The Hand Transplant Programme has been carefully developed by a multidisciplinary group of dedicated health professionals who have a wide range of backgrounds.
The team consists of surgeons, physicians, therapists, psychologists, nurses, theatre staff, anaesthetists, pharmacists, pathologists, dermatologists and many more.
Below are some of the people whom patients are most likely to meet from the team:
Prof. Simon Kay
Simon Kay is the lead and director for the Hand transplant programme. He is a Consultant Plastic Surgeon and Hand Surgeon specialising in children’s surgery and in transplantation.
Sarah Taplin
Sarah is a Specialist Practitioner in Physiotherapy with many years of experience in rehabilitation of the hand. Over the last 10 years she has led the organisation and communication within the very large team involved in hand transplantation and is a constant link between the rest of the team and the patients.
Dr Richard Baker
Richard is a very experienced Transplant Physician in our team who advises the team and our patients on their medical journey through the complexities of suppressing the immune system to prevent rejection of the transplanted hand(s).
Ms Graìnne Bourke
Graìnne is a Consultant Plastic Surgeon and Hand surgeon who has been a part of the team from the outset and is closely involved in hand transplantation amongst her other surgical duties.
Dr Maggie Bellew
Maggie has been the Clinical Psychologist to the Plastic Surgery service for many years and has developed a highly skilled and able team of other psychologists who play roles within the Hand Transplant Service. She and her team play an essential and indispensable role not only in assessing and understanding patients (and their families) seeking transplantation, but also in supporting them through the process and afterwards.
Mr Rob Bains
Rob is a Consultant Plastic surgeon and Hand Surgeon and a key member of the transplant team.
Dr John Pearn
John and his team are experts in rehabilitation medicine and in the use of prostheses. Their expert guidance and observations are essential to deciding whether a patient applying for transplantation has had full exposure to the benefits of prostheses.
Susan Silla is secretary and administrator for the transplant team.
In addition to our team, highly specialised clinicians and scientists from transplant immunology and Specialist Nurses in Organ Donation (SNOD) play a critical role in hand transplant.
Transplant Immunology are responsible for determining whether, when a limb is offered by a donor family, it is suitable immunologically for the patient. This is highly specialised work.
Specialist Nurses in Organ Donation (SNODs) are employed by NHS Blood and Transplant and are key members of the transplant team. Their difficult job is to approach a family at that most terrible of times and ask for the gift of organ donation, including – when appropriate – hands for transplantation.