What is Canadian Blood Services’ National Facilities Redevelopment Program?
Canadian Blood Services manages inventory through a national supply chain. When Canadian Blood Services assumed responsibility for the national blood system in 1998, it operated out of existing buildings formerly held by the Red Cross. In 2005, funding from Canada’s provinces and territories facilitated the launch of a program designed to modernize facilities and provide more efficient services.
Focused on improving and modernizing our facilities across Canada, the vision was to develop a model for all sites that was designed to enhance operational efficiency, align with future needs, and ensure a viable, safe, and cost-effective infrastructure, and that better serves donors as well as hospital customers. A well-designed model means access to a more extensive inventory of different blood group components across the country and would help Canadian Blood Services to better meet their commitment to deliver the right product, at the right place, at the right time.
The beginning of the National Facilities Redevelopment Program (NFRP) focused on the Maritimes and South-Central Ontario. Phase one included new state-of-the-art production and distribution facilities in Brampton, Ontario and in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. This first phase of the NFRP was recently completed with the opening of a new testing laboratory integrated with the operations centre in Brampton.
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What’s next?
Phase two of this initiative focuses on Western Canada and is already well underway.
This phase includes a new production and distribution facility in Calgary, Alberta, a new clinic in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan and a collection facility in Calgary’s Eau Claire Market. The new blood donor clinic has already opened in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan and on July 10th, Canadian Blood Services celebrated the opening of its largest blood donation clinic centre in the country located on the second floor of Eau Claire Market in Calgary. On May 19, 2017, construction began for a new operations centre in Calgary, which is set to open in 2020. Located on Barlow Trail, the new operations centre will be closer to major transportation routes than the current downtown location.
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