KidneyMatters is the website for the Kidneymatters News Letter of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Kidney Patients' Association

From Nick Flint, Chairman, Queen Elizabeth Hospital Kidney Patients' Association

Hello to you all. What a life we are all having to deal with. The problems of being a renal patent are hard enough but with Covid it's even more difficult.

The organisers of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Kidney Patients' Association are all having similar problems; not being able to meet with friends and family and limited when going out. We just have to hope that in the near future there will be a vaccine which will put an end to this.

The Q.E.H.K.P.A. is fortunate that we do not have any paid members of staff as we are all volunteers. Also we do not have any offices to pay for, so all the funds we raise are for the benefit of the Renal Patients, the Renal Departments and the Dialysis Units of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital.

The K.P.A. has not been able to send out our newsletter KidneyMatters as we are not allowed to meet. We have continued to help and support in a limited way. We have been able to continue with some of the projects we started with before covid. The two patient day rooms on wards 302 and 303 will be redecorated and new tables and chairs provided. This will make it more comfortable for patients who like to be up and about while in Hospital. We are also providing the funds for Christmas Decorations in the renal areas at the Hospital and Christmas Boxes for the patients who are in Hospital over Christmas.

Around the Dialysis Units you will see new posters with advice on healthy eating, celebrations foods for special occasions and controlling your diet. These have been funded by the Q.E.H.K.P.A. and all the information is from the Renal Dietitians at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital. .

If you would like copies of them or want to read them, they are on this website under “Dietary Information” along with other very useful ideas to help make your diets interesting.

We will be contacting the Managers of the Q.E Dialysis units to ask if they are able and willing to organise something for their patients at Christmas. We have limited funds available to support them.

We are not able to organise our annual Christmas raffle this year which is very disappointing as this was a very useful fund-raising event for us.
What would be nice is if anyone would like to make a donation to us instead. This can be done on this web site on “Donations” via paypal or go to our Fund-Raising page and see our Virtual Raffle, This lets you buy a virtual ticket but there are no prizes. Please click on the link. This can be for any amount from £1., and with 2600 patients this would be a fantastic effort.

This is another way you could help us which will cost you nothing. When you make a purchase from Amazon, log on to SmileAmazon with your usual login details and choose us as your charity, the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Kidney Patients' Association or QEHKPA. Every time you buy items we get 0.5% from Amazon. This does not sound much but it mounts up and it does not cost you anything.

When this virus is over and life returns to normal the K.P.A. will then be able to fund the trips and outings that patients have enjoyed in the past.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all those who have supported us over recent months with donations. Thank you all.

I would also pass my deepest sympathies, and those of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Kidney Patients' Association, to those families who have lost a loved one this year. We have written to those we were told about but sadly due to “patient confidentiality” the Hospital is not able to give us names and addresses.

If you want ideas for festive foods in the coming weeks there are lots of ideas on our “Dietary” page, and all this information is provided by the Dietitians at the Q.E Hospital. If you need more help with this please contact the Dietitian at your dialysis unit and I'm sure they will be willing to advise you.

I would also like to thank all the staff who help and look after us.

Thank you for taking the time to read this and please contact us if you think we might be able help.

Let's all hope for a better 2021 Stay safe and hope we can have good Christmas.

World Kidney Day Might be Thursday 11th March 2021
World Kidney Day Next year it is on Thursday 11th March 2020.Subject to Corona Virus The K.P.A. together with the renal unit at U.H.B., hope to be having a display in the Atrium of the Q.E. There will be patient information and details about the K.P.A. We hope to see you on the day, Thursday 11th March 2021

Important information and advice about Corona Virus
Corona Virus. More information will follow as soon as we are informed. Please click on the line below for more information Important information about Corona Virus. ( CLICK HERE)

Draw Results Raffle 2019/20

Winners name	Ticket no	Prize	Winners name	Ticket no.	Prize
MRS MCNEILL	10149	£500	M. ATKINS	10684	£50
A. CHANDER	14239	£250	K. SINGH	14486	£25
NATH RAM	13975	£125	HARJINDER	14847	£25
M. CHOPRA	14527	£50	M. J. ASKEW	07185	£25
MRS DOMINICK	04527	£50	S. CHANDER	14268	£25
P. TAYLOR	14370	£50	M. KUMARI	14324	£25
T. SEARLE	01975	£50

The winning tickets were drawn by members of the Q.E.H.K.P.A. at the
K.P.A. meeting on 8th January 2020.
All the winners have been notified.
We would like to take this opportunity to thank all those who very generously supported
the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Kidney Patients' Association.
We also thank all those who included additional donations. There were too many to mention or acknowledge individually, but please accept our sincere appreciation and thanks.

K.P.A. Annual Draw 2019/20 Raised £3000

The Annual Christmas Draw took place at the K.P.A. meeting on Wednesday 8th January 2020
The draw was made by a member of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital who very kindly drew the winning tickets.

All the winners have been notified.

We congratulate all the lucky winners and thank all those who very generously supported us.

We raised £3000 from the sale of tickets and generous donation.

We would also like to acknowledge and thank the very many patients, relatives and friends who gave additional donations included with their Raffle tickets.
They are too numerous to acknowledge individually, but we thank you all for your generosity and kind thoughts.

Red Silicon Wrist Bands WHITE LETTERS

The Q.E.H.K.P.A. has organised free Red Silicon Wrist Bands for Q.E. dialysis patients.
These are available from your dialysis unit.
If you prefer, you can order one direct from the K.P.A. but you will need to send a 79p Stamped self addressed envelope to the address below and stating what you require.

Now with WHITE LETTERING on the bands.

FISTULA + No BP Testing / Needles + Q.E.H.K.P.A.
There are 3 sizes:-
SIZES are 190mm, 200mm. 210mm.
As a guide to help choose, if you cut out a strip of paper the length of the above sizes and wrap it round your wrist you can pick the size that fits best. The bands do stretch so they don't have to be bigger to go over your hand. . These are FREE to Q.E. Patients. If renal patients from other hospitals wish to purchase these they will cost £2.00 each plus 79p postage.
We are able to do this due to the generosity of all those who support our fundraising.

Send Stamped address envelope with a 79p stamp please to -
Queen Elizabeth Hospital Kidney Patients' Association
c/o Nick Flint
9 Brookhouse Road
Walsall
WS5 3AE

VISIT PATIENT INFORMATION IF YOU ARE A PD PATIENT
See new guide lines for cleaning your APD machine. Queen Elizabeth Patients Only.

NEW Go to Patient Stories to read what patients have to say about a Transplant
Visit our new section to read patient stories.

Simon Batch travels through India
Simon Batch had a transplant a number of years ago and decided he would like to visit India. Simon a very keen cyclist desided to do it on a bike. He is traveling from North to South. I'm not sure how long he is taking. This is a u tube of part of his adventure. Well done Simon it shows what you can do after a Kidney Transplant.

Obtaining your immunosuppression. Questions answered
If you go to "Patient Information" and click "General Information" There is an item produced by the Hospital which should answer all your question. If you need further advice please phone the unit. All the numbers are on the page.

Chairman K.P.A. Receives Member of the Year Award
at Queen Elizabeth Hospital. Best in Care Awards

A surprised Chairman of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Kidney Patients' Association, Nick Flint, was awarded UHB's 'Member of the Year' at the Best in Care Awards ceremony.

Nick underwent a kidney transplant himself 19 years ago and has worked tirelessly ever since to improve the lives of those patients with chronic renal failure for many years.

He works behind the scenes for you in many ways and is often seen in the dialysis units checking on the service and raising any issues with the QE and the dialysis companies. He is a peer supporter and takes phone calls from patients who need a friendly ear.

As Chairman of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Kidney Patients' Association committee, Nick is known to man stalls in the hospital atrium to raise awareness about kidney matters to staff and visitors and puts together the newsletters from the K.P.A.

He also works as a patient representative in various projects to improve patient care in the region and works very hard to keep renal patients' interests represented in regards to transport.

His passion for supporting renal patients and their relatives has also resulted in the Q.E.H.K.P.A. raising many tens of thousand pounds for the Queen Elizabeth Hospital over the years.

Congratulations to Nick - a very worthy winner.

Festive Foods and Drink for Christmas
Do not forget to look on the Dietary information for details of Festive Foods and Drinks. There is also a Christmas Cake recipe for those on dialysis. All the information is provided by The Renal Dietitians at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital.

K.P.A. Supports Renal Research with £23000

Because of the very generous and continuing support that the Q.E.H.K.P.A. receives from kidney patients, friends, relatives and carers of patients and the public in fundraising we are very pleased to be able to support a renal research project being undertaken at the Q.E. This project will have a direct benefit to the renal patients treated by the Queen Elizabeth Hospital and also involve the patients here.

The Research Project is led by Mr Nick Inston Consultant Renal Surgeon, who is looking at new ways to access patients' blood vessels for dialysis treatment. Mr Inston said: "Kidney disease patients who are on dialysis require access to the blood vessels multiple times a week and this causes the vessels to scar and narrow. This research is looking at ways to improve the success and longevity of vascular access for patients."

"With the generous support of the K.P.A., the Q.E.H.B. Vascular Access Research Group is leading research in this area. This current project is aimed at using a simple drug to open up the veins after surgery and increase the blood flow to enable more successful outcomes and better dialysis."

Mr Inston added: "I'd like to thank the KPA supporters for their generosity. It's a fantastic sum of money which will have a direct positive impact on renal patient care."

For more News of the Kidney Patients' Association
Visit the NewsLetter page for the latest copy of Kidney Matters The Newsletter of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Kidney Patients' Association

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