHS Trust, and drawing on internal and external expertise, we will establish the clinical infrastructure required to set up a cell collection facility.

To ensure we deliver an improved and more efficient process, that ensures an increase in the number of donors donating on the date requested by the Transplant Centre, it is critical that a live scheduling system is developed, customisable and integrated with our existing Donor Provision processes.

Following a process of requirements gathering, process mapping, system short-listing, selection, configuring and user acceptance testing we will identify and deliver a fit-for-purpose live scheduling system. Working in parallel with the clinical infrastructure elements of the project, we will ensure the booking system is delivered ahead of project go-live, in order to be validated live alongside the clinical processes on site.

How is your project going to share learning?

Going forwards, we hope to utilise the scheduling tool data and outputs to further increase the proportion of donors donating on the date the Transplant Centre requests, by identifying trends where we have been unable to meet these dates. This learning could influence a number of aspects of the operational management of stem cell donation, from donor availability to transplant centre relationship management.

The Anthony Nolan Cell Collection centre will become part of an existing network of centres across the UK, and as we strive to become a centre of excellence both clinically and operationally, we hope that our learnings can be shared across this network.

As we develop the centre and deepen our partnership with the NHS, we will look to provide insight to the Q Community about the development. This may take the form of a lessons learned presentation, a show and tell or similar activity.