Patients with sickle cell disease are let down by lack of coordinated NHS care, report finds

NHS sickle cell services need to be redesigned to meet the needs of patients, some of whom are being badly let down during crisis episodes by having to advise staff how to treat them and having to monitor their drug doses while in agony, a review has said.1

Ad hoc, paper care plans should be replaced with digital plans that include medicine tracking and wearable, monitoring technology, recommended the study carried out by the consultancy Public Digital, which was commissioned by the NHS Race and Health Observatory to explore the experiences of people undergoing acute emergency hospital admissions for sickle cell disease and managing crisis episodes at home.

Inconsistent use of care plans …