Compliance & Accreditation · August 7, 2026
Blood Component Separation Records: Unit Trail
If an assessor gives you one component identifier, you should be able to retrieve one connected trail: the parent collection, component preparation entry, applicable quality-control evidence, storage history and final status or disposition. Schedule F Part XIIB names the master records for blood and components, issue register, records of components supplied and other records that support this trail.1
The practical test is whether your technician can produce those links without guessing. If the preparation record is filed by collection number but the QC result is filed by date, your indexing must still show why that result applies to the selected unit; NABH’s current Blood Centres standards cover traceability, quality control and controlled records.2
What the Rules require you to maintain
Rule 122G makes maintaining the records and registers specified in Schedule F Part XIIB a condition of the blood centre licence.3 Your centre remains responsible for producing those records during inspection or assessment.
Section L requires the listed records to be kept for five years, without naming a start date.1 Keep the complete unit trail under the same retention control described in the blood bank record retention guide.
NABH’s current standards add the assessment view: an assessor can test whether your controlled records establish traceability and whether component quality-control evidence can be retrieved.2 A register that exists but cannot be connected to the selected component will not answer that unit-level question.
Build the trail from the component identifier
Start with the exact identifier on the selected component. Your search should move backwards to the collection and preparation records, then forwards through QC, storage and disposition.
| Link in the trail | Records to retrieve | What you should match |
|---|---|---|
| Selected component | Component label, master record and current inventory entry | Component identifier, description, group and present status.1 |
| Parent collection | Collection record, master record and testing record | Collection number and the link to the applicable TTI testing records required under Schedule F Part XIIB.4 |
| Preparation | Component preparation or separation worksheet | Parent collection, resulting component identifier, preparation entry and the references required by your controlled form.4 |
| Applicable QC | QC plan, QC register and result sheet | The direct unit reference or the documented basis on which the sampled result applies to the selected component.2 |
| Storage | Inventory movements, storage records and any excursion record | Location, status and continuity from preparation to the final endpoint.4 |
| Disposition | Issue register, components-supplied record, stock record or your centre’s disposition record | The selected identifier and its final recorded status.1 |
Use the component identifier as the join between these records. A wider donor-to-recipient traceability exercise may cover more records, but this check begins with one component and asks you to account for it.
Show how the QC result applies
Where the selected unit was sampled, retrieve its result using the component identifier recorded in the QC documentation. Where it was not sampled, retrieve the controlled QC plan and the result record that shows how the selected component falls within the applicable sampling population.2
Do not copy a sampled result into every component record as though each unit was tested. Keep the sampling link visible through the identifiers, dates or other references defined in your approved procedure.
An assessor may then compare the result with the acceptance criteria in your current controlled procedure. This records check does not require you to invent a yield range or reproduce an uncited benchmark.
Connect preparation to storage history
Schedule F Part XIIB covers component preparation, storage and labelling requirements, so your retrieved records should preserve continuity between those stages.4 If a technician can show the preparation sheet but cannot establish where the component went afterwards, the trail stops early.
Retrieve the location and status changes recorded after preparation. If the history includes a temperature deviation, add the relevant cold-chain excursion records, including the assessment and recorded decision under your procedure.
End with the actual disposition
Section L specifically names the issue register, records of components supplied and cross-matching reports issued to patients among the records the licensee maintains.1 Choose the endpoint that actually applies to the selected component:
- Issued: retrieve the issue entry. If a crossmatch report was issued for that component, retrieve that report too; if none was issued, stop at the issue entry and the records that authorised the issue.
- Supplied or transferred: retrieve the components-supplied entry and the associated documentation. For a movement outside your state, include the trail described in the inter-state blood stock transfer records guide.
- Discarded or expired: retrieve your centre’s authorised disposition entry and the reason recorded against the identifier.
- Still in stock: show the current inventory status and storage location.
NABH traceability controls require your records to carry the trail through to the recorded endpoint rather than leaving the selected component between registers.2 Where a crossmatch report was neither issued nor applicable, your issue trail should show the records that actually governed that component’s disposition.
Run the retrieval drill before assessment
NABH assessment relies on controlled records that your staff can retrieve and connect.2 Test that capability with one identifier chosen from current stock and another from completed records.
- Give the component identifier to the technician who normally handles the register.
- Retrieve the parent collection and master record.
- Open the component preparation entry.
- Produce the direct QC result or the controlled sampling link.
- Follow the storage history and any excursion documentation.
- Close the trail with the current status or final disposition.
If you use RAKT, make this the acceptance test for your setup: a technician should be able to search the selected component identifier and locate the chain without rebuilding it from a parallel notebook. Record every missing link and correct it before assessment day.