The Red Cell Network educational day - 29 January 2024
On 29 January, The Red Cell Network hosted a hybrid educational day at the Hallam Conference Centre in Fitzrovia and on MS Teams.
The event included lectures from esteemed colleagues, on topics ranging from the psychology of pain to fertility in haemoglobinopathies.
All 6 lectures are available on our YouTube playlist. Our thanks go to Pfizer for sponsoring this event.
Following a successful funding application to Health Education England, NHS Blood and Transplant, and Dr Sara Trompeter (Consultant Haematologist and Paediatric Haematologist, University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (UCLH) /NHSBT) have developed an animation package to illustrate the principles of manual red cell exchange in patients with sickle cell disease. The package has two animated videos, one for patients less than 40kg and one for those 40kg and above.
The videos can be accessed via YouTube and is also available via a link on the Hospital & Science website. Examples of documentation that teams may find useful and can adapt to reflect local practice, are also available on the website.
Whilst this is not intended to be a complete training programme, we hope it will be a useful addition to local training or, in the absence of an existing programme, be the inspiration to develop one.
Dr Perla Eleftheriou Consultant Haematologist from UCLH gave two pre-recorded presentations which were available to watch prior to the event and are available to watch using the links below:
- Complications and Treatment Advances in Sickle Cell Disease
- Sickle Cell Disease: What Should Nurses Know?
The live event on 24 June 2021 was chaired by Bernadette Hylton, The Red Cell Network Education Matron and included case presentations and Q&A sessions with a multidisciplinary panel:
- Perla Eleftheriou, Consultant Haematologist (UCLH)
- Sara Trompeter, Consultant Haematologist (UCLH)
- Matty Asante-Owusu, Community Matron (The Whittington)
- Ruth Anderson, Honorary Counselor (UCLH)
Recordings of the live event are now available to watch below.
The Red Cell Network held their virtual Thalassaemia Study Day on Wednesday 2 March 2022. Professionals from the Network led on a variety of topics pertaining to Thalassaemia and two service users kindly talked about their lived experiences and hosted a Q&A session. Please click on the following links to view the session recordings.
Introduction to Thalassamia, Genetics and Types - Dr Perla Eleftheriou, Consultant Haematologist, UCLH
Chelation - Professor John Porter, Consultant Haematologist, UCLH
The Role of the CNS - Christopher Dean, HCC Education Lead CNS, UCLH
Psychology - Ruth Anderson, Honorary Counselor, UCLH
Patient Experience - Neelam and Mike
The Red Cell Network held their virtual Sickle Study Day on Wednesday 26 January 2022. Professionals from across the Network led on a variety of topics pertaining to Sickle Cell and a service user with Sickle Cell Disease hosted a Q+A session for his lived experience.
You can watch the presentations given on the day by clicking on the links below:
What is Sickle Cell 1 & What is Sickle Cell 2 Genetics and Pathophysiology – Dr Emma Drasar, The Whittington Hospital and UCLH
Sickle Cell in the Community – Matty Asante-Owusu and Grace Adjei-Chukwu, The Whittington Hospital
Pain Management in Sickle Cell Disease – Complex Pain Team, UCLH
Treatment Options in Sickle Cell Disease – Dr Ryan Mullally, The Whittington Hospital and UCLH
Patient Experience – Patient CC
Dr Ben Carpenter, consultant haematologist at UCLH hosted a teaching session on stem cell transplant in children and adolescents with haemoglobinopathies. There was a focus on sickle cell as well as the exciting developments in the CRISPR trial for gene therapy/editing in thalassaemia.
To view the recording of this educational session, please see below:
The Red Cell Network hosted a session on 'Chelation in Thalassaemia' as part of the National Education Programme.
The session was jointly delivered by Dr Emma Drasar, Consultant Haematologist at Whittington Health and UCLH, Emma Presscott, Thalassaemia CNS at Whittington Health and Christopher Dean, Red Cell CNS at UCLH.
This session hosted by Dr Ryan Mullally, Consultant Haematologist provided an overview of pregnancy in sickle cell disorder and the complexities you may face.
This session hosted by Dr Perla Eleftheriou, consultant haematologist provided an overview of chelation therapies in haemoglobinopathies, covering Deferrasirox, Deferiprone and Desferrioxamine.
This educational session was hosted by Emma Prescott, thalassaemia nurse specialist from Whittington Health NHS Trust.
The teaching revolved around pregnancy in Thalassaemia and the management of these individuals.
This educational seminar was hosted by Chris Dean, HCC Education lead CNS. The session focused on the importance of transition into the adult service for adolescents living with haemoglobinopathy conditions, and how best to prepare the adolescent for the adult service.
Topics covered included:
- What is transition?
- Why is it important?
- When to start?
- What does it look like & what models are there?
- The non-compliant adolescent
Dr Ben Carpenter, consultant haematologist, UCLH hosted a very informative educational session on Cellular Therapies and the REDRESS Trial.
Edith Aimiuwu, paediatric haemoglobinopathy clinical nurse specialist at Whittington Health delivered an educational session on Thalassaemia in Childhood. Topics covered included:
- Paediatric Transfusion
- When to start transfusions in the paediatric patient
- Complications management
- Iron overload in paediatrics