Heartbeat September 2018

Over 2,000 people view our
outstanding end of life service
PRIMARY CARE, COMMUNITIES
AND THERAPIES
A new video has been made to
showcase our connected palliative
care service, which was rated as
outstanding by the Care Quality
Commission.
The two-minute video, which was
produced in-house, has reached more
than 2,000 people on Facebook and
helped the team to promote its services
to the wider community.
Heartbeat caught up with Anna Lock,
Palliative Medicine Consultant, to find
out more about the new video. Anna
said: “Our team thought that producing
a video would help us to introduce our
services to more people.
“It was great to work with the
communications team to carry out this
Patient, Margaret Mandis features in the
two minute video and describes how our
connected palliative care service helped her
project. We were involved throughout
whole the production process; from drafting
scripts and getting our colleagues to star in
the video, to helping to edit the clips and
pull the final video together.”
She added: “The video shows how our
teams work together to provide integrated
care for patients and their families. Having
a mix of doctors, nurses, and patients in the
video is a good way of helping people to
easily understand the way we work and the
different roles people play.
“We also filmed a patient speaking about
how using one of our services had helped
ease her mind, which I thought was very
powerful. We believe the feedback will give
patients and their families confidence in
using our services.
“The video was put on a number of
platforms, such as our external website,
Connect, and social media pages.
“Sandwell and West Birmingham Clinical
Commissioning Group also plan to upload
the video onto its website.
“We will include the video in our online
newsletters, which will be sent across to
acute, community services, primary care
partners and care homes.”
If you would like to watch the video,
please visit https://www.swbh.nhs.uk/
services/connected-palliative-care/
Dermatology team scoop prestigious
award for their new research findings
A 10-year research project which
explores the link between skin
cancer and organ transplantation
in children has been awarded
‘Best Scientific Session paper’
by the British Association of
Dermatologists.
The study called a ‘10-year longitudinal
follow-up study of a UK paediatric
transplant population to assess for skin
cancer’, has been published this month
in the British Journal of Dermatology
and has found no evidence to support
the link between skin cancer and organ
transplants in children, as has been seen
in adults.
Lead researcher, Dr Michelle Thomson,
Consultant Dermatologist, said:
“Research has shown that adults, who
are recipients of organs, are very likely to
develop skin cancer due to side effects
of the medication used to help prevent
the immune system from attacking
(“rejecting”) the donor organ.
“We know that skin cancer accounts for
13 to 55 per cent of all cancers in adults
who have undergone a transplant.
“However, the connection between skin
cancer and organ transplantation in
children had not been explored before.
“In that light, we started this study in
2004 where we recruited 90 patients aged
between five and 15, who had undergone
transplants including liver, kidney, and
multi-organs.
“We met 45 of the patients again in 2014
to study their progress. Whilst none of
them showed symptoms for skin cancer,
11 patients had developed more than 50
benign moles over the decade.
“This was a concerning sign, as having
more than 50 means the patient is at high
risk of developing melanoma, a type of skin
cancer.”
Dr Thomson added that they also found
patients had very little knowledge of how
to look after their skin.
“Seventy-eight per cent of patients reported
sunburn whilst 22 per cent of them
admitted they had been using sunbeds
regularly.
“We believe that children, who are organ
recipients, still remain at risk of developing
skin cancer. Therefore, our recommendation
is to have a skin cancer surveillance system
in place, where organ recipients can visit
skin experts to check their skin regularly,
and young patients should be more
educated about looking after their skin.”
The study was carried out by skin experts
from our organisation, University Hospitals
Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust, and
Birmingham Women’s and Children’s NHS
Foundation Trust. Dr Michele Thomson
added: “It has been a great journey and I’m
so proud of my team for their hard work
and contribution.
“I also want to thank the British Association
of Dermatologists for recognising this
study.”
Consultant Dermatologist, Dr Michelle
Thomson presenting their research findings
at the British Association of Dermatologists
annual conference
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