NHS managers were urged to ensure staff who carry out blood transfusions have adequate training yesterday after a report found standards are not being met.

NHS managers were urged to ensure staff who carry out blood transfusions have adequate training yesterday after a report found standards are not being met.

Mishaps during the life-saving procedure have fallen to an all-time low, according to NHS Quality Improvement Scotland which monitors the Scottish health service.

However, their inspectors found just one health board met the standard that only staff who have completed specific training in transfusions should be involved in giving them to patients. Their report said: "Although some NHS boards had high numbers of appropriately trained staff, they could not ensure that only trained staff participated in the transfusion process.

"This is challenging, particularly due to staff turnover. Even so, NHS boards must make sure that staff with no training in blood transfusion practice are not responsible for transfusion." Tighter measures to ensure patients are correctly identified so they receive the correct blood were also advised. The report said: "Failure to correctly identify the patient, leading to administration of the wrong blood, is still the most commonly reported problem."

No Scottish health boards had all the steps in place which are recommended to ensure correct patient identification. Across the UK there were 12 cases where patients received the wrong type of blood last year.

Jan Warner, director of patient safety and performance assessment for NHS QIS, said patients should feel confident about undergoing blood transfusions in Scotland.

She said: "We have public partners on every single visit and they were almost blown away by the measures people take to keep us safe and to make sure patients know what is happening to them and know what to expect."