9 August, 2024
The World Federation of Haemophilia (WFH) supports international twinning programmes between Haemophilia treatment centres across the globe in order to share experiences and learning. Haemophilia treatment centres are matched according to their resources so that countries whose treatment centres are more developed can assist countries who wish to develop their services for people living with haemophilia and bleeding disorders.
In 2019, the Haemophilia treatment centres at the National Coagulation Centre, St James’s Hospital and Children’s Health Ireland, Crumlin were twinned with the Haemophilia centre at Al Bashir Hospital, Amman, Jordan. Despite the global pandemic, the haemophilia team members in both countries maintained a close working relationship through in-person visits from the Irish team in 2019 and 2022 and through tele-twinning. Improvements in haemophilia care in Al Bashir Hospital include improved laboratory testing for haemophilia, better pathways to access orthopaedics and rehabilitation medicine, enhanced traceability for clotting factor concentrates and more integrated multidisciplinary teamwork. The WFH recognised the success of the twinning partnership by awarding the Irish and Jordanian teams their “Twins of the Year 2022” award.
In July 2024, the team from Jordan visited Dublin and spent time in both the NCC and in CHI, Crumlin observing best practice, with the visit theme of “Multidisciplinary team work in Haemophilia care”. The “Twins of the Year 2022” award was unveiled in the NCC, the visitors made a presentation of a special decorative memento from Jordan to Mary Day, CEO and the teams from NCC, CHI and Jordan enjoyed a tour of Trinity College Dublin to mark the occasion.