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Cell salvage in obstetric haemorrhage is now endorsed by a number of organisations. Most of the literature has focused on isolated case series and safety. We describe how cell salvage, including a quality assurance process conducted prior to clinical implementation, was introduced to our stand-alone obstetric hospital which had no previous experience of this technique.

An implementation committee was established and 25 quality assurance and familiarisation cases were initially conducted. As part of this process the alpha fetoprotein, haematocrit, free plasma haemoglobin, potassium and Kleihauer tests were performed when enough blood was available for processing. Our guidelines for clinical use included women at greatly increased risk of obstetric haemorrhage and women at increased risk of haemorrhage who refused traditional transfusion. After the successful completion of this process, cell salvage was …