The situation is changing daily, as are updates from the Government. You can find out the latest Government advice by regularly checking in on www.gov.uk or here.

WEBINARS

  • We held an interactive webinar on Tuesday, 24 March with Dr Sujith Samarasinghe from Great Ormond Street Hospital, London focusing on paediatric AA and the impact of Coronavirus. You can read the full transcript - here.
  • We are holding a webinar with focus on adult AA and PNH and the impact of Coronavirus at 5pm (GMT) on Tuesday, 31 March, with Dr Shreyans Gandhi from King's College Hospital, London. Please e-mail [email protected] to register.

ADVICE

  • Advice from King's College Hospital Heamatology Team for aplastic anaemia patients, 27.3.2020 - here.
  • Advice for children and young people with haematology and oncology diagnoses at Great Ormond Street Hospital - here.
  • Advice for patients (transplant and CAR T) from Department of Clinical Haematology, King's College Hospital - here.
  • The latest advice from Public Health England for shielding the most vulnerable - here.

The latest advice for Bone Marrow Transplant Patients:

  • The latest guidance from the UK/Ireland Paediatric BMT Group: GUIDELINES FOR COVID19 IN PAED HSCT PATIENTS is available here
  • The latest guidance from the British Society of Blood and Marrow Transplantation and Cellular Therapy for BMT adult patients is available here

Earlier advice 

In response to the Coronavirus virus outbreak, the One Cancer Voice group of charities, which the AAT is a part of, and the EBMT group (European Society for Blood and Marrow Transplantation) have a developed some helpful guidance for people with cancer and those with a suppressed immune system.

Whilst aplastic anaemia is not a cancer, patients undergoing treatment will have weakened immune systems, therefore we feel the guidance is relevant.

You can access the guidance, presented in FAQ format - here. We will continue to add additional information as this becomes available. 

We understand that the NHS has conducted extensive work on supply chains to ensure a secure supply of necessary drugs and other requirements such as the radionuclides used in some imaging tests.

Some people with cancer or with a weakened immune system are more at risk of becoming seriously ill if they contract the COVID-19 infection (commonly known as the Coronavirus), including:

• People having chemotherapy, or who have received chemotherapy in the last 3 months
• People having immunotherapy or other continuing antibody treatments for cancer
• People having other targeted cancer treatments which can affect the immune system, such as protein kinase inhibitors
• People having intensive (radical) radiotherapy for lung cancer
• People who have had bone marrow or stem cell transplants in the last 6 months, or who are still taking immunosuppression drugs
• People with some types of blood cancer which damage the immune system, even if they have not needed treatment (for example, chronic leukaemia, lymphoma or myeloma).

Cancer treatment providers may also seek to minimise the time people in these groups spend in hospital departments, for example by enabling them to consult their hospital teams by telephone, and having blood tests done at GP surgeries or at home where this is possible.

For more information about COVID-19 and how to reduce the risk of infection people should consult the NHS website.