The London Clinic Thrombosis Service recognised
nationally
The London Clinic has recently been formally
recognised as a national Demonstration Centre for best practice for
venous thromboembolism (VTE). The comprehensive Thrombosis Service
has been developed over the last 2 years, when the London Clinic
recognised the importance of thrombosis (DVT and pulmonary embolus)
in the hospital setting and the fact that nationally it was a major
cause of preventable morbidity and mortality. Across the nation
more than 25 000 people die each year due to VTE, with many more
people who have had a VTE event suffering chronic ill health as a
result.
A recent key report from the Chief Medical
Officer on (VTE) highlighted the continuing challenge to encourage
widespread adoption of current knowledge in the prevention and
management of VTE across the nation. In his forward to the report
the Chief Medical Officer, Sir Liam Donaldson, commented that ‘VTE
has for many years been a Cinderella issue, and it is not by
accident that VTE is known internationally as the silent
killer.’
The CMOs report recommended that institutions
with an existing track record of excellent VTE management should be
identified as Demonstration Centres for best practice. The London
Clinic is one of only two Demonstration Centres in England and is
the only centre in the independent sector.
The Clinic’s role of as a Demonstration
Centre, aside from demonstration of best practice, is to work as a
partner to the Department of Health to inform development of
comparable local systems in hospitals and other institutions across
the country. In addition, the Demonstration Centres will work
together with the National Centre for Anticoagulation Training to
develop a national risk assessment strategy and provide centralised
educational material to support local educational programmes on VTE
management and prevention.
Professor John Pasi, who along with Professor
Ajay Kakkar, leads the Thrombosis Service said ‘It is a great
accolade for the Clinic to be acknowledged as a Department of
Health exemplar partner and Demonstration Centre for best practice
for VTE. It is also a testament to the commitment of all the staff
across the Clinic who had worked to develop and implement the
Thrombosis Service over the last two years. We are delighted that
the Clinic can work so closely with the Department of Health’s
important national initiative in this area.’
As well as its expanded role within the
Demonstration Centre, the Thrombosis Service also provides an
advisory service, offering details of risk reduction treatments on
travel-related DVT, as well as assessments for patients who have a
strong family history of thrombotic disease or for those simply
seeking advice about their potential risk of developing the
disease.
Written by Professor K John
Pasi MB ChB PhD FRCP FRCPath FRCPCH
Professor and Consultant
Haematologist
More about the
thrombosis service at The London Clinic |
The Department of Health - venous thromboembolism
(VTE)