Specialist sickle cell and thalassaemia centre to open at Homerton Hospital

A new day care centre for sickle cell and thalassaemia patients will be opened at Homerton Hospital this Thursday.

The unit will be based in the Bryning Unit at the hospital in Homerton Row.

Sickle cell disease is an inherited disorder of the red blood cells which predominately affects people of African and Caribbean heritage, while thalassaemia is the name given to a group of inherited blood disorders affecting the body’s ability to create red blood cells.

Homerton manages over 300 local people with the condition and also provides advice and support for those who aren’t themselves affected but ‘carry’ the condition, and could pass it on to their children.

The new expanded day care facility offers immediate access to expert doctors and nurses, together with all the other innovations which have been put in place over the past 12 months.

“These include a psychology and social care liaison service, together with equipment to deliver efficient automated red cell exchange blood transfusions which, I believe, will make a global impact on our patients’ quality of life,” said consultant haematologist Dr Roger Amos.