Here’s how Anthony Nolan jumped into action at the onset of COVID-19:
- We set up our emergency ‘Handover Hub’ at Heathrow Airport. This means international couriers, who can’t go into hospitals due to quarantine rules, can handover donated stem cells to one of our UK volunteers for the final lifesaving leg.
- To support the wellbeing of patients, we set up our free Telephone Emotional Support service. This enables patients to discuss any concerns they may have around transplant or recovery with wellbeing specialists. If you think this service might be helpful to you, or you would like to find out more, please email our team to arrange an appointment at: patientinfo@anthonynolan.org
- Our Policy & Public Affairs Team have been supporting the work of transplant clinicians during the pandemic through NHS clinical groups. We have also enabled clinicians and community organisations from across the UK to meet regularly and actioned changes in clinical services.
- Through listening and learning from the experiences of stem cell transplant patients, we have produced a report which offers a snapshot view of treatment and care in the context of COVID-19’s onset. You can read the report here.
- As with many research organisations at the start of the pandemic, we saw our labs closed and our research temporarily paused. We have since worked to introduce new social distancing measures and restart much of our research. Charity-funded research is at particular risk as a result of the pandemic. That’s why together with the Association of Medical Research Charities (AMRC), we’re calling on the UK Government to support #ResearchAtRisk with a Life Sciences-Charity Partnership Fund. This co-investment scheme would provide a level of match funding from Government for future charity research over the next three years.