Making your voice heard

by John Powell, Chairman SHARP (Southend Hospital Association for Renal Patients)

It was not until I became an executive committee member at the 1999 AGM that I fully appreciated what the NKF as an organisation did for my local kidney patients’ association (KPA). Having attended both the AGM and Conference for seven years, I saw only the surface and not the full picture.

It was on my election to the executive that I realised how everything linked. All KPAs can represent their members at a local level, dealing with problems and supporting them. Without a national presence these separate voices cannot be joined into a whole.

One KPA trying to get their views or problems voiced at a national level won’t get far. They could not show the overall crisis that we are facing in the NHS. As the NKF is made up of member associations, it has strength in depth. It can work with the pharmaceutical companies, talk to the doctors (Renal Association) and other Kidney Charities. It has become the lynch pin of the recently formed Kidney Alliance. This gives patients a unique representation at a national level. Patient’s representatives will be involved in setting standards of service.

It is because of this involvement that it should never be forgotten that without the individual KPAs the NKF would not exist and without the NKF the KPAs would not have a united face with which to make their voice heard.

In closing I would urge all KPAs to ensure that they send their representative to both the AGM and Conference. You might not agree with all that is said and done, but without being there you cannot make your voice heard.

The above article was first printed in ‘Kidney Life’, Winter 1999 edition.
‘Kidney Life’ is the magazine of the UK National Kidney Federation, free to members and friends of the NKF.

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