Author: Amy

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A Consultant Anaesthetist from the Royal Stoke University Hospital is taking on Wales’ highest point just three months after surviving COVID-19.

Dr Murali Vallabhaneni, Consultant Anaesthetist from the University Hospitals of North Midlands (UHNM) found himself needing the care of colleagues after becoming ill with the virus at the beginning of May.

After spending two weeks in the Critical Care Unit (CCU) at Royal Stoke, Dr Vallabhaneni will be scaling Mount Snowdon on Saturday 15 August to raise funds for UHNM Charity and thank the staff who saved his life.  

Dr Vallabhaneni said: “At the beginning of May I started to feel unwell with severe head and body aches, so went into self-isolation. Around a week later my condition deteriorated, and I started to develop severe shortness of breath, so called for an ambulance.

“I was considered to be very poorly, so was admitted to the CCU at Royal Stoke, where I was given hi-flow oxygen. Unfortunately my oxygen levels became dangerously low, so it was decided to put me on a ventilator.”    

Dr Vallabhaneni, who provides anaesthetic services to Critical Care, Oncology and Vascular patients, spent five days on the ventilator before being considered well enough to be weaned off it.

He said: “My condition had deteriorated significantly, enough so to give my colleagues a very anxious three days. When I woke up I was very weak and unable to perform even simple tasks, so was totally reliant on the care of the Critical Care staff. I stayed on CCU for a further four days before finally being discharged from hospital after three weeks.”

Speaking about his recovery, Dr Vallabhaneni said: “During the same period my wife also tested positive for COVID-19 and started to self-isolate, so it was very challenging for my two children who had to look after themselves more. When I got home I was very short of breath, even walking short distances left me breathless. I’d lost 10kg and had severe muscle wasting.

“My Critical Care colleagues said it would take up to four months to get back to normal and return to work, but I was determined to work hard and make an early recovery. The support I received over the next few weeks from my wife, children, friends and colleagues was immense and invaluable, and I made significant improvements. 

Dr Vallabhaneni is planning to make the 3,559 foot trek to the summit of Snowdon with his 13-year-old son Rohan and colleagues from UHNM.

Dr Vallabhaneni added: “Throughout my Critical Care stay, the staff on the Unit were incredible. Despite working in difficult conditions wearing full PPE, they continued to perform their duties and provided the highest quality of care to all patients, including myself. I decided to attempt my Snowdon climb as wanted to challenge myself and raise as much money as possible to improve the working environment and patient experience on the Unit that did so much for me.”  

Donations to Dr Vallabhaneni’s appeal can be made online here.

If you would like to fundraise for UHNM Charity visit www.uhnmcharity.org.uk for more information, or call 01782 676444 to speak to one of the UHNM Charity team.

UHNM’s post-graduate team have been busy rewarding colleagues who ‘stepped up’ during the pandemic. There was an overwhelming response to the plea for nominations and trainers and trainees from across the Trust have been recognised.

More than 20 nominations were received in the trainee teams category, with a further 15 individual trainees nominated for their hard work and dedication during the last five months.

Dr Will Carroll, Consultant Paediatrician, said: “The last four months have been extraordinary and we wanted to do something to recognise our trainee doctors and congratulate them for their immense efforts in supporting the hospital.  I have been overwhelmed by the response, particularly from our consultants, who have expressed how grateful they have been to the teams.”

He added: “Our trainees, together with FY1 medical students, gave up their time and came in early and they deserve to be given recognition for the quality patient care they have been able to provide at such a challenging time.”

Dr Prabhjoyt Kler (pictured below) received numerous nominations and was recognised for her work ethic and compassion.

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She said: “I would like to thank every person who took the time to nominate me for this award. I am amazed by the kindness that has been shown. I am only a small part of the amazing teams I have worked with and they have been inspirational in their efforts to get through this pandemic. It has been a pleasure to work alongside so many fantastic colleagues and consultants who are the true winners of this award.”

See the full list of winners …

Trainee Prize

Haematology middle grade
Ward 14
Infectious Diseases
Cardiology Registrars
Cardiology Junior Trainees
Paediatric Trainees
Cardiology Juniors
Critical Care Trainees
Anaesthetic and Critical Care Trainees
Paediatric Middle Grade
Cardiology Trainees
ED SHO group
Ophthalmology Trainees
Anaesthetic Trainees
Elderly Care
Neurology
PICU Juniors
Harplands Ward 5
Urology and Vascular Registrars

Individual Trainees

Hinesh Patel: Anaesthetics
Helen McCreedy (FiY1)
Jaimie Marchall (FiY1)
Andrew Dickson (CT2)
Prabhjoyt Kler (ST5 anaesthetics)
Mohanad Elhassan
William Osborne
Laura Kocierz
Steve Lord
Edwin Halliday
Rosa Sun
Freya Dulson
Benjamin Rowlands
Ben Clarke

Trainer Team

COVID-19 Taskforce – Theatres
PICU and General Consultants
Anaesthesia and Theatre PDT
Jointly awarded: PICU, COVID Taskforce

Trainers

Dr John Alexander
Dr Diane Barker
Dr Duckett
Dr Adam Farmer
Miss Aideen Walsh
Dr Zia Din
Mr Jinesh Shah

Generic tutorials of the TestReach system are now available on the RCoA website for candidates who wish to view the system prior to receiving a personal log in three weeks before the test date.  There are tutorials for standard delivery, dyslexia and candidates with sight issues.

The tutorials are in TestReach’s Flexible canvas, which will be used for the live test. In this canvas, candidates can adjust the panel size and highlight and annotate text.

Calculators are not permitted in the examinations, therefore the calculator option shown in these tutorials will not be available in the live version of the test. 

With kind regards

The Exams Team

Fiona Daniels​  |  Head of Examinations Royal College of Anaesthetists Telephone: +44 20 7092 1566  |  Web: www.rcoa.ac.uk

Karen Morris​  |  Regional Representatives Coordinator Royal College of Anaesthetists Churchill House | 35 Red Lion Square London | WC1R 4SG Email: kmorris@rcoa.ac.uk Direct Line: +44 20 7092 1573

Please find advert and job description for more information.

More than 170 NHS hospitals are involved with a ground-breaking genetics study in the fight against Coronavirus. GenOMICC (Genetics Of Mortality In Critical Care) aims to sequence the genomes of 20,000 people severely ill with COVID-19. The study will help clinicians to gain a better understanding of people’s varying susceptibility to the disease, as well as its differing effects, and support the search for treatments. Staff from UHNM’s research team work on the frontline in Critical Care to recruit patients at the most serious stage of the disease.

Dr Nageswar Bandla, Consultant in Critical Care and Anaesthetics, and Principal Investigator for the GenOMICC  study at UHNM, said: “Susceptibility to COVID-19 is almost certainly, in part, genetic. GenOMICC can find the genes that cause susceptibility, which may help us to prioritise treatments to respond to the global crisis. Since 2016, the open, global GenOMICC collaboration has been recruiting patients with emerging infections, including COVID-19. Any COVID-19 patient requiring continuous cardiorespiratory monitoring or invasive mechanical ventilation are eligible for inclusion.

“Our research team work on the frontline, putting themselves  in harm’s way to sign patients up to the trial. They do this because they know that every piece of data we gather will help in our fight. We need to look at DNA from thousands of people to find the genes which cause susceptibility to COVID-19 and other infectious diseases. This is urgent because if we can achieve it, we may be able to find treatments that will ultimately save lives.”

UHNM has so far recruited 29 patients to the study. The ground-breaking research may help explain why some patients with COVID-19 experience a mild infection, while others require intensive care and for some it is sadly fatal. By discovering why some are predisposed to developing life-threatening symptoms, the initiative will enable new insights into how the virus works, as well as possible human factors that influence the effects of the disease – and whether a combination of both shape outcomes for patients.

Professor Jeremy Kirk, Clinical Director of the NIHR (National Institute for Health Research) Clinical Research Network West Midlands said: “This is a fantastic recruitment effort by the team at UHNM.  We have supported them to get this study up and running in a very short time and hope that their contribution and that of the patients will soon produce new insights into COVID-19.”

Dr Kenneth Baillie, Chief Investigator on the GenOMICC study, said: “Our genes play a role in determining who becomes desperately sick with infections like COVID-19. Understanding these genes will help us to choose treatments for clinical trials.  We are now recruiting in over 170 ICUs across the country and I am delighted to be working with UHNM to deliver this important work.”

Chris Wigley, CEO of Genomics England said: “NHS Trusts are absolutely vital to the national response to this terrible pandemic, so I am extremely glad that UHNM has joined our efforts to gain new insights into how this virus affects us. With their help, and with the support and understanding of thousands of patients and their families, we hope we will be able to build identify treatments which have the best chance of success in clinical trials, and build on the work of the 100,000 Genomes Project to develop strong infrastructure for the future.”

URGENT NOTICE

Please see below notification from HEE regarding the postponement of Anaesthetic’s National Recruitment.

Please see attached letter, which has been emailed out to all, today. Note that it includes the cancellation of tomorrows Primary Teaching at Royal Stoke (Thu 12 March 2020). Apologies for the short notice but i’m sure you will understand the reasons. Please ensure your rota master/college tutor are aware you are now available to be redeployed as you will not be attending these teaching sessions. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact the Stoke School of Anaesthesia Admin’ Office.

Dr Felicity Avann, an Anaesthetic Trainee at UHNM has been helping Senegalese people on the Africa Mercy Ship. Mercy Ships is an international charity that deploys hospital ships staffed by volunteers to help those in low-income and lower-middle-income countries have access to basic surgical care. During her time on the ship Felicity helped to run three operating theatres anaesthetising for maxillofacial, general surgery, plastic surgery and ENT operations and has found it incredibly rewarding. She said: “While I was on the ship I helped teach local Senegal anaesthetic nurses and doctors and I was also honoured to give a presentation at the weekly anaesthetic seminar. I was very impressed by the dedication and professionalism of the volunteers and I highly recommend it to anyone.”

A child’s life has been saved, thanks to the quick action of staff in UHNM’s emergency care centre. The patient, who had sustained a traumatic brain injury, received essential expert care from Royal Stoke’s emergency medicine team, spending less than 60 minutes at the site before being quickly transferred to Birmingham Children’s Hospital. Over an intensive 30-minute period, a range of staff from across the field of emergency medicine came together to analyse the extent of the child’s injuries and administer lifesaving care.

Earlier in the year, Dr Chinery and colleagues had been training in County Hospital’s Extended Reality Lab (ERL), where by coincidence they had worked on a simulation which covered very similar circumstances. The lab offers an immersive virtual reality training experience and allows any setting to be projected onto blank walls, taking away the need for lengthy set up when providing simulated training in a ward, emergency resus area or pre-hospital environment.

Dr James Chinery, (far left), Consultant in Trauma Anaesthesia and pre-hospital emergency medicine, said: “The training we had undertaken at the ERL had a direct benefit to this patient’s care as it meant we were able to put the right processes in place as quickly as possible. However, knowing what to do would have counted for little without the impressive work of the team of Outreach, Adult, and Children’s emergency nursing staff, who were all outstanding. I am particularly grateful to Helen Bloor, who ably accompanied me on the transfer and to my colleague Dr Mike Greenway, who volunteered to cover Code Red trauma calls during my absence from the hospital whilst I undertook the transfer. This is a moment where I felt truly proud to care. I had a sense that we had delivered something really impressive for this lad, giving him the very best of medical and nursing care, something which we should all be genuinely proud of as an organisation.”

The team have been given the Chief Executive’s Award in recognition of their services.

Tracy Bullock, Chief Executive, said: “I remember hearing about this and just thinking “wow!”  This award epitomises the great skill and expertise that these guys have, as well as the passion for caring for our patients. Their work has a huge impact on patients’ lives and in this case the young man that needed their help. I really thank them for all that they do.”