What goes into being the Clinical Lead for transplantation and vascular access surgery? Having worked in hospitals for nearly 23 years Dr Mike is sharing a bit about his role to help raise awareness of organ donation this organ donation week.

I’m a consultant Transplant and Dialysis Access Surgeon. I’m based in Cardiff but look after patients from across the whole of South Wales and parts of Mid Wales. I’m the Clinical Lead for transplantation and vascular access surgery in Wales, which means I advise the NHS on all things relating to kidney transplants and dialysis access surgery. In addition, I am part of the Wales Transplant Advisory Group, which advises Welsh Government on organ donation and transplantation.

My job involves looking after patients with kidney disease. I assess people to see if they are suitable to receive a kidney transplant or to become a live kidney donor. I perform transplant and live donor surgery and look after patients on the ward and in the clinic after their transplants. People who need to have dialysis will also see me to be assessed on how best they can achieve this, which will often involve surgery so the patient can be connected safely to their dialysis machine, this is referred to as dialysis access surgery.

I have been a consultant in Cardiff for almost 12 years now and have worked in hospital in South Wales for almost 23 years. It took 11 years of very long hours training to become a consultant transplant surgeon and I’m now honoured to lead our team of specialists in Cardiff.  The kidney community is a very caring, honest, and generous space and I remain committed to giving my time in and out of work to be part of our kidney community.

Kidney disease can seriously affect how people live their day to day lives and even has the potential to shorten life significantly. It affects not just patients but the people around them. We have very good treatments available and very committed specialists delivering that treatment, but they can be complicated and take time to understand. Choosing treatment options can be difficult and it needs patients, their families, and the healthcare team to work together to get the best outcomes.

I try to share the knowledge and experience I have acquired over many years looking after thousands of patients and try hard to communicate in a way people can understand and to understand what is important to the person I’m looking after.

Raising awareness with Kidney Wales is very important. I will be running the Cardiff Half marathon at the end of March raising money for Kidney Wales. I have directly seen the difference Kidney Wales makes to our Kidney community, often in ways and in areas that the NHS cannot.

“Kidney Wales helps the kidney community in ways and in areas that the NHS cannot. Supporting Kidney Wales means supporting kidney patients and their families in Wales to remain healthy, informed and to have a better quality of life.”