PathWest shores up emergency supplies of vital blood culture bottles amid global shortage

A global shortage of crucial blood culture bottles threatening patient care has forced the Cook Government to buy emergency back-up supplies for WA. It comes as WA Health is also grappling with a worldwide shortage of intravenous fluids because of an issue with an overseas manufacturer. Intravenous fluids contain saline and sometimes other additives used in routine and critical medical care such as surgery or resuscitation. Several State health departments have warned of supply disruptions, including NSW Health which issued a safety alert over critical shortages. But WA’s Health Department was confident it had adequate levels of IV fluid stock to continue operating as usual. “Our clinical, patient safety and contracting teams are also working together, looking at ways to preserve our current stock and find safe and appropriate alternative products,” a spokesperson said on Friday. “The department is working closely with the Therapeutic Goods Administration to identify further solutions.” WA’s government-owned pathology service PathWest last week awarded a contract for the emergency purchase of blood culture bottles to provide a buffer in response to a worldwide shortage. Thousands of blood culture vials are used in WA public hospitals each week for detecting and managing bloodstream infections in patients. The $163,000 contract was described in tender documents as an “emergency requirement to procure other blood culture bottles, due to developing global shortage by the incumbent contractor”. The US Food and Drug Administration recently warned that disruption to supply of BD Bactec blood culture media bottles was expected to impact patient diagnosis and follow-up patient management, urging doctors to ration their use. BD Diagnostic Solutions, one of the world’s largest global medical technology companies, said it understood the critical role that blood culture testing played in diagnosing and treating infections. “Customers have been advised to prioritise the use of blood culture vials based on clinical needs,” BD’s worldwide president Nikos Pavlidis said. A spokesperson for PathWest said its contingency planning had ensured there were “currently” no restrictions on doctors ordering patient tests in WA. “Since being notified of the temporary worldwide shortage of blood culture bottles, PathWest has actively worked with suppliers and health authorities to maintain uninterrupted diagnostic capability to WA Health and the WA community,” the spokesperson said. “As part of its normal business continuity planning, PathWest purchased additional blood culture stock when the temporary shortage was first announced and has also sourced blood culture bottles from an alternative supplier as further reassurance of providing an uninterrupted service during the expected period of shortage.” Australian Medical Association WA president Michael Page said doctors were confident they would be able to get through the supply disruption without it becoming a crisis. A spokesperson for Thermo Fisher Scientific, which was awarded the PathWest contract, said it was calibrating its global production to meet additional demand where there was a critical need.