Meeting with First and Deputy First Ministers

On the invitation of Mrs. Jo-Anne Dobson, MLA, I attended a meeting at Stormont on Tuesday 25^th March, at which the First and Deputy First Ministers heard arguments in favour of a change to the law on organ donation.

Mrs. Dobson is currently working on a draft of her Private Member’s Bill to change the law from an ‘opt-in’ system to a ‘soft opt-out system’.  Such a change reflects the views of 85% of the RVH Liver Support Group’s membership from the poll taken in December 2011.

I was fortunate to be given an opportunity of presenting some of the arguments – the fact that countries with some form of opt-out system have around 30 deceased donors per million of population while the UK has only 19; and the prospect of a more open culture for discussing organ donation ensuring that the wishes of the deceased are better known.  Others emphasised that donation must always be preceded by family consent and that a change in the law must go hand-in-hand with improved infrastructure and thorough public education.

l – r : Martin McGuiness (DFM), Jo-Anne Dobson (MLA), Peter Robinson (FM), Donald Cairnduff, Billy Thompson (Northern Ireland Kidney Research), Mark Dobson (kidney recipient).

I was also fortunate to be able to say a little about the work of the RVH Liver Support Group and about the experience of liver patients – whose mean waiting time for a transplant is 175 days; who have to travel to England for surgery; and who, when they get there, will be treated by transplant teams who are now having to use ‘extended criteria’ organs, since the need for organs outstrips their current availability.

It was a privilege on the day to be able to pass on something of the experience of liver transplant patients to our two most prominent politicians.

Donald Cairnduff

Lucia at opening of London Aquatics Centre

The Olympic Swimming Pool for the London Games in 2012 has been transformed into a major public facility,

London Aquatics Centre with Tom Daley

the London Aquatics Centre.

30 members of the British Transplant Sport swimming Team, aged 12 – 65, took part in the official opening event.

Amongst them was Lucia Quinney-Mee, aged 15 from Ballycastle.  Lucia, twice a liver recipient, was  the top junior competitor at the 2013 British Transplant Games.

On Tuesday May 20 the British Liver Trust’s Love Your liver Campaign will come to Northern Ireland for the first time. It will be set up at Castlecourt Shopping Centre on the morning of May 20 and will run through the morning and the afternoon.

The Love Your Liver Campaign in Manchester

The Trust has been running the campaign in Great Britain for several years. Last year was its most successful ever.  In all their team screened 806 people in 8 different venues, with queues in some places forming before 9 a.m. in the morning.  Of the 594 of these people who were fibroscanned, 124 were referred for further tests as a result of the scan showing signs of some liver damage.  Just as important, those who weren’t referred received the outcomes of their screening and information on changes that could improve their health and reduce the risk of liver disease.  As one of the trustees remarked, ‘Getting this early warning not only helps the individual but may save the NHS millions.’

The RVH Liver Support Group, in assisting the planning of the campaign, is grateful for the support of Mr. Andrew Langford, CEO of the British liver Trust,  the RVH consultants and the management of Castlecourt.  Please come along on the day and encourage friends and family to do so as well.

The February members’ meeting took place in the Samuel Irwin lecture theatre on February 20. The guest speakers were clinical psychologists Dr Melanie Wolfenden and Dr Chris Tennyson. Melanie deals with adults and Chris works with children. After an introduction by the chairman prepared questions were asked by Donald to our guests. When they gave their answers members had the opportunity to ask their own questions.

The thought that they had given to the questions, plus the clarity and detail with which they answered them, helped generate some very worthwhile discussion.  Both speakers emphasised the positive impact of strong mental attitudes in healing without ever downplaying the difficulties that patients encounter, particularly transplanted patients.  The blend of theory, research evidence and real life stories in their responses did much to ensure a very interesting  and encouraging evening. The extent of the audience participation was testament to that.