NKF 2004
Conference Supported by
Fresenius Medical Care

A SPECIAL THANKS TO FRESENIUS FOR SUPPORTING THE NKF

The Fresenius team. It is their support of the Conference that has helped to make Fresenius a household name amongst kidney patients.

Annual Patient's Conference 2004 -

Time for Quality Time

The Royal Court Hotel, Keresley, near Coventry
1st to 3rd October 2004

Click here to go to the Conference Index further down this page

Many people who attended the Conference described it is as the "best conference ever." The talks were commended for being informative and not specialised. More than half the respondents to the conference questionnaire (54 per cent) thought that the conference papers had been interesting and 40 per cent thought they were about right. The response to patient speakers was: excellent 61 per cent; good 34 per cent and a solid 100 per cent wanted the patient sessions repeated.

The 2004 Conference was special because of two sets of visitors – from CEAPIR, the European Federation, and a group from the Irish Kidney Association. The Irish system of a family member signing the organ donor card aroused interest.

The NKF celebrated the fifth birthday of its Helpline at the Conference at a time when calls were running at an average of 130 per week.

Nick Richards of Fresenius, who had again sponsored the conference, spoke briefly before dinner. He congratulated the NKF on a very successful conference, He promised that Fresenius would support the 2005 Conference, to be held at Blackpool from September 30 to October 2, at the same level as this year and hoped that it would grow in the future.

The Conference was opened by Rosie Winterton, Minister for Health.

Conference 2004 - Index

Speakers
Summary Detailed	Conference Opened By - Rosie Winterton, Minister for Health The Minister for Health spoke about the NHS provision of renal services in the 21st Century.
Summary Detailed	Dr Donal O'Donoghue - Future Shape of Renal Services Dr O’Donoghue has been Clinical Director of Renal Medicine at Hope Hospital since 1994. His research interests include the epidemiology of chronic kidney diseases, progression of glomerular disease, renal anaemia and modals of service delivery. He is immediate past President of the British Renal Society and currently Co-Chair of the Renal Advisory Group advising the Department of Health on the National Service Framework for England.
Summary Detailed	Deborah Duval - Patient Speaker Having gone into renal failure in her mid 20’s Deborah had a pancreatic / renal transplant in October 1994. She was back in renal failure three years after the transplant and had her second kidney transplant in May 1999. Her pancreas failed in February 2002 and she is currently waiting for a transplant. Deborah works tirelessly for patients; she teaches transplant related courses to nurses and is also chairperson of the fundraising arm of the British Organ Donor Society - last year she walked 117 miles and raised just under £7000 for the charity.
Summary Detailed	Dr Robert Higgins - Blood Washing Of Antibodies Dr Robert Higgins is a consultant kidney specialist at Walsgrave Hospital and is a medical advisor to the NKF and medical pages consultant, reviewing all patient information placed on our website. He has been involved in this revolutionary programme of transplantation across antibody barriers in London and Coventry, and is chair of a committee producing national guidance on antibody removal for the British Transplantation Society.
Summary Detailed	Alison Dryden - Patient Speaker Alison is a retired health visitor. She had blood washing at St James’ three years ago prior to receiving a successful transplant from her husband and spoke about the process and described what was involved.
Summary Detailed	Gerard Boekhoff - CEAPIR - Kidney Patients in Europe Gerard Boekhoff was born in the Netherlands. Born in 1962, he suffered renal failure at the age of three. After numerous stays in hospital, operations and other treatment the only option was dialysis. He dialysed from 1978 until 1982 when he received a successful transplantation. He is vice president of CEAPIR and talked about the difference between the health professionals’ perspective of renal disease and the patients’ perspective, and the importance of having patient associations at local, regional and national level. He went on to talk about the European dimension.
Summary Detailed	Simon O'Neill - Diabetes UK - Prevention of Renal Failure in Diabetes Patients Simon O’Neill is acting Director of care and policy for Diabetes UK. He himself is a patient, with background knowledge in nursing; he has first hand knowledge of the problems faced by kidney patients, having worked on a children’s renal ward.
Summary Detailed	Maggie Loughran - Patient Speaker Maggie Loughran is our third patient speaker and has first hand knowledge of diabetes leading to kidney failure. From the age of 10, for 27 years, Maggie had diabetes. She suffered kidney failure due to the diabetes and was on dialysis for two years. After recovering from a stroke she went on to have a kidney and pancreas transplant in December 2000. Three years later she took up a post with Guy’s & St Thomas’ KPA as Renal Information and Development Officer.
Summary Detailed	Dr Michael Wilkes - Ethics - Payments for Donor Organs Dr Wilkes is Chairman of the BMA Medical Ethics Committee and Chairman of the Transplant Partnership, a wide-ranging coalition of professional and patient groups set up to campaign for a radical review of the organ donation system. In July this year he was elected a chief officer of the BMA. He spoke about the continuing crisis in organ transplantation and the ethics surrounding the sale of organs.
Summary Detailed	Michelle Harris - Patient Speaker Michelle Harris went into renal failure 5 ½ years ago and has been on CAPD since then. She had a failed cadaveric transplant 3 ½ years ago and a failed living donor transplant in March this year. Michelle is a qualified nurse and has continued working throughout this time; a sister on a urology ward in Devon, she spoke as a patient about her views on the ethics of payment for donor organs.
Summary Detailed	Christine Gleadell - Blood, Sweat and Cheers - Adventures on Group Patient Holidays Christine from Freedom Apartments and Travel is no stranger to the NKF conference- presenting a workshop on holidays for kidney patients at Blackpool last year. This year, Chris organised a group trip offered to dialysis patients throughout the whole of the UK. The aim was to encourage and show patients and carers that taking a holiday is easy to do, and what a positive effect recharging our batteries has. Chris's talk "Blood, Sweat and Cheers" was a frantic look at the group’s holiday to Crete
Question Time - Questions and Answers
Workshops
Details	The Work & Development of the Renal Information Exchange Committee
Details	Psychological Aspects of Renal Failure
Details	Diabetes and Renal Disease
Council Meeting
Details	Chairmen's Half-Yearly Report to the Council
Details	Extraordinary General Meeting
Details	Questions and Answers from Open Forum & Council Meeting
Conference Exhibitors
Temporary Haemodialysis Away From Home
Gordon Nicholas, past chairman of the NKF, was presented with an engraved silver salver as a thank you for his work for the NKF. His wife Wendy received a beautiful bouquet.