Strengthening safety: The critical role of reliable labelling in pharmacies and blood transfusion services

Every day, pharmacies across the UK dispense thousands of prescriptions with the goal of ensuring patients receive both the correct medication and the right usage instructions. However, despite best efforts, dispensing errors remain a growing concern. According to research published in the British Medical Journal, an estimated 237 million medication errors occur annually at the dispensing stage in England, costing the NHS around £98 million and, unfortunately, contributing to upwards of 1,708 deaths annually. While most of these errors thankfully do not lead to serious harm, the risks remain – highlighting that labelling mistakes can lead to incorrect dosages, misidentification of medicines, and misuse.

Accurate labelling is equally important in blood transfusion services. Effectively tracking blood as it moves from donation to transfusion is crucial, in order to ensure it is stored correctly and given to the right patients. An easy failure point within this process is a low-quality label that is unclear, incorrectly printed, or fails to adhere properly, that increases the risk of misidentification and error, delays treatments, and compromises patient safety.

Neil Baker, head of auto-ID sales for Northern Europe, BIXOLON Europe, explains more about the important role that labelling plays within pharmaceutical labelling and across blood transfusions.

Challenges in pharmaceutical labelling and dispensing

The labelling of pharmaceutical products and medication serves as a crucial point of communication between the dispensing pharmacist and the patient. A label on a bottle of tablets, for example, contains essential information, from dosage guidance and patient details to potential side effects warnings. When a label fails to print and display this information, and if it is missing, damaged, or unreadable, the risk of medication errors increases significantly.

Therefore, another key challenge facing many pharmacies is the reliability of low-quality printers. Many high-street pharmacies still rely on inexpensive clamshell-style printers. These devices often experience frequent downtime and tend to produce inconsistent label quality, largely due to broken internal components and poor print resolution. When these devices go down, staff are left unable to print prescription labels, leading to delays and increasing pressure on pharmacists, who must ensure each medication is dispensed accurately. This results in longer wait times for patients, heightened pressure on pharmacy IT support teams and, in the worst cases, an increase in the chances of dispensing errors.

Poor quality labels cause downtime

Inconsistency in labels used and consumables is another major challenge in pharmacy environments. Anecdotal evidence suggests that some pharmacies source labels from multiple different suppliers in an effort to spread their risk when spending the budget they have for labels.

However, relying on an array of different consumables and labels leads to variations in print quality, including the adhesive strength of the label, and its durability. For instance, some lower quality labels may quickly become unreadable after printing and sticking to a product: perhaps as a patient puts the product in their bag where it is exposed to scuffing or rubbing against other products. Other labels may fail to stick properly entirely, due to low quality adhesive, increasing the risk that patients may go home without essential usage instructions, for example, and needing to contact the pharmacy again to clarify how to use their prescription.

Additionally, it is common for chains of pharmacies to operate different combinations of printers and label materials across their outlets. This makes achieving standardisation and reliability difficult. And with queues piling up in some pharmacies, due to printer downtime, having to reconvey the same message to patients regarding the use of their medication once they leave the pharmacy due to a poor-quality label creates unnecessary complications for pharmacy staff and patients alike.

The importance of reliable labelling in blood transfusion services

Alongside this, while pharmaceutical labelling errors can have serious consequences, the stakes are perhaps even higher in blood transfusion services. Given the high stakes nature of the blood donation and transfusion process, visibility is key as it is collected and stored, before being given to patients in line with strict safety protocols. Similar to the pharmaceutical setting, labelling also plays a crucial role here in helping to ensure that each bag of blood is accurately labelled and matched to the correct recipient/patient.

One way in which the blood transfusion industry aims to achieve this accuracy is to work towards strict regulatory guidelines, such as ISO 3826. This certification mandates a number of ways in which blood must be stored in order to maintain its safety and quality. One critical factor is ensuring that adhesives used on blood bag labels do not leach chemicals into the blood itself, a key requirement for safety and compliance.

Temperature resistance is another critical requirement in this process. Blood is stored at tightly controlled temperatures, with red blood cells kept between 2 and 6 degrees Celsius and plasma stored at around -30 degrees Celsius or lower. Labels must remain secured and fully legible under these extreme conditions and as they pass through the supply chain. If a label becomes detached or damaged, it can compromise patient safety or even lead to the loss of valuable blood and plasma supplies.

Most people will likely understand the potential challenges associated with managing the storage of blood, with the historic blood contamination scandal in the UK continuing to make headlines into the present. While the scandal was unrelated to labelling specifically, it shone a light on the potential dangers of inadequate quality control within this process, and, of course, the potential consequences for patients/recipients at the end of it. In the present, accurate and compliant labelling is therefore a central part of ensuring the safety of patients in blood transfusion services. It is a high stakes situation and the consequences are potentially fatal. Ensuring accuracy must therefore remain a top priority for everyone involved in transfusion services.

Investing in robust labelling solutions for safer healthcare

For many professionals in the pharmacies and blood services, the solution to these problems is turning to more reliable, high-quality printers that can stand up to the demands of their industries. In these environments, producing durable, legible labels that withstand scuffing and temperature fluctuations is essential for improving patient safety and avoiding the operational bottlenecks that low-quality printers can cause in terms of queues and increased downtime. In these settings, modern advancements in printing technology can make a real difference.

Pharmacies can rely on more robust and reliable label printing technology that reduces the risk of printer failure. When pharmacies deploy high-quality printing solutions, they can reduce errors and prevent dispensing delays caused by frequent downtime and maintenance in lower quality products. Additionally, these modern high-quality printers can also deliver consistent clear label outputs, which is crucial for patient safety.

When it comes to storing blood bags properly, ensuring compliance with ISO 3826 standards remains a key priority. Utilising high-quality printers, labels, and adhesives specifically designed for blood bag applications can help to safeguard against contamination risks. As part of this, hospitals and blood banks should also ensure that labelling systems are fully integrated with digital tracking solutions too, to allow for real-time monitoring and to reduce the risk of misidentification and risk to patient safety.

Labels may represent a small fraction of overall healthcare costs, but they play an outsized role in ensuring that medicines and blood products are used safely and effectively. Ensuring the reliability of labelling systems must remain a key priority for pharmacies, hospitals, and the wider blood bank chain too. By investing in reliable labelling technologies and materials, healthcare providers can reduce risks, streamline operations and, most importantly, protect lives.

About the author

Neil Baker is the head of auto-ID sales for Northern Europe at BIXOLON Europe GmbH, where he works closely with partners across the UK, Benelux, and the Nordics. Since joining the company in 2023, Baker has drawn on his extensive background in the label and auto-ID printing industry to help drive growth and innovation. His focus includes expanding opportunities in both established markets and emerging sectors such as RFID and linerless technologies.