It's World Sickle Cell Day, and the NHS Modernisation Bill, which proposes a single patient record bringing together a patient's full medical history in one place, has just reached committee stage in Parliament.
In this episode, we speak with Professor Arlene Wellman MBE: a senior nurse leader and strategic adviser at the Florence Nightingale Foundation with over 27 years' experience across the NHS, and the first internationally educated nurse to serve as a Group Chief Nurse. She's also the mother of a son living with sickle cell disorder.
We talk about what it's like to repeatedly explain a chronic condition mid-crisis, the gaps in NHS information-sharing that can cost real harm, and whether the single patient record will actually reach the people who need it most, the ambulance crew at 2am, the unfamiliar A&E department, the moment when missing information is the difference between fast treatment and dangerous delay.
Guest: Professor Arlene Wellman MBE, Florence Nightingale Foundation
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