Brent sickle cell and thalassaemia centre

Our specialist sickle cell and thalassaemia service cares for you from birth and throughout adulthood both in hospital and in the community.

Location: Central Middlesex and Northwick Park Hospitals
Division: Integrated medicine

Our specialist sickle cell and thalassaemia service cares for you from birth and throughout adulthood both in hospital and in the community.

Our team is made up of specialist nurses, doctors, psychologist and a social worker.

We are based at Central Middlesex and Northwick Park Hospitals. Our community team is based at the Brent Sickle Cell and Thalassaemia Centre (BSCTC), on the Central Middlesex Hospital site.

We provide:

• adult acute and community support services
• paediatric acute and community support services
• antenatal screening and follow up care
• neonatal screening and follow up care
• genetic testing
• psychology services
• a social worker for our patients
• a patient support group.

We are also involved in:

• the North West London Haemoglobinopathy Managed Clinical Network (MCN)
• the National Haemoglobinopathy register 
• education, training and research 
• producing publications, DVDs and other multimedia resources
• providing a dedicated website for information and education of professionals and the general public about sickle cell disease and thalassaemia.

All our clinics take place at Central Middlesex Hospital.

Children's clinic

• every Tuesday afternoon
• 2pm-5pm
• Rainbow Children's Centre, paediatric outpatients, ground floor
• to book, change or cancel an appointment, please call 0208 453 2292.

Adults' clinic

• every Tuesday morning
• 9am - 1pm
• haematology department, second floor
• to book, change or cancel an appointment, please call 0208 453 2292.

Transcranial Doppler (TCD) ultrasound scanning clinic

• monthly on a Saturday
• haematology department, second floor.
• for children from two years old upwards.
• to change a TCD appointment, please call 0208 453 2275.

Emergency Care

• If you need emergency care, please go to the Emergency Department at Northwick Park Hospital.
• If you attend the Emergency Department and need to be admitted, you will be admitted to Drake Ward or to James Ward.
• Please note that there are no emergency or inpatient services at Central Middlesex Hospital. You should not go to the Urgent Care Centre at Central Middlesex Hospital if you require emergency sickle cell and thalassaemia care.

Medial Day Care Unit

• Our adult Medical Day Care Unit is based at Central Middlesex Hospital.
• It is open during normal working hours (9am - 5pm, Monday to Friday), and is closed at bank holidays and weekends.
• It offers procedures such as:
  • blood transfusions
  • automated red blood cell exchange transfusions
  • care if you suffer from an acute, uncomplicated, sickle cell pain crisis.
• You can come to the Unit for blood transfusion and other therapies if you have thalassaemia.

Medical Day Care Sickle Cell Pain Crisis Service

• Our adult day care unit provides medical and nursing care between 9am and 4pm.
• To use this service you must call 0208 453 2562 for a telephone assessment with a nurse, and you must arrive by 11am. This makes sure that we have enough time to manage your pain crisis.
• If you are not well enough to go home after 4pm, we will make arrangements to admit you to hospital.

Inpatient care

• Our inpatient care is provided on Drake Ward or James Ward at Northwick Park Hospital.

In normal working hours

If your child is unwell in normal working hours (9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday), please call the Paediatric Day Care Unit (PDCU) on 020 8869 3131 or 0208 869 3437.

You can take your child straight to PDCU during normal working hours, where specialist doctors and nurses will see your child. However, it is better to call us and let us know that you are coming so we can prepare for your child's arrival.

When you call, ask to speak to the nurse in charge and explain that your child has sickle cell or thalassaemia and is under the care of Dr Afif and Dr Cho.

Outside normal working hours

If your child is unwell outside normal working hours, please take your child to the Emergency Department at Northwick Park Hospital.

If your child needs to stay in hospital, they will be admitted to the paediatric inpatient ward, Jack's Place.

The Emergency Department, inpatient and day care sickle cell and thalassaemia children's services are located at Northwick Park hospital. Please do not take your child to Central Middlesex hospital for emergency sickle cell or thalassaemia care.

The Brent Sickle Cell and Thalassaemia Centre (BSCTC) provides care to you if you have sickle cell disease or thalassaemia and are:

• any age and live in Brent
• aged between 0 and 16 and live in Harrow.

We do not provide an adult service for people who live in Harrow.

We provide:

• blood tests to identify if someone has sickle cell, thalassaemia or G6PD
• counselling for pregnant women and their partners. This helps us to identify couples who are at risk of having a child with any of these genetic conditions, and offers them an opportunity to make an informed choice about the pregnancy.
• visits for newly diagnosed new born babies, to keep parents fully informed about what care they need
• counselling and support for you and your families, either at the Centre or, if needed, by visiting you at home
• visits for you if you are admitted to hospital
• education and advice for schools, colleges, universities, religious establishments, community groups, and other organisation.
• psychology services.
• social worker support for you if you live locally.

Awareness and education

One of our key aims is to raise public awareness about caring for people with sickle cell disease and thalassaemia. We do this through community publicity campaigns, offering teaching at educational facilities and other organisations, and training or advising other healthcare professionals.

We also provide:

• health promotion leaflets
• books
• DVDs
• a dedicated website
• other multimedia resources.

If you are interested in any of these services, please get in touch by calling us on 0208 453 2050 or 0208 453 2052.

Contact us at Central Middlesex Hospital

• Paediatric outpatient clinic clerk: 020 8453 229
• Rainbow paediatric outpatient clinic: 020 8453 2065 (Tuesday afternoon only)
• Adult outpatient clinic clerk: 020 8453 2292
• Adult Medical Day Care (MDC) unit

Contact us at Northwick Park Hospital

• Paediatric Day Care Unit (PDCU): 020 8869 3131 Ward Manager and 020 8869 3437 unit
• Paediatric Emergency Department: 0208 869 5090
• Paediatric inpatient ward (Jack's Place)
• Carroll Ward

Contact Sickle Cell and Thalassaemia psychology

Contact the Brent Sickle Cell and Thalassaemia Centre

• 0208 453 2050
• 0208 453 2052

If you are living with sickle cell disease or thalassaemia, you may find the following organisations helpful:

• Brent Sickle Cell and Thalassaemia Centre
• Sickle Cell Society
• United Kingdom Thalassaemia Society
• NHS Sickle Cell and Thalassaemia Newborn Screening Programme
• British Association for Behavioural & Cognitive Psychotherapies (BABCP)