“On this World Sickle Day, I am determined that the NHS continues to make progress in the support it offers to people with sickle cell, so every individual with this disease feels able to seek help when they need it.”
The NHS wants every person living with sickle cell to have timely and responsive specialist haematology input into their care, especially when they present in crisis.
Specialist
Steph George, a 31-year-old sickle patient and advocate from North London, said of the new units: “I think it will be very, very positive and I am quite excited to hear this is happening – not having to navigate A&E and being able to go straight to the specialist unit if I’m ever sick will be great.”
NHS England is also committing to ensuring every person living with sickle cell has access to a digital care plan. This will allow healthcare professionals to access a patient’s care plan thus enabling seamless care.
From this month, patients will also be given a card to help identify them as a sickle cell patient and speed up access to appropriate support when they attend A&E.
On the new patient cards, Steph said: “I am very happy about that because it will take away a lot of the stress, because now I don’t have to explain my illness to someone when I’m feeling unwell.”
Anele Onwuka, a 54-year-old filmmaker from Willesden Green in London, has been treated for sickle cell at his local Hyperacute Unit in Hammersmith Hospital for over 20 years and said: “I usually have a crisis about 3-6 times a year, however over the last 15 months I have used the unit far more frequently due to a spine condition that brings on more crises.
“When I present at the HAU in extreme pain, the nurses and doctors have access to my personal care plan, and I am given morphine to ease the pain. Because I am known to the HAU and the team there are familiar with sickle cell, I am treated quickly. This means it is normally a short term stay and I don’t have to be admitted to hospital.
“It is very good that more people will now have access to HAUs. I am pleased that I never have to go to A&E and explain over and over about sickle cell because it is an invisible condition. HAUs are essential to improving our experience as patients.”
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