Petition against closure of Leeds centre for treatment of HMS/HEDS.
Ladies and gentlemen, I'd be very grateful if you'd visit the following site and take ten seconds to fill out the online petition to assist in the campaign to replace Professor Bird (who has done outstanding work in the field) after his retirement later this year and create new treatment centres around the UK. Many thanks on behalf of the HMSA/EDNF.
http://www.hypermobility.org/capetition.php?action=new
You will receive an e-mail with a link that must be clicked in order to confirm your signature.
If you're able to propagate the petition also we'd very much appreciate it.
UK Patients can also download a template letter from the HMSA website (http://www.hypermobility.org/forum/download/file.php?id=106) which can be sent to your local member of parliament (details available at the parliament website, or at www.theyworkforyou.com).
The following is a statement from Professor Bird:
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DECEMBER 2009 ADVICE TO PATIENTS WITH INHERITED ABNORMALITIES OF CONNECTIVE TISSUE UPON THE RETIREMENT OF PROFESSOR HOWARD BIRD
Professor Howard Bird’s contracted retirement date falls at the end of September 2010. Since a large number of his patients attend his clinics because of the specialist service provided for inherited abnormalities of connective tissue, including hypermobility, it seems appropriate to notify patients and their general practitioners of any future provision for their continued care.
Provision is informed by a recent postcode analysis of 300 new patients attending Professor Bird’s clinic with an inherited abnormality over the last two years. 141 patients came from the greater Leeds area and 140 patients came from the whole of the rest of Yorkshire. About 100 patients came from Lancashire and the North West and another 100 from Newcastle and the North East. The remaining 100+ patients travelled from all over the country.
In spite of Professor Bird’s continued offers to train a successor, it is not at present the intention to provide a service for patients living in the Leeds area or for those from anywhere else in Yorkshire. Sadly, significant local expertise in physiotherapy, occupational therapy, nursing, education and podiatry will also be lost. At present the best alternative option for patients from Leeds and Yorkshire would seem to be referral to the clinics devoted to inherited abnormalities of connective tissue, either at University College Hospital, London (Professor Rodney Grahame and Dr Alan Hakim) or at Glasgow Royal Infirmary (Professor Bill Ferrell), even though patients with these particular ailments will find travel there both difficult and expensive.
Patients living in Lancashire and the North East fare better. Both Manchester and Newcastle anticipated the forthcoming deficiency in the service and have been sending their clinicians to Leeds for training over the last year. At the time of Professor Bird’s retirement, it is almost certain that a specialist clinic will be established at Manchester Royal Infirmary (Dr PH) and at Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Gateshead (Dr SV), each with paramedical support. Professor Bird has also indicated his willingness to visit these clinics a few times each year to provide continuing advice on the most complex of the patients.
For those from even further afield, Professor Bird will try to see each patient in this group prior to his retirement to provide individual advice in the hope that some care, even salvage, will be continued. The dream might be a formal national centre for patients of this type but it is Professor Bird’s personal view that if this materialises in the near future, neither this department nor Trust could be considered fit for this service.
It is possible that you have also been offered a further appointment in Leeds but this simply represents my wish not to cut off your care completely and is therefore offered more in hope than expectation.
H A BIRD MA MD FRCP
Professor of Pharmacological Rheumatology
University of Leeds, The General Infirmary at
Leeds and Chapel Allerton Hospital, Leeds
24 December 2009
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http://www.hypermobility.org/capetition.php?action=new
You will receive an e-mail with a link that must be clicked in order to confirm your signature.
If you're able to propagate the petition also we'd very much appreciate it.
UK Patients can also download a template letter from the HMSA website (http://www.hypermobility.org/forum/download/file.php?id=106) which can be sent to your local member of parliament (details available at the parliament website, or at www.theyworkforyou.com).
The following is a statement from Professor Bird:
------------------------------------------------------
DECEMBER 2009 ADVICE TO PATIENTS WITH INHERITED ABNORMALITIES OF CONNECTIVE TISSUE UPON THE RETIREMENT OF PROFESSOR HOWARD BIRD
Professor Howard Bird’s contracted retirement date falls at the end of September 2010. Since a large number of his patients attend his clinics because of the specialist service provided for inherited abnormalities of connective tissue, including hypermobility, it seems appropriate to notify patients and their general practitioners of any future provision for their continued care.
Provision is informed by a recent postcode analysis of 300 new patients attending Professor Bird’s clinic with an inherited abnormality over the last two years. 141 patients came from the greater Leeds area and 140 patients came from the whole of the rest of Yorkshire. About 100 patients came from Lancashire and the North West and another 100 from Newcastle and the North East. The remaining 100+ patients travelled from all over the country.
In spite of Professor Bird’s continued offers to train a successor, it is not at present the intention to provide a service for patients living in the Leeds area or for those from anywhere else in Yorkshire. Sadly, significant local expertise in physiotherapy, occupational therapy, nursing, education and podiatry will also be lost. At present the best alternative option for patients from Leeds and Yorkshire would seem to be referral to the clinics devoted to inherited abnormalities of connective tissue, either at University College Hospital, London (Professor Rodney Grahame and Dr Alan Hakim) or at Glasgow Royal Infirmary (Professor Bill Ferrell), even though patients with these particular ailments will find travel there both difficult and expensive.
Patients living in Lancashire and the North East fare better. Both Manchester and Newcastle anticipated the forthcoming deficiency in the service and have been sending their clinicians to Leeds for training over the last year. At the time of Professor Bird’s retirement, it is almost certain that a specialist clinic will be established at Manchester Royal Infirmary (Dr PH) and at Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Gateshead (Dr SV), each with paramedical support. Professor Bird has also indicated his willingness to visit these clinics a few times each year to provide continuing advice on the most complex of the patients.
For those from even further afield, Professor Bird will try to see each patient in this group prior to his retirement to provide individual advice in the hope that some care, even salvage, will be continued. The dream might be a formal national centre for patients of this type but it is Professor Bird’s personal view that if this materialises in the near future, neither this department nor Trust could be considered fit for this service.
It is possible that you have also been offered a further appointment in Leeds but this simply represents my wish not to cut off your care completely and is therefore offered more in hope than expectation.
H A BIRD MA MD FRCP
Professor of Pharmacological Rheumatology
University of Leeds, The General Infirmary at
Leeds and Chapel Allerton Hospital, Leeds
24 December 2009
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