Yesterday BAD UK attended our first NHS conference!!
It was the Midlands Gastroenterology Society conference which was held in Birmingham. The event was a special celebration for the society with the event being held for their 50th year anniversary and 100th meeting. For the first time patients groups and Charities were asked to join Gastroenterology Nurses and Doctors and we were delighted to be invited to attend. Thanks to Jonathan Briscoe, Alex Hardwick, Penny Clarke and Naelee Hardwick our stand well and truly stood out. We were also given a few additional places so 3 members of the BAD UK - Coventry Patient Group were able to come along too.
We all had a great day talking to Gastroenterologists, nurses and other patients groups about the aims of BAD UK and the ongoing impact BAD has from the patients perspective post diagnosis. We were encouraged to hear that there is increasing research interest in BAD, other consultants are keen to support our Charity's work and a couple of other organisations have offered their support in helping us get the word on BAD out there!
We would like to thank everyone for your ongoing encouragement and support to BAD UK. Huge thanks to those whom have supported through donations or purchasing our toilet cards and keys, this support went towards funding the materials for our stand! Plus a very special thanks to Professor Ramesh Arasaradnam (Consultant Gastroenterologist) and his team for their support in helping and encouraging us to take our first step in raising awareness with NHS clinicians.