The ‘life changing’ impact of the team at the Blood Borne Virus (BBV) Outpatient Clinic at UHW has been praised by the Minister for Health.
Vaughan Gething AM, the Cabinet Secretary for Health Wellbeing and Sport, met the team during a visit to the hospital and was impressed with their work.
He spoke with staff and was told about their role as part of the national programme and some of the innovate steps the team are taking.
Mr Gething said: “I was delighted to meet the team, to see people from nursing, specialist nurses, people who run the clinic and some of the consultants too.
“To see that this is an all Wales team based here in Cardiff and see really high quality care, but really innovative care as well, where clinicians are taking a lead together on how to deliver a better service with better outcomes for patients.”
The BBV clinic principally looks after patients with hepatitis B and C. It is designed to be as close to a one stop shop as possible at present. Patients that attend have access to a medical opinion, a specialist nurse consultation, a specialist pharmacist consultation and a fibroscan – a non invasive method for assessing liver disease funded by Welsh Government. Phlebotomy is carried out on site and treatment started and monitored within the clinic.
Dr Brendan Healy, the Consultant in Consultant in Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, said the team were pleased to have the opportunity to highlight their work.
He said: “There’s been great progress in this care in recent years due to support from within the health board and from Welsh Government.
“There are a number of ideas that are being developed within the team, like a programme to improve patient management, that could have benefit for patients in other parts of Wales.
“The feedback from patients about the service is positive and it was good for the Minister to hear for himself about the impact it is having on their lives.”
Mr Gething added: “It was really important for me to meet some of those patients and understand the real life changing impact that the team has here in the clinic.
“A really proud day for me to meet some of those people and see first-hand the high quality care that the health service delivers across Wales.”
