Good news Portsmouth QA hospital (Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust) hosted Harvey's Gang:
Nathan
Hunt, Blood
Sciences Laboratory Manager for Portsmouth writes; "our first Harvey's gang tour on
Thursday of last week. Our first patient was Sam, an 8 year old boy with
immunodeficiency which required a Bone Marrow Transplant (BMT). He was accompanied by his older brother
Liam and his Dad. Unfortunately the other little boy was too sick to attend
but Paediatrics were able to speak to the family of two brothers, Abdullaah and
Abdurrahman, with beta Thalassaemia and they were able to attend at short
notice with their Dad.
They were greeted by the CEO Mark Cubbon and the Trust
Chairperson, Melloney Poole where they also received their Harvey's Gang lab coats (a
favourite with everyone including the staff) and Harvey's Gang goodie bags before splitting
into two groups to have a look around Blood Bank, Haematology, Flow (Sam only)
and Screening (Abdullaah and Abdurrahman only).
There were interactive
‘experiments’ in Blood bank and some pressing of buttons in Haematology.
Everyone seemed to really enjoy the tour and feedback from the the Paediatric Consultants, parents and also the staff involved was very positive and appreciative.
There is a wash up meeting planned for later this week and some fund raising events also in the pipeline (we do love cake in pathology!). (isn't that the truth! comment by Malcolm)
I have also suggested some lunchtime educational meetings for the staff based on the conditions the boys have, to complete the loop as it were, as some of the lab staff do not have a great deal of knowledge of these particular conditions. I will keep you updated re the fundraising."