UK Keratoconus Self-Help and Support Association

Ok folks, I know Anne will be taking action on the radio front, so I thought I'd start a new thread, could stickied by Admin please?

This is so we can all place writing/speaking requests for volunteers and updates of what we're doing individually and collectively.

I emailed Nursing Times about dwindling eye donations/longer waiting lists as a consequence and some of the fears/misconceptions people may have around agreeing to eyes when registering as an organ donor and they have given a positive response:

Would you be interested in writing a piece about this for the website? We'd be looking for a maximum of 750 words, with particular emphasis on the role nurses can play.

I look forward to hearing from you,
Gabriel

Gabriel Fleming | Online editor| Nursing Times
EMAP
Greater London House
Hampstead Road
London
NW1 7EJ
Tel: 0207 728 3717
www.nursingtimes.net



Would anyone be interested in writing this? Please reply soonish then either I can reply and offer your name or you can reply.

Hubby is a nursing student so shall nag him in the morning / when he wakes up to get his views then will report back later on with what the outcome is

Lea
xox

Thanks Lea he would be ideal as a nursing student with a partner with KC, get him to look at the points Gareth and I raise in the waiting list thread because these are issues nurses could address with people in their work
Lx

Heis thinking bout it x

Nurses [and students] are in a good position in schools, general practise, critical care and health education to speak of organ donation dispelling the myths and giving info about how eyes are used and that giving sight is 'life saving'

http://www.organdonation.nhs.uk/ukt/sta ... p38-43.pdf

Take a look at this.
From what i can gather there are many more 'cornea only' donors than those that donate other organs too.
Also it looks like there were about 2000 more corneas donated than were used in transplantation, any ideas why? how come the waiting list is 12 months when the statistics show there is many nore donated than are used?

Just some food for thought

Tom, there's a lot of stats here to take in. But in the text it does say that only 72% of the donated corneas were suitable for transplantation, and gives reasons why the remainder had to be rejected. Elsewhere on that website in the cornea transplantation factsheet it says that there is an annual shortage of 500 corneas. So I think the shortage is genuine.
Anne
(Good to know you're feeling up to searching websites after yesterday's experience. Hope you're feeling less traumatised today and wish you good healing).
Anne

Just a quick note.

One of the questions i asked my consultant today was about the waiting time for a cornea, and should i sign up for my second eye now as the waiting list is 12 months+

He replied that the actual waiting time for a cornea at present is less than 4 months.
Its the theatre time on the NHS that has a 12 month+ list.

ah that places a different light on it, I wonder why the theatre time is limited, lack of staff?

I suspect that theatre time waiting lists may be due more to the way in which ophthalmological operating theatres have to be furnished with special equipment. Many hospitals will have only one theatre equipped so that the volume of work carried out by an individual hospital may displace operations into the remote future. For each of my own transplants I had to wait only a matter of weeks rather than years. (NHS in Scotland in in the nation's gold standard hospital)

Andrew