Our UKIST chairperson Jenny Rawling represented the charity at the recent British Paediatric Neurologists Association annual conference in Bristol, together with other representatives of UKRET charities (UK rare epilepsies together – a new umbrella group to encourage cooperation between the small epilepsy charities).
The conference is a great opportunity to network with some of the doctors we collaborate with – notably Dr Andrew Lux our medical advisor, Dr Jay Shetty with whom we are collaborating on a research project, and Dr Colin Dunkley who has been one of our great cheerleaders. It’s also a chance to spread the word about the support we can offer to newly diagnosed families – one of the main ambitions of the charity was to improve support materials used around the time of diagnosis and to link families to peer support as early on their journey as possible.
Happily we had a great uptake of our badges, booklets and children’s books and there wasn’t too much to cart home on the bus!
We are looking forward to attending more face to face events now that conference season is getting back to normal post-Covid – with plans for the RCPCH (Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health) and Epilepsy12 conferences later this year.
