Local Nurse Short-Listed for Patient Choice Award in Westminster

Comfort Lafa (pictured left), a local nurse from University Hospital Lewisham, was short-listed for an award by the Anticoagulation Self-Monitoring Alliance (ACSMA) at their Patients Choice Awards event in Parliament last week. She was nominated by Yvonne Wren (pictured right).

The awards event celebrated the work of dedicated health professionals in the NHS who have helped people on long-term warfarin treatment to monitor their own blood clotting level. Comfort was short-listed for the category of outstanding individual.

Earlier this year, ACSMA invited their network of members to nominate their top health professionals across the UK. The response was overwhelming. ACSMA received nominations from patients for specialist nurses, GPs and hospital consultants who are regarded as having gone above and beyond the call of duty for their patients.

ACSMA comprises four of the UK's leading charities and patient groups  - Anticoagultaion Europe; the Children's Heart Federation; the AF Association and the Mechanical Heart Valve Support Group. The healthcare company Roche is also part of the alliance. It was set up to campaign for patients on long-term warfarin to have greater access to self-monitoring technology on prescription. Self-monitoring devices are a safe, convenient and accurate way to provide a blood-clotting level - it takes less than a minute to complete.

I am delighted that Comfort was short-listed for a Patient Choice Award for her work with patients to promote and support self-monitoring. Self-monitoring devices are a win-win situation: a win for the NHS, helping to reduce potentially life-threatening numbers of strokes and save money, and a win for the patient, increasing their independence and ability to control their long-term health conditions.