Thoracic Aortic Aneurysm Forum

On 5th April 2014, LHCH opened its doors to the 4th Thoracic Aortic Aneurysm Patient / Family & Physician Forum. The event was again organised by Michael Roberts, Aortic Advanced Nurse Practitioner and Sarah Bradley, PA to the Aortic Team.

Forty patients and family members arrived at the forum where they were soon seated with tea and coffee in hand. The day was started by Michael Roberts introducing Miss Deborah Harrington, the newest Consultant Cardiac/Aortic Surgeon to join the Aortic Team, and she gave the first of her talks: ‘The aorta and aortic aneurysms’.

Miss Harrington later followed this with a second session: ‘Which aortic surgery a patient may need to undergo’ and this generated a lot of questions from the audience.

This was followed by two former patients, Neil Towers (who had undergone emergency surgery following an aortic dissection), explaining about the Aortic Patient Support Group that meets every two months at LHCH and how it supports both new and old patients and their families undergoing thoracic aortic aneurysm surgery.

Another patient Paul Massey (who had undergone elective surgery to his aortic aneurysm) then shared his story and his journey from admission to discharge, He demonstrated through a very colourful presentation his love of mountain biking, kart racing and all things active demonstrating that there is life after thoracic aortic aneurysm surgery.

Finally, Matthew Shaw a Senior Clinical Information Analyst gave a brief overview of “Patient Reported Outcome Measures (PROMS) and Quality of Life in Aortic Surgery”. He explained what PROMs were and that we were hoping to apply some of the same thinking to patients undergoing aortic surgery, with a view to hopefully recruiting some patients for interviews or focus group sessions and then develop things further.

In the afternoon, patients and their family members were provided with a short tour of the theatre, led by Gary Theobald and Neil Rawlings. They provided insight into what the patient goes through when undergoing aortic surgery.

The day was a great success and many of the patients and their families found it to be informative whilst providing an opportunity to meet others with a similar aortic condition.  

For further information on the Aortic Patient Support Group or anything else related to aortic aneurysms please contact:

Michael Roberts 
Aortic Advanced Nurse Practitioner 
Tel: 0151 600 1006 or michael.roberts@lhch.nhs.uk