Meet a haematologist

Dr Pratima Chowdary is a consultant in the Haemophilia Centre at the Royal Free Hospital in London. Here, Dr Chowdary gives some advice for people with haemophilia and their families.

I’m Pratima Chowdary. I work as a consultant in the Haemophilia Centre at the Royal Free Hospital.

What’s your advice for people with haemophilia and their families?

I think as a patient it’s important for you and everybody within your family to acknowledge that healthcare comes with a certain amount of workload, whether it is related to the number of injections you have to do, it’s the number of appointments you have to go to, or the records that you need to kind of keep. It’s very important for you to discuss this with your consultant when some changes are made to your regiment, whether it will work for you or you would prefer an alternative arrangement. Unless you have this frank discussion, your clinical team really cannot help you.

What are your tips for a successful consultation?

I think one thing that helps any consultation is writing down what you want to ask the doctor, because it’s very common for patients to leave the room and think, oh, I wanted to ask this or I wanted to ask that. I think a common example I’ve given to patients is that nobody ever remembers what breakfast they had about three weeks back.

Every patient has got their own unique needs, and I think it’s important for you to write down what is important for you, because it will not be the same as the other patient and what the consultant says may not be always be relevant to your particular context. But for it be relevant, it’s very important for you to share your personal circumstances.