Patient blood management (PBM) is a multifaceted approach to reducing allogenic blood transfusion (ABT) in the surgical population. In this podcast Professor Manuel Munoz, a haematologist from Malaga in Spain, talks to us about the way in which a PBM program functions to reduce ABT and in so doing, can have a dramatic impact on patient morbidity and mortality. One of the cornerstones of PBM is the detection and treatment of preoperative anaemia which is in itself an independent and potentially modifiable risk factor in both elective and emergency surgery. Professor Munoz dispels some of the widely held misconceptions regarding anaemia, talks through the implications of starting surgery with sub-optimal haemoglobin levels and describes some of the effective and surprisingly expeditious treatments available in the preoperative period.