Notes of the meeting on the 4th November

This was well attended and as we had many items to discuss we didn't have a guest speaker. 'Invitation' cards and posters were issued for distribution to surgeries etc to advertise our group as widely as possible.
We are holding two events for COPD week, one at Singleton hospital and one at Morriston hospital. We have managed to get a site inside the main foyer at Singleton this year so we should be warmer !

Arrangements are now in full swing for our Christmas Fayre on Sat 29th Nov. Anyone who has small gifts/bottles/cans/bric-a brac or anything we could sell please let one of the committee know or drop me an e-mail from this blog - see 'view my complete profile' above.

On Thursday 27th Nov we will once again be visiting the Pul. Rehab course at Singleton and have had more durable cards printed with our details which we will issue. This month we had a new recruit from the last pul. rehab. course.

On Thursday December 11th we have our Christmas Dinner at Sketty Hall, the cost will be approximately £10 each, if your interested please contact Beverley or myself for details ASAP as we need to confirm numbers.

This months meeting was held on Tuesday 2nd, attendance was good, the weather was terrible !

I reported back on the Llanarthny meeting, as a consequence it was decided that our local campaigning would be on improving access to pulmonary rehabilitation and GP referral to exercise classes.

Lynne Sandhu from Air Products gave an interesting talk regarding supply and types of oxygen therapy that are available.

Our evening meal will be at The King Arthur on Wed17th September, leaving Holy Trinity Church at 17:00. Transport yet to be arranged depending upon numbers.

Christmas Fayre this year will be held on Saturday 29th November in the afternoon, any ideas for stalls or volunteers to man them etc. most welcome.

A reminder of two forthcoming events, BLF conference on 11th Nov at the Brangwyn Hall and World COPD day on November 19th, arrangements for the latter, location etc. to be arranged.

Next Meeting will be Tuesday 7th October 14:00 as usual.

Tobacco Control

Your chance to reduce the damage caused by smoking to the nation’s health

As you may well have read in the news, the Department of Health is currently asking for people to send in their views about the future of tobacco control.

The proposals that have been put forward include making it illegal to sell tobacco products from vending machines, ending displays of tobacco products behind shop counters and introducing plain packaging for tobacco products.

The British Lung Foundation is calling on the Government to implement measures to reduce the amount of people who start smoking and also to provide better support to people who are trying to quit. If we can reduce the amount of people who smoke in the UK then we will save many people from developing a lung condition in later life.

If you would like to put forward your opinions about how to reduce the damage caused by smoking in a quick and easy way then we recommend that you use the e-response which has been designed by Smoke Free Action. It only takes a couple of minutes to contribute to the consultation by filling in a few details and ticking which proposals you support. To get involved please visit :-
http://www.smokefreeaction.org.uk/consultation_response/eresponse.html

Breathe Easy Forum - Llanarthny

On Friday 15th August several Breathe Easy group officers and members from South Wales, met at Llanarthny Village Hall near Carmarthen. This was run by Chris Mulholland and Shan Evans, Dr Emrys Evans the Wales BLF chair and Kay Byrne (Our temporary press officer) were also there.

The session was started with a 'report back' regarding the years events from all groups. Much discussion and exchange of ideas for speakers etc. ensued.

Chris then gave us an overview of the NHS in Wales in it's current form and her thoughts on some of the possible changes. She then took us through an ideal 'Patient' journey with an explanation of what our expectations should be at the various stages.
She then addressed BLF and local campaigning themes. She asked that each group concentrate on its own particular individual local campaigns for the coming year. To assist that aim she issued a list of Assembly members applicable to each group and a list of members of the 'Health, Wellbeing and Local Government Committee.

Continuing with the campaigning theme Kay then gave us an insight into methods of gaining publicity for our cause, whether in newspapers, radio or TV. With her experience we collectively hope to raise our profile in all these mediums, I'm sure she has many useful contacts and will help us to move onwards and upwards.

It is still a sad fact that so few people with lung conditions know we even exist.

All in all an informative and interesting day, it was a pity that more members of all the groups were unable to attend.