Events during September 2023

Managing change with compassion

The debate about performance and sustainability of our healthcare services is often reduced to a questions of money and beds are there enough of either? Both are back ups to the more important question - are there enough staff?

The size and complexity of the workforce challenge means there will need to be concerted and sustained action across the system on workforce planning, training, retention, productivity, job roles and creating workplace cultures - that demonstrates staff are valued. For our sector, action is needed both in the short term and the long term to support the workforce and meet the needs of our service and how this will meet the wider healthcare service for patients.

This presentation will look at how leaders at all levels need to work collectively to address our workforce challenge and how we can together take action at a local, regional and national level.

Generation X,Y,Z: Ageism in the workplace and its impact on service delivery

Problems can happen when we least expect them. Loss of a key building, a cyber-attack or a system failure, interruption to a utility supply, severe weather, critical equipment failure, supply chain disruption or even a significant loss of staff. Sooner or later every organization will need to deal with issues like these and if there's no plan the outcomes could be far worse than they need to be. This is why services must maintain a critical incident response plan and a wide range of business continuity plans, having a structured approach for managing these unplanned disruptions.

Business continuity planning is just one part of a much bigger risk management process. We prepare for emergencies, not just because we're legally required to do so, but because patients, donors, and the wider NHS rely on our services being available every day.

There are four main scenarios all good business continuity plans should consider:

Loss of staff
Loss of the workplace
Loss of equipment and consumables and
Loss of ICT systems
The process should be one of a cycle of preparedness including

Risk Management or identification
Planning
Training
Exercising
Lessons identified

There are complex regulatory changes taking place across the UK and the EU, which could have a significant impact on laboratory services. This session will cover what you need to know to keep on top of this and know what actions you should be taking for compliance.

Nuisance Antibodies

If you're interested in blood groups, blood group serology, transfusion or just want to know "what the hell is Kell?" then this talk is for you...

This presentation on the Kell Blood group system will cover the following;

An entertaining overview of the Kell blood group system
Structure, function and molecular background of the most well-known Kell blood group system antigens
Clinical significance of antibodies to Kell blood group system antigens
The association with the Kx blood group system
Interesting facts about the lesser known Kell Blood group system antigens

Help, nothing compatible

Who lives in a papaya under the sea? SpongeBob Alloadsorption Pants! A Transfusion Laboratory Perspective of AIHA

Explanation of the various serological and molecular techniques that are available to identify novel blood groups. Discussing how these cases may present within the hospital and RCI labortories through to publication and ratification at the International Society of Blood Transfusion.