placebo: Hi Julie - that's great... - Lung Conditions C...

Lung Conditions Community Forum

56,332 members•66,949 posts

placebo

12 years ago•9 Replies

Hi Julie - that's great, thanks for sending your letter! The more people who contact their MP, the greater our chance of making a difference.

placebo

Written by

bigbrother

To view profiles and participate in discussions please or .

The ability to reply to this post has been turned off.

9 Replies

•

mooseloose12 years ago

Well that is shocking - what more can be said

Lynne195512 years ago

Quite correct. Templates are ignored. I wrote my own.

Lynne x

elian12 years ago

I tried emailing Malcolm but my email was rejected as spam, so I rang the BLF Press office and spoke to a lovely young man there who said he would email me one. Unfortunately my system refuses to let me open the attachment

If anyone has already received one of these templates and can copy and paste it onto here I'll send one off

BLFCommsTeam• in reply toelian12 years ago

Hi Elian. Sorry you couldn't open the attachment - if you could let us know your email address (perhaps by calling the press team again on 020 6788 5580), we can send it in the body of the email. You can then copy the text on to a Word document if you wish to send it as a letter, or just add your details to the email and forward it to your MP if you wish to send it as an email. We would be happy to go through all of this step by step over the phone if it helps? One final note: if you can't open attachments, it might be due to the security settings on your email system, so it might help to look at that. Hope that is helpful?

elian• in reply toBLFCommsTeam12 years ago

Hello Comms Team and thanks for the message

Problem solved, as I adapted, copied and pasted auntymary's letter, but as yet have not had an acknowledgment of receipt from my MP's office

Thanks for your offer of help though it's much appreciated

12 years ago

I sent hard copy, no reply as yet. Hard copies of the letter sent to breathe easy groups, if there is one near you they may well have spare copies to post or even hand deliver !

12 years ago

I took the template but added some facts. Below is what I sent - if anyone wants ideas.

Name

Address

Date

Dear (Name of MP)

I have recently learned that respiratory disease has not been included as one of the therapy areas covered by the new list of Strategic Clinical Networks (SCNs), as outlined by the NHS Commissioning Board. As a result, existing Regional Respiratory Programme Boards, which we hoped would evolve into permanent networks, will now lose the vital funding and strategic support that has helped them so successfully bring about improvements in respiratory care in this area and across England.

I understand that a decision will be made in the near future about whether a National Clinical Director for respiratory issues will be appointed. Given the lack of funding and support for respiratory networks, it is now of vital importance for people living with respiratory disease, like myself, that this appointment is made and that an NHS Commissioning Board team is appointed to oversee implementation of the Department of Health’s COPD and Asthma Outcomes Strategy. It is also crucial that as decisions are made on future networks, respiratory disease is prioritised.

Respiratory disease affects one in five people across the country and is a huge drain on NHS resources both in terms of hospital admissions and primary care. Figures for 2010 show it was the third leading cause of death (circulatory diseases 158,084, cancer 141,446 and lung diseases 67,276) in the UK. It should also be noted we have the second worst mortality rates for COPD in the whole of Europe, and that if the UK was performing at the EU average for respiratory disease, we would save over 2,000 extra lives a year; up to 8,000 lives would be saved if we matched Europe's best figures. As someone with COPD, I am shocked and deeply concerned that respiratory disease is the only major therapy area to have been left out of these key plans for the NHS Commissioning Board. The great improvements in patient outcomes which could be achieved by the implementation of the COPD and Asthma Outcomes Strategy could be further jeopardised if respiratory disease is also left without dedicated leadership.

Without sufficient leadership and central support to improve care for people with respiratory conditions, NHS resources will continue to be wasted treating problems which could have been prevented. Respiratory disease will continue to be a major cause of premature mortality in the UK, and prevalence and outcomes will remain poor by international standards.

I know that the NHS Commissioning Board Authority is an independent body. However, I understood that the networks which it chose to prioritise would be in line with the national priorities of the Department of Health as outlined in the NHS Outcomes Framework and I am concerned that this does not appear to have happened. The decision to assign national leadership for respiratory conditions within the NHS Commissioning Board team could directly affect thousands of your constituents and could save thousands of lives.

Please write to Jeremy Hunt on behalf of myself and all your constituents affected by respiratory disease, to ensure that we are not left without the necessary support that people with heart disease, cancer, or mental health problems will continue to be given by the new Strategic Clinical Networks. If the Commissioning Board doesn’t prioritise respiratory disease, it will jeopardise delivery of the outcome improvements that the Government has set for the NHS in its draft Mandate. Respiratory disease must continue to be a priority for the NHS Commissioning Board once responsibility is fully handed over from the Department of Health.

Yours sincerely....

Anyone who wants to use or adapt it is welcome.

Auntymary xx

Lynne195512 years ago

I have written and so has my husband (he wrote a different letter) and we have both had acknowledgements of receipt.

BLFCommsTeam12 years ago

Hi Big Brother. Sorry that you've had problems getting your email through to Malcolm. I know he has received, and responded to, scores of emails, and that many MPs and the Secretary of State for Health have since been contacted about this, so this isn't just a wasted exercise.

Anyone who can't get through to Malcolm (and he is out of the office at the begiining of this week) can call or email our press team, as Elian did, on 020 7688 5580 / press@blf.org.uk. As Elian mentioned, we are very friendly and keen to help! Alternatively, anyone who calls, emails or writes to our head office will be transferred to a member of the team working on this, who will then get back to them ASAP, if not straight away. If you don't have access to email, we can send you a printed copy of the letter for you to sign (if your local Breathe Easy group doesn't already have them).

As for the value of templates, you can of course amend the letter (like Aunty Mary has done so well) if you'd like - it adds a personal touch that can bring home the reality of the issue. However, if you would prefer to send the letter off as it is, it still makes a difference. The words you send may not all be yours, but it is something you believe in and care about. Any good MP will rightly identify it as genuine rather than spam, and will act on you behalf.

So please don't give up on this campaign. It is crucial that as many people write to their MP as possible - there is power in numbers. Please help us try and make a positive difference. Thanks.

The ability to reply to this post has been turned off.