Donald and Kay with Wendy Littlejohn, Transplant Co-ordination Services
Our founder Kay Duffy and Donald Cairnduff, our chair, spent just over 24 hours at King’s from the afternoon of Sunday 22nd November to the afternoon of Monday 23rd November on a fact-finding visit. They had a very full schedule of meetings that Kay had arranged in advance and returned much better informed than when they left.
Meeting with Martin Vaux, Chair of the Listen Charity
Martin met Donald and Kay on Sunday afternoon and talked about the work of the Listen charity, now 10 years old. He also showed us the areas of the Hospital that liver patients and their families become very familiar with and the new Listen Lodge accommodation. He mentioned meetings held once a month by Listen which are a great support to relatives and carers.
Left to Right – Donald Cairnduff, Kay Duffy, Wendy Littlejohn and Paul McKee (Social Worker)
Patient Advice and Liaison Service
Kay and Donald visited their office and Carol explained that PALS dealt with concerns about accommodation and concerns about the treatment of patients that could not be sorted out at ward level. They are also a fund of willing information about life in Camberwell – bus routes, directions, taxis etc.
They had other meetings and visited areas of the hospital over the course of a busy two days. Any information regarding new procedures in King’s will now be updated in the FAQ’s section of our website and in any documents our Patient Care team use when offering advice.
Conclusion
Our two hard-working representatives said afterwards “At the end of the visit, we knew a good deal more about King’s and King’s knew a good deal more about us. This was exactly what we had aimed to achieve. A very satisfying couple of days’ work”.
As a result of this visit our Support Group are in an even better position to give the best advice to patients going across to King’s.
