Our recent full-day in-person conference in Birmingham for nurses & allied healthcare practitioners brought 100 nurses together to learn the latest clinical approaches to diagnosing and treating genetic haemochromatosis. The event was over-subscribed and proved very popular with a wide range of NHS trusts and health boards.

The atmosphere was electric, "the event well run with excellent speakers and good discussion" noted one attendee. Attendees had travelled from across the UK & Republic of Ireland to share and discuss venesection best practice with peers from both the NHS and independent sectors. We were also delighted to be joined by a delegate from New Zealand's Blood Donation Service, who had travelled specially from the other side of the world to attend!

Delegates enjoyed a range of presentations from Haemochromatosis UK, NHS Blood & Transplant, the Welsh Blood Service, Mersey & West Lancashire NHS Trust, Cardiff & Vale University Health Board and Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust.

 

Topics included 'uncommon' forms of iron overload, the role of non-invasive Fibroscan in nursing-led GH care, the role of blood donation within the GH care pathway, Welsh perspectives on GH care & common patient issues and how to resolve them. 

The Royal College of Nursing supported the event by accrediting it for 6 CPD hours, which delegates can use to demonstrate continuing professional development as part of their regulatory revalidation.

After lunch, the meeting split into working groups for an interactive workshop to consider Venesection Best Practice - The Next Steps. This led to some spirited exchanges which illustrated how variable GH care is across the country.

One delegate asked how she could standardise patient care when the three consultants on her unit all had different views of the levels to venesect patients to. "Why can't they agree on one treatment protocol?" she asked.

After the workshop, our specialist nurses Diogo and Vik have worked hard to collate all the feedback so our Venesection Best Practice Guidance can be fully revised and updated. The guide is now undergoing formal accreditation with the Royal College of Nurses - we hope the new 3rd edition will be published soon.

Overall the event was scored 90% Net Promoter Score by delegates, with lots of lovely post-event feedback :

• "Presentations were well prepared and I have been able to take a lot away from this which will certainly help me in providing the best care for our patients with haemochromatosis."
• "Really enjoyed networking with nurses and health professionals from all over the country."
• "Found the course very interesting and learnt a lot."
• "Such a great event to learn more about haemochromatosis. The talks by each specialist group were so informative, now i feel able to answer more questions that our patients have. To network with specialist nurses and learn what works well for other nhs trusts caring for haemochromatosis patients."
• "It has been my first formal teaching session on HFE although I have been managing the clinics for a couple of years."
• "excellent speakers and great networking"

Our thanks to everyone who attended and provided such engaged and thoughtful perspectives on how to improve nursing best practice for GH care.

Above : Delegates from Shrewsbury, Cardiff & Auckland (New Zealand) enjoying the professional networking.

Below : Clinical nursing specialists Jen & Rachel from NW Anglia Trust with HUK's CEO Neil McClements

In response to demand, Haemochromatosis UK is organising a further Nursing Study Day in March 2025 in Newcastle on Friday 7th March 2025. Early bird pricing is available until 30th November.

Places are limited and can be booked online.