Tomás, Louis and Aoife’s visit to University Hospital Southampton
University Hospital Southampton recently hosted their largest visit to date, inviting Haemophilia A patients Tomás and Louis to the lab, along with their super supportive sister Aoife, mum Francesca and dad David. It was a real family day out, especially considering that the group had to travel quite a long way to visit.
It was a proper family day out - and a special one, especially as the family had travelled a long way to be there. Because they were already coming in for clinic, the team worked hard to fit the tour in between blood tests and appointments, so they didn’t have to make the journey twice.
This tour was a little different to the usual format, and that was largely down to one question from Tomás.
He wanted to know:
How does factor VIII help clotting?
To help answer it, the family were taken into the coagulation department, which isn’t always part of the standard tour. There, they met the Senior Biomedical Scientist in the section and got a closer look at how coagulation testing works, including how samples are processed and how reagents are prepared. They also learned more about centrifugation and got to see the analysers used to run tests like the ones Tomás and Louis rely on.
Although the tour had to wrap up before the family made it to transfusion or had time for the emotions volcano activity, the extra stop in coagulation was more than worth it. The family have been invited back in the future if they’d like to finish the full tour.
Chloe Aman, who helped lead the visit, said:
It is really important to be flexible and go with the needs of your patients rather that follow a set plan. They got the most out of their visit by seeing the analysers that are used to run their tests, even if it didn’t fit my usual tour format!
The visit highlighted the importance of flexibility and tailoring Harvey’s Lab Tours to the needs and interests of each patient. By seeing the analysers used to run their own tests, Tomás and Louis were able to connect what happens in the clinic with the work carried out behind the scenes in the laboratory.
