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West of Scotland Region
The West of
Scotland Transplant Coordinators cover a wide geographical area of
approx 180 miles along the West coast of Scotland, this area
includes Dumfries in the Borders and Fort William which is situated
about 100 miles from Glasgow.
The team are based at the Western Infirmary in Glasgow’s West End;
unfortunately the Bohemian nature of this area can result in
expensive sandwiches at lunch time!
The West of Scotland team is looking forward to the BTS Congress
which is being hosted in Glasgow 2008; team leader Deirdre Walsh is
one of the local organisers. Other forthcoming events involving the
team include the British Transplant Games, 26th to 29th July 2007;
Ros O’Sullivan has been involved with Transplant Sports UK for many
years and is on the organising committee for the forthcoming
Edinburgh Games.
The ‘Loveseat’ is a permanent memorial to donors from this region
and is housed as a permanent exhibit in the Kelvingrove Museum and
Art Gallery. The Loveseat is a unique collaboration between Kidney
Research UK and West of Scotland Transplant Coordinators, the
prestigious site of the memorial in Kelvingrove Museum, now
considered one of the finest museums in Britain, can only raise
awareness and serve as a poignant reminder of the gift of life left
by others.
In 2004 the team held a very successful remembrance service for
donor families in the Bute Hall of Glasgow University; a second
service is planned for later this year.
A pilot ‘In House Coordinator’ scheme is being discussed with our
regional Neuro centre, UK Transplant support the concept of IHC and
we hope that this will be a successful transition towards a full
time IHC post in the future.
Devolution of health issues to the Scottish Executive can often mean
we run parallel services to that of the rest of the UK. With the
support of the Scottish Executive, we are able to run a successful
Secondary School education program; this fits in with the theme of
‘Citizenship’ in the national curriculum.
We are happy to be contacted about any aspect of our role and would
be pleased to hear from our colleagues throughout the UK and Eire;
we wish the UKTCA every success in the future and would encourage
coordinators throughout the country to support this vital
independent association.
The next team to be featured in this section will be the North
Thames Transplant Coordinators.
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