Cath Lab Basics 2015 AHP meeting: summary

BCIS Cath Lab Basics March 2015

One of the many functions of the BCIS AHP Working Group is to help with the education of other AHPs who may be involved in coronary intervention. The first catheter lab basics meeting that we organised was held in March 2013 in London, at the Royal Free Hospital. The following year it was hosted by Manchester Royal Infirmary. The third course was held in March 2015 at the Golden Jubilee Hospital in Glasgow. As usual, I arranged to attend the meeting to present on radiation protection and identifying coronary arteries. I also helped with the arrangements for the two-day course. To get from Manchester to Glasgow takes about 4 hours by car, 3 hours by train or 50 minutes by aeroplane. Naturally, I chose the “quick” option. So I met Dr Fraser in the departure lounge at Manchester Airport at about 7.30pm for our 8.15pm flight. “On time”, said the screens. Soon it was postponed to 8.45, then 9.00, then 9.40 and finally 10.15. The departure lounge was deserted, apart from the unfortunates booked on our flight. We had been given a voucher for a meal on the way to the gate, but all the outlets had closed for the evening. When we got to the gate, the aircraft was half the size of the one that had been booked. There was nowhere for my case. It was rather cramped, but otherwise satisfactory until 10 minutes before landing we were told that we would not be landing at Glasgow, but at Edinburgh. “Don’t worry though, there will be taxis to take you onto Glasgow” came the tannoy. So the unfortunate 36 of us (on the plane) trampled out to the waiting people carriers and were loaded onto vehicles. An hour or so later we were in the city centre and some passengers were dumped and others, ourselves included, loaded onto another taxi for the onward journey to our hotel. God knows how long that took, but we finally reached the reception at 1.40am and our rooms at 2.00 am. How we ran the meeting, I don’t know, but the meeting was once again a resounding success. The moral of this story is that I shall never try the quickest route to Glasgow again.

Bryan Walker Clinical Lead Radiographer – Manchester Heart Centre Radiographer representative, BCIS AHP Working Group June 2015