October has been a tumultuous month on the political scene but thankfully, things have run very smoothly here at Kent ENT Partnership! We continue to be fully booked across all our clinics and operating lists. As part of our continued expansion, Mr Hone has gained practicing privileges at Benenden Hospital and will start offering his services there in November.
Mr Hone and Mr Al-lami attended the South East Society of Head and Neck in London. The regional meeting included a discussion about collaboration to help improve and develop services across the region. Mr Al-lami presented an educational case at the meeting, involving the management of a challenging airway pathology case in East Kent and Mr Hone gave a presentation on activities across East Kent.
Mr Hone has attended a Head and Neck ultrasound course in Swansea with a view to start performing ultrasound guided biopsies on neck lumps within his practice.
Mr Al-lami presented at the regional Tumour Site Specific Group bi-annual meeting involving East and West Kent multi-disciplinary team members including surgeons, oncologists, radiologists, specialist nurses, speech and language therapists, dieticians and cancer alliance management personnel. He discussed the Head and Neck robotic surgery rationale and gave an update on the PATHOS clinical trial on behalf the East Kent multi-disciplinary team. PATHOS was set up jointly by Mr Al-lami and Mr Hone who have now recruited numerous patients to the trial.
As part of his role as principle investigator for PATHOS, Mr Hone attended an update day on the governance and requirements needed to be principle investigator for clinical trials.
Both consultants welcomed and undertook the departmental induction of the new ENT Registrars at East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust. The ENT Department has been ranked 2nd best ENT training unit in the country due to our excellent reputation.
In other news, Mr Hone cycled the London to Brighton Bike Ride and raised nearly £1,000 for his chosen charity, Great Ormond Street Hospital. He completed the 55 mile route in 4 ½ hours. Mr Al-lami has been enjoying regular trips to see his beloved Arsenal play football at the Emirates Stadium and is very happy to report they are doing very well at the moment and are top of the table as we write!
We look forward to seeing you in clinic again soon and wish you all the best of health as we move towards the winter months.