Chairman’s Report

Chairman

Welcome to our Summer 2021 LIVErNEWS everyone. There’s so much going on at the moment and we’ve covered as much as we can in this issue so I won’t labour the points here. I will mention the European Health Insurance Card Replacement as this could be important if you are thinking about taking a holiday abroad under the new ‘traffic light’ scheme. This whole subject is well covered in our revised leaflet no 16 on ‘Travel Insurance for Liver Patients’ which is reproduced in full on page 20. You probably already know that we contribute a great deal of money to funding research and it is money well spent. What you may not know is that we also have a fund for educational grants and earlier last year we provided a modest grant to assist Mr Aimen Amer to undertake a fellowship at King’s to learn more about liver transplantation. His story is on page 9 - it was a great success and was money well spent. Aimen has since been appointed as a consultant transplant surgeon for the Newcastle trust so his fellowship must have been helpful. He is giving us a talk on 8th September so you will all be able to see him and ask any questions. Another consultant transplant surgeon, Mr Colin Wilson gave us a really interesting Zoom talk on 14th April to update us on what’s happening in transplantation. Alf Bennett has kindly provided a brieng on the talk on page 7 for those of you who can’t access our Zoom meetings or view the recordings on YouTube. He is happy to continue this for future talks as we feel this may help those of you who don’t have access to the ‘electronic world’. Another governor, Sian O’Dea has reviewed a recent book on ‘Brain Fog’ - a problem that gets to all of us at some time or another but can be a real, everyday problem for those with a chronic health condition. Her review is on page 22 and is really useful for people seeking more information on the condition. At a recent meeting at one of our local hospitals, an increase in the number of patient falls during the pandemic was discussed. I looked to see if any research had been carried out into this and as far back as October 2020, the wearing of masks had been identied as a contributory factor. It’s interesting to read about this research and how to avoid falls on page 25. There’s lots more to read in this edition including advice on having the vaccine for those who are immunosuppressed, buying a new car, a ’Sea Story’ that blows your mind, the wisdom of Prince Phillip RIP, an Amazin story about Will Shakespeare, our usual selection of atrocious jokes in Helen’s Howlers, our UIOLI and much more. Those of you with an eye for these things might have noticed a change in the style of the newsletter. We have adopted a newsprint sized typeface so that we can get more on each page - it’s the same size as many newspapers that you will be familiar with. The online version can be enlarged on screen if necessary by clicking the ‘+’ at the top of the screen so hopefully it will be a worthwhile move. The smaller typeface also means we are able to cram more of your favourite things in our magazine. Many thanks once again to my fellow governors and friends for their contributions to this issue - all very much appreciated. Enjoy the Summer folks and please continue to take care, Best wishes, John