The Haemophilia Treatment Centre (HTC) at Aluva and the Haemophilia Centre at Newcastle Upon Tyne Hospitals of the NHS Foundation Trust, England, are likely to have a twinning programme with the support of the World Federation of Haemophilia to raise the level of patient care at the Aluva centre.
The twinning programme is expected to be finalised after an assessment of the HTC, which is scheduled for mid-May. “Most of the formalities are getting completed for the programme,” said Dr. N. Vijayakumar, in-charge of the HTC unit.
While the twinning programme will look into the upgradation of services at the Aluva HTC unit, the Newcastle centre will adopt a a comprehensive approach, i.e., what is the nature of the current organisation where the centre is functioning, its funding and the level of care available. The team will examine the registry of patients at the centre, facilities for inpatients and outpatients. It will also assess the provision of blood products and factor concentrate at the centre and laboratory services for coagulation testing and blood transfusion.
Therapeutic care at the centre will be assessed for medical expertise and training in adult and paediatric haemophilia care. Specialist nursing care and physiotherapy care are key elements of a haemophilia centre.
Other aspects of the centre that will be inspected are access to allied health professionals like orthopaedic surgeon, dental surgeon, obstetrician/gynaecologist, psychologist and social worker. The team will assess the protocols at the centre for haemophilia management. According to Dr. Vijayakumar, though the centre is not bad on the therapeutic side, physiotherapy and laboratory services are poor. He said the twinning programme would help raise the standard of haemophilia care at the centre.
