The new world-class, purpose-built facility of the Donor Tissue Bank of Victoria (DTBV) will provide more opportunities for loss to become hope by improving the availability of donated human tissue in Australia.
The DTBV is one of several organisations around Australia the Blood Service supports with expertise. DTBV offers recently bereaved families the opportunity to donate their loved ones’ heart valves, skin, tendons, bone and corneas, for use in life-saving and life-enhancing operations.
The $13 million tissue retrieval, storage and processing site will increase DTBV’s ability to collect donations, as well as provide a platform for research in emerging tissue and cell technologies.
“Our new facility has a dedicated retrieval suite that allows donation to occur in an optimal environment that minimises tissue contamination, which means more donated tissue can be made available for transplant,” said Stefan Poniatowski, Head of DTBV.
The Blood Service has been working closely with the DTBV for three years to identify opportunities to expand the access to human tissue for patient benefits. Since July 2014, we’ve also provided support through business development, quality, and other services such as logistics and testing.
“Since the Blood Service has come on board, there’s greater awareness within DTBV of customer service, inventory awareness and process improvement,” said Chris van Diemen, who is now working as a Business Development Manager with the DTBV.
“Along with building a significant increase in available inventory and supplied products, we’re really putting emphasis on the DTBV being a better supplier. As part of this we’ve created a product catalogue for surgeons and are developing a customer service framework.”
The Blood Service is also reviewing whether tissue can be transported to and from hospitals alongside blood to improve service.
Another ongoing project is refreshing the DTBV website, dtbv.org.au. The first phase included moving videos from tissue recipients and surgeons who use tissue products. During the second phase, the team hopes to add more information for customers and medical professionals, including the product catalogue and an online ordering process.
“I feel fantastic about what our cross-divisional team has accomplished so far,” said Chris.
This sentiment is shared by the DTBV. “The Blood Service has supported our strategy to increase our tissue donations, improve our available inventory and tighten our turnaround times so tissue is released faster to healthcare providers,” said Stefan. “We’re so looking forward to many more opportunities to work together.”
Watch a virtual tour of the new DTBV facility at dtbv.org.au/about
The Blood Service Business Development team can provide services from specialised expertise to access to infrastructure. For more information, contact Greg Dusting at services@redcrossblood.org.au
Photo: At the Donor Tissue Bank of Victoria new facility launch (l to r): Abdullah Genc (Blood Service), Peter Ford (Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine), Chris van Diemen (DTBV), Mari-Ann Scott (Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine), Janine Wilson (Blood Service), Stefan Poniatowski (DTBV) and other Blood Service representatives, Mat Manning, Rhonda Holdsworth and David Pearce.