Let's Talk Health and Care Podcast Episode #13: The Fragile Lifeline | Reinventing How We Make and Move Blood

In this episode of Let’s Talk Health and Care, Marc Griffiths and Peter Briddle explore the hidden complexities of the blood supply chain and the radical innovations that could transform it. Our guests in this episode, Professor Wendy Phillips, Dean for Research and Enterprise, and Dr Helen Sanderson, Senior Research Fellow, both from the College of Business and Law at UWE Bristol, share insights drawn from a decade of pioneering research into redistributed manufacturing and next‑generation blood products. Together, they discuss: Why the blood supply chain is far more vulnerable and complex than most people realise Their work to address battlefield blood supply challenges Emerging innovations including walk‑in blood banks, freeze‑dried plasma, and lab‑grown red blood cells Ethical and cultural questions around artificial versus donated blood How military‑driven innovation could strengthen resilience across the NHS and civilian healthcare What the next 5–10 years could look like as technology reshapes how and where we manufacture blood This episode offers a fascinating look at the future of life‑saving care, from regulation to innovation pipelines to the possibility of “better‑than‑natural” blood. The Redistributed Manufacturing in Healthcare Network: ⁠www.RiHN.org.uk