On the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the UK national health service (NHS), Scotblood 2008 featured an opulent array of presentations encompassing the beginnings of the scottish national blood transfusion service (SNBTS), through featuring progress on hepatitis C, to the advancing role of nursing in transfusion medicine, translational medicine, and trauma encountered in military transfusion. This commentary comprises summaries of the presentations, based in part on the abstracts provided by the speakers.