Birmingham meeting report

Kendrick Centre

12th October 2024

Meeting report by Penny Cohen & June Masding

The Birmingham group had a lovely gathering on Saturday 12th October. 23 people came along, 15 of whom were people with the condition, 2 of whom were newcomers and one recently diagnosed. There was lots of interaction and chatter and someone trying out someone else’s wheelchair. HSP Facebook groups were discussed so that people could find what suited them and a couple of other non HSP groups were mentioned after on the HSP Birmingham What’s App group, which newcomers were invited on to. These are ‘Wheelchair Users Uk’ and ‘Disabled Ramblers UK’. There are quite a few more out there.

We encouraged everyone to access the NHS HSP website via their search engine, scroll to the bottom, click on ‘Give us Feedback’ and paste the HSP Support Group link in to the space, suggesting that it should be added, as it might be particularly helpful for newly diagnosed people who may have been given little information.

We shared a super buffet lunch, which the catering team had put a lot of effort into. There was a short gap for more chatting before a presentation. Harini (a Master of Public Health student from the University of Birmingham), came to present her dissertation. She shared her findings on the epidemiology of HSP compared to people without HSP. There was a good amount of discussion with questions and answers both ways.

Everyone was asked to suggest subjects that they are interested in, for discussion at future meetings and hopefully these will be put forward on the What’s App group.

Our next get together will be on the 12th April 2025, 12-3.30 at The Kenrick Centre, Mill Farm Road, Harborne. Birmingham. B170QX.