Online patient event: Pulmonary fibrosis patient education day

10am – 10.10am

Introduction and welcome by Dr Lisa Spencer and Louise Wright, CEO for Pulmonary Fibrosis Charity

Session 1: Bloods, blowing, biopsies and scans - how we use these tests to investigate ILD patients

10.10am – 11.10am 

Session chair: Dr Aravind Ponnuswarmy, lung consultant, Countess of Chester Hospital, Chester

• What blowing tests are all about: Dr Angela Key, chief respiratory physiologist, Aintree Hospital, Liverpool
• What chest X-rays and chest CT scans tell us: Dr Erica Thwaite, consultant lung radiologist, Aintree Hospital, Liverpool
• ILD blood tests and the role of genetics in the diagnosis and management of ILD: Dr Helen Parfrey, lung consultant, Papworth Hospital, Cambridge
• Bronchoscopy, washes and lung biopsy: Dr Will Kent, lung consultant, Royal Liverpool Hospital, Liverpool
• Questions and answers

Session 2: London Calling - Different forms of ILD and how they are diagnosed

11.10am – 12.20pm

Session chair: Dr Lisa Spencer, lung consultant, Aintree Hospital, Liverpool

• A general approach to ILD diagnosis: Professor Athol Wells
• How ILD doctors make a diagnosis - an insight into the multidisciplinary team discussion: Dr Peter George, Professor Athol Wells, Dr Sujal Desai and Dr Andrew Nicholson
• Questions and answers

Session 3: Merseyside Calling - Treatment for ILD

12.50pm – 2.20pm

Session chair: Dr Sarah Sibley, lung consultant, Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital, Liverpool

• Antifibrotic drug therapy: Dr Louise Brockbank, lung consultant, St Helens and Knowsley Hospital, St Helens, Merseyside
• Immunosuppression drugs for ILD: Dr Anneliese Simons, lung consultant, Aintree Hospital, Liverpool
• The ‘breathe ins  and outs’ of oxygen for ILD patients….. why bother with all the faff?: Sisters Jenny Gorman & Joanne Sutcliffe, respiratory specialist nurses in oxygen and ILD, Aintree Hospital, Liverpool
• Chest clearance techniques and the importance of pulmonary rehabilitation aka exercise!: Sam Roberts, senior respiratory physiotherapist, Countess of Chester Hospital, Chester
• Advanced therapy: Lung Transplant – who, when, why?: Dr Lisa Spencer, lung consultant, Liverpool
• Emerging clinical trials and promising approaches: Dr Mahin Ahmad, ILD clinical fellow and respiratory registrar, Aintree Hospital, Liverpool
• Questions and answers

Session 4: Patients Calling - Quality of life and pulmonary fibrosis

2.30pm – 3.30pm

Session chair: Sarah Agnew, ILD specialist nurse matron

• Conversation with patients and carers living with pulmonary fibrosis
• Question and answers

3.30pm

Concluding remarks and close

• Professor Sujal Desai

Professor Desai trained in medicine at the Middlesex Hospital Medical School in London, qualifying in 1987. As senior house officer, Professor Desai spent time at Royal Brompton Hospital and, after completing the MRCP (UK), he entered formal radiology training at King’s College Hospital Medical School.  

Professor Desai was awarded the Frank Doyle Medal for achievement in the Part I FRCR examination and the Rohan Williams Medal for the Part II FRCR examination. Following core radiology training Professor Desai undertook research at Royal Brompton Hospital, under the supervision of Professor David Hansell (his predecessor in the post he now holds), being awarded an MD for his thesis on structural-functional correlations in fibrosing lung disease. 

Professor Desai was previously a consultant at King’s College Hospital in London where he worked for 18 years before returning to Royal Brompton Hospital.

• Dr Peter George

Dr Peter George qualified at Imperial College School of Medicine in London in 2005, and has trained at the most prestigious centres in London and in 2009 was awarded an Academic Clinical Fellowship in respiratory medicine. 

He secured funding from the Medical Research Council to pursue a higher degree and went on to complete his PhD at Imperial College, London, focusing on the role of the innate immune system in pulmonary vascular inflammation. 

Dr George has trained in interstitial lung disease at both Hammersmith and Royal Brompton Hospitals and spent time in the interstitial lung disease unit at the National Jewish Health Hospital in Denver, Colorado, considered by many to be the leading respiratory hospital in the United States. In November 2019, he was appointed respiratory speciality lead for the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) North West London Clinical Research Network (CRN), where he will lead the delivery of and improve patient access to research in respiratory medicine. 

• Professor Andrew Nicholson

Professor Andrew Nicholson is a consultant histopathologist specialising in thoracic pathology, and an honorary professor of respiratory pathology at the National Heart and Lung Institute, Imperial College London.

He has particular expertise in thoracic pathology (lung and mediastinum) and conducts research into lung cancer and interstitial lung disease in particular.

He reports between 200 and 300 referrals from clinicians and other pathologists, nationally and internationally, each year.

• Professor Athol Wells

Professor Athol Wells trained at Green Lane Hospital in Auckland, New Zealand. He then came to Royal Brompton Hospital in 1989 for his post-graduate studies.