{"id":787,"date":"2016-06-26T08:49:23","date_gmt":"2016-06-26T07:49:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.glynns.co.uk\/blog\/?p=787"},"modified":"2016-06-21T16:50:40","modified_gmt":"2016-06-21T15:50:40","slug":"sickle-cell-disease-nhs-must-improve-awareness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.glynns.co.uk\/blog\/sickle-cell-disease-nhs-must-improve-awareness\/","title":{"rendered":"Sickle Cell Disease: NHS Must Improve Awareness"},"content":{"rendered":"

NHS nurses require more training to improve their understanding of sickle cell disease, experts have warned.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) has said there is a \u201cvery poor level of awareness\u201d regarding the disease, which can be fatal if the correct treatment is not given.<\/span><\/p>\n

Sickle cell disease is the broad term for genetic conditions that affect the development of red blood cells, such as sickle cell anaemia.<\/span><\/p>\n

Around 15,000 people in the UK suffer from the condition. They are at risk of developing sickle cell crises, where the abnormally shaped cells get stuck in blood vessels.<\/span><\/p>\n

Sickle cell crisis<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

A sickle cell crisis is severely painful. It can also damage the organs and tissues, meaning emergency treatment is needed if fatal complications are to be avoided. <\/span><\/p>\n

Carey Johnson, a specialist nurse in adult sickle cell disease, said: \u201cThere are some really good specialist services in pockets around the country, but too many people have to rely on general hospitals and A&E, where there is a very poor level of awareness.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

She added that healthcare staff should be provided with \u201cbetter training about the condition.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

This supports the findings of a survey carried out in December 2015, in which patients with sickle cell disease were asked if they thought NHS staff had a competent knowledge of the illness.<\/span><\/p>\n

All the recipients had received urgent or emergency care within the past six months, and only 45% thought nurses had a good understanding of sickle cell disease.<\/span><\/p>\n

Janet Davies, chief executive and general secretary of the RCN, said: \u201cNurses are clearly saying that there is not enough training for healthcare staff working in general settings on sickle cell disease.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cPeople who are already suffering a great deal of pain need the very best, and most informed care.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Failure to treat sickle cell crisis<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

If you or your loved one has suffered because medical practitioners failed to treat a sickle cell crisis, there could be a case of medical negligence. Please get in touch with us to find out more. <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NHS nurses require more training to improve their understanding of sickle cell disease, experts have warned. The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) has said there is a \u201cvery poor level of awareness\u201d regarding the disease, which can be fatal if the correct treatment is not given. Sickle cell disease is the broad term for genetic […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[875,873,871,874,872],"class_list":["post-787","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-accident-and-emergency","tag-death-from-sickle-cell-crisis","tag-sickle-cell-anaemia","tag-sickle-cell-crisis","tag-sickle-cell-crisis-not-diagnosed","tag-sickle-cell-disease"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.glynns.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/787","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.glynns.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.glynns.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.glynns.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.glynns.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=787"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.glynns.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/787\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":788,"href":"https:\/\/www.glynns.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/787\/revisions\/788"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.glynns.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=787"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.glynns.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=787"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.glynns.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=787"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}