Severe Bleeding Disorder Cards may save lives

SEVERE Bleeding Disorder Alert Cards have been issued to persons with severe Haemophilia to assist hospital staff to ensure these patients get immediate appropriate treatment for their condition in hospital Emergency Departments.

The new cards have been issued by Specialist Treatment Centres for the condition at the National Centre for Hereditary Coagulation Disorders, St James’s Hospital, Dublin, Our Lady’s Children’s Hospital, Crumlin, Dublin and Cork University Hospital.

The card will alert Emergency Department staff that the individual has a severe bleeding disorder and give contact details for one of the Specialist Treatment Centres.

The HSE has contacted the country’s acute hospitals making them aware that if a person with severe haemophilia attends at their Emergency Department, they may carry the card. The cards give contact numbers where expert advice can be obtained on immediate treatment required.

People with severe Haemophilia need to be treated with factor concentrates for any bleeding episode without delay and each hospital in the State stocks an emergency supply of these medications.