Neil Dudgeon on Pointless Celebrities

A big thank you to friend of the ITP Support Association Neil Dudgeon, who with partner Annette Badland reached the final only to miss out on the jackpot by 1 point. Neil dedicated his £250 winnings to the ITP Support Association.

ITP Support Association Convention 2018

Following last year’s well-received ITP Convention in London, several members approached us with a request that we should once again consider holding a future event in the North West of the country. Therefore, we are pleased to announce that our 2018 Convention will take place at Chester Race Course on Sat 27^th October from 10.00 am to 5.00 pm.

Local support group meeting - Surrey Area

We are pleased to announce that the first ITP local support group meeting will be held in the Woking area in January 2018.

ITP’s first local support group will offer ITP patients and their families a chance to meet in an informal setting. The event will be hosted in the home of an ITP patient and supported by an ITP haematologist, both of whom are trustees of the ITP Support Association. It is hoped that, over tea and cake, those who come will be able to share stories and raise questions that are important to them.

As part of the Care and Support Alliance, the Patients Association has launched a petition to ensure the Government to bring forward their proposals to fix the social care system so it helps all those that need it.

Right now, over one million disabled and older people are left to struggle each day without the support they need. This includes very basic support such as help to get out of bed, wash, and eat. The numbers of people needing help have gone up by 50% in the past seven years and are only going to get larger.

We need 100,000 signatures on our petition to get the Government to act and publish their proposals to give people the basic support they need, which includes meaningful consultation with those who need care

A new data protection law (GDPR) has now been introduced in the United Kingdom. Therefore we have published a new Privacy Notice to show how we use and protect your information. When joining or renewing your membership of the ITP Support Association online there are additional options to chose regarding how we contact you within your membership profile.

The June edition of the Platelet is now available to download from the members area of the website, if you have not yet joined the ITP Support Association click here.

The June Platelet is a bumper edition (32 pages) including all the usual favourites, latest fundraising heroes, updates from the ITP office, the American Perspective, plus a report on the recent patient day held in Cardiff and news about our ITP Patient Afternoon at the Platelet Mission in July.

To read this and previous editions of the Platelet go to the members area of the website.

BMA Foundation for Medical Research – grant winners 2017

Three of the UK's leading ITP specialists, have received grants from the BMA Jon Moulton Award to further their research into ITP. Dr Nichola Cooper, Dr Charlotte Bradbury and Dr Quentin Hill, all three directors of ITP Clinical Centres. Details of the award can be found via this link, BMA Foundation once on the page click on the J Moulton tab.

EUROPEAN HAEMATOLOGY ASSOCIATION

ANNUAL CONFERENCE

MADRID JUNE 22^nd – 25^th 2017

Derek Elston (Trustee,) EHA Patient Advocate Workgroup Member

Near forty degrees of heat is not the most desirable temperature in which to attend any conference, but thank goodness, the heat in Spain is somewhat dryer than here in the UK and the conference centre was air conditioned.

The conference was held at the IFEMA conference centre located on the outskirts of Madrid approx. 5 mins from the international airport.