BIRMINGHAM MEDICAL CONVENTION, NEC MAY 2006

• Michael, Florrie, Dave, Kay and myself attended the two day medical convention at the NEC.

• The attendance was 25% up on last year (information from the organisers of the show) and we were busy from the word go. At 9am sharp the announcer declared the show open and we were swamped from the very beginning, once again the professionals were interested in information about fibromyalgia, it is quite apparent that information is not reaching all areas of the NHS even the departments that work with fibromyalgia patients. Quite surprisingly professionals who have been diagnosed with fms were happy to share this with us and although they had previously known about fms they had no idea of the impact of this condition and of its severity until they had developed the condition, we were able to talk in depth to many professionals over the two days. This year we were able to take new fibromyalgia information  to the conference, written for the Nottingham group by a professional, we informed many of the delegates how to order the Medical Pack from the Association, we found that the pregnancy pack available from the UK would also have been useful, it would have been good to have had this for the midwives and they were very surprised that information was available for them, one professional actually asked me why it was relevant for midwives to know about fibromyalgia! The convention highlighted the fact that there are still gaps in fibromyalgia information for some health workers and the Nottingham group will work to produce this. I have to say that all the professionals who attend this event are interested in our condition, they are as frustrated about not having the information about our condition as we are about them not having it. We had many engaging conversations with GP's (who did not know about the GP Flyer or that it had been superseded by the medical pack) and in conversations many reinforced the fact that they know of our difficulties about recognition of fms and that many professionals still believe that it doesn't exist. I had one conversation with a professional who had been diagnosed with fibro and told her, you know that its all in your head - it doesn't exist, from the laughter she had clearly heard this statement and went onto reply "Oh no it isn't in my head, I know this is real, I'm not silly".

• We had professionals come back to us who came to us last year to ask if anything new was happening with fms, Kay who was with us for the first time said that it was a real eye opener to see that professionals really are interested in fms. We informed the delegates that Nottingham are holding a professional conference in Nottingham later in the year and so many expressed an interest, leaving their details with us, that it may have to go totwo conferences, professionals from Germany working with the armed forces wish to be invited and pharmacists asked if they could be remembered to be invited when we do these conferences.

• We had feedback from other exhibitors that we had received excellent praise from delegates who had been to our stand, this comment alone is worth everything, we were also told by the organisers of the show that every time they looked in our direction we were very busy, many passed  comment about our professionalism, this feedback says it all, the work of the Nottingham group continues to grow and we will be following up all enquires from the NEC. I would like to thank the group members for supporting us in our efforts and I would like to thank Dave and Kay for their help and I must make special thanks for all the hours of printing and putting the information packs together to Michael and Florrie, thank you all.

• Christine Brown, Awareness Co-ordinator for the group