Newsletter
Extracts from the June 2006 Newsletter
Opening Words
The four rural roadshows are finished. We held them at Wisbech, Downham Market, Swaffham and Burnham Market. In all nearly 1000 people visited them including 125 who received scans. These Roadshows were funded by a special Award for All Grant but the group paid for the scans, so thank you to all.
A special thanks to Pat Riley who performed miracles and to all her helpers from Heacham, Snettisham and Dersingham. A big thank you as well to all who helped – Edie and Les Finbow, John and Jill Fysh, Barbara and John Blacklock, Ros Harre, Peggy Spencer, Nancy Grimes, Richard and Ruth Hughes, Pam Thrower and Mary Gordon, Janet and David Edgson and Sally Wells, June Byford, Margaret Peters and Terry McCarthy. An extra thank you to Chris and Tony Bennett for working non-stop and to Edie for her organisation.
Thinking forward to 24 August 2006, I have yet to receive a response regarding a trip (via minibus) to Bury St. Edmunds. Give some thought to it please. I would like to know if you are interested by the July meeting. This is our chance to enjoy an outing and to see where Tony Bennett works at the West Suffolk Hospital.
Thank you all for the work you do for the Group.
From our Chairman, John Fludgate
End of the Roadshows
Thank you
…to Awards for All Eastern. Their grant allowed us to stage four rural Osteoporosis Roadshows.
We have now completed our four Roadshows and would like to thank Awards for All Eastern for their Grant of £2162. This money has allowed us to book good venues, and to promote the events more effectively.
Benefits of the Grant
Almost 1000 people have attended the Roadshows but our coverage has been wider than that through the press and radio reports and interviews.
As well as attracting people from our own area, when we were in Wisbech people have attended from Parson Drove, March and Chatteris, whhile our Burnham Market show attracted people from as far away as Great Yarmouth, Norwich and Wymondham.
Just following our BBC Radio Norfolk interview, highlighting our last Roadshow in Burnham Market and talking about the problems and concerns facing people with osteoporosis, our Secretary had over 70 telephone enquiries in that morning alone.
Those people who attended the Roadshows have indicated their appreciation, not only by thanking us, but also by asking if they could help us at future events – and doing so – and by joining our Group. Our membership has actually grown.
Part of our desire to increase awareness was not only to alert people who might be at risk of osteoporosis, but also to influence the West Norfolk Primary Care Trust.
As we have been reporting, we submitted a bid to West Norfolk PCT for an Osteoporosis Care Pathway – a nurse, scanning and osteoporosis lead. This was approved and put as a number one priority. However, the PCT now finds itself unable to fund any development bids due to the direct action of the Department of Health, and the need to make a further 1% saving. It is left with a deficit of £8.7 million.
The need for a more equitable coverage of osteoporosis services across Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridge, is now being investigated by the Strategic Health Authority. We trust services in this area, which is acknowledged Nationally to be a 'black hole' will improve.
Certainly people in our area now know more about the subject, due to the extra funding provided by the Awards for All Grant.
Bone Density Scanning
As many of you will know, our Group has recently organised several Roadshows and offered members of the public the opportunity of having a bone density measurement by means of a Peripheral X-ray absorptiometry (pDXA) wrist scan offered by Tony Bennett, a Professional Radiographer, assisted by Chris his wife. In all, 250 scans have been performed. The results have reinforced the National Osteoporosis Society's revised figures that 1 in 2 women and 1 in 5 men will suffer a fracture as a result of osteoporosis in their lifetime. We will be producing a detailed report for those who are interested.
There are different types of scans to measure bone density available. The 'gold star' axial dual energy X-ray absorptiometry (axial DXA) scan is one that measures hip and spine bone density and is the method which Doctors prefer. Unfortunately, there are not enough axial DXA scanners available in the UK. The National Osteoporosis Society is working to improve this situation. Patients often have to travel a long way to their nearest scanning department. In the case of Kings Lynn and District this is usually Peterborough or Norwich. Because there is such an increasing need for scans, a raised workload is put on the staff of the Departments which offer a full axial DXA scan and sometimes patients may have to wait.
The Kings Lynn Group Chairman and Secretary have worked very hard and put in a considerable amount of time in putting a bid forward to the West Norfolk Primary Care Trust to request a full axial DXA scanning facilities in this area (this would require not only an axial DXA Scanner, but also a Professional Team comprising a Consultant a Specialist Nurse and a Radiographer together with administrative backup). Even though the PCT has been supportive and sympathetic and the bid was on top of the priority list, sadly the financial situation in the NHS is such that this facility is unlikely to be possible in the foreseeable future.
The National Osteoporosis Society does approve of other types of scanning which measure bone density in other parts of the body, (providing each individual has recourse to an axial DXA if appropriate).
One method is Quantative Ultrasound (QUS) (available since 1984) which relies on the transmission of ultrasound through accessible limb bones, e.g. the heel or finger or the reflectance of the ultrasound waves from the bone surface. This is a non-invasive technique and involves no radiation and can be provided by easily portable and relatively inexpensive machines. This technique does not measure bone mineral content or density and cannot be used to diagnose osteoporosis, but a low QUS reading is an independent risk factor for future osteoporotic fracture in, at present, post-menopausal women only. A woman who has a low QUS reading must be advised to discuss the results with her doctor who will decide whether a full DXA scan is indicated. This technique does have the potential for considerable benefits to patients and doctors in the assessment of Osteoporosis.
Another method is Peripheral X-ray absorptiometry (pDXA), which measures bone density at the forearm, heel or hand, with a very low radiation dose. Each patient is given a printout of the results. If the reading shows the bone density to be low, they will be advised to discuss the results with their doctor who will decide whether an axial DXA is appropriate, because measurement of bone density by any method is only part of the necessary diagnostic and clinical service for osteoporosis.
The differences between the different scans from an individual's point of view, as the Guidelines of the National Osteoporosis Society clearly set out, are that:
- an axial DXA scan is suitable for all patients including children, whereas a pDXA is not.
- An axial DXA scan can specifically predict a person's risk of having a hip fracture, whereas a pDXA cannot (but it is capable of predicting a person's 10-year risk of having a fracture at any site).
- An axial DXA Scan, when repeated at two or more yearly intervals, can accurately monitor the effects of treatment, whereas studies have shown pDXA of the forearm to be an insensitive site for monitoring response to treatment.
Whereas both QUS and pDXA scanners have an important role to play in the diagnosis and treatment of osteoporosis, particularly in primary care, at present there are no facilities under the NHS in this area. Anyone who is concerned or has three or more of the risk factors as clearly laid out in the NOS information booklets which we have available, should discuss their fears with their doctor or Practice Nurse.
Thanks to Barbara Blacklock for this detailed report.
Grow your own Calcium
Broccoli is well known for its high calcium content. Now is the time to grow your own plants – assuming you have the sort of garden where you can leave them to grow. It doesn't matter which you choose: white sprouting, purple sprouting, or one of the varieties with a central head, they all have a high calcium content.
For small gardens, it is probably preferable to sow your seeds in small pots rather than seedbeds. While young, protect the plants from birds. Cut a circle of card, and make a cut from the edge to the centre – where you will need to make a hole. Place this around the stalk to deter root fly. Be very vigilant about caterpillars of the Cabbage White Butterfly and Cabbage Moth: pick them off daily and dispose of them. Also watch out for pigeons – they are very partial to brassicas.
As a treat, grow the sprouting kale, Pentland Brig. These are as good as, if not better than the sprouting broccolis. When the plants have about six leaves, plant them in the garden. About a year later you will have a most nutritious vegetable full of calcium to help your bones. And the exercise will have done you good too!
Ken Eade
Gift Aid ‘thank you’
In the past the local Group has not taken advantage of Gift Aid. Following our request in the previous issue of this Newsletter we have received a great many returned forms. Thank you for these
The forms have now been completed and returned to the Inland Revenue and we hope to be able to report next quarter on how much money has been refunded.
If you have not completed a Gift Aid slip and would like to do so, please contact Ken Eade, 4 Pine Road, King's Lynn, PE30 3JP.
Completing a form allows us to collect a further 28 pence for every £1 given, with no extra cost to the doner.
Forthcoming Fund-raising Events
See our Diary Dates for a comprehensive list.
Recent Group Events
The Whalers of Lynn | February 2006
Last year in February we were expecting David Andrews to come to talk to the Group about the 'Whalers of Lynn'. Unfortunately, we had to cancel because of snow – the only meeting we have ever had to cancel. This year we asked him back, and we were luckier with the weather. It was well worth the wait. This was a very interesting talk. David had obviously researched his subject well and become fascinated. He passed on his enthusiasm to his listeners.
The height of the whaling industry in Lynn was from 1774 to 1821. The Greenland Fisheries in Bridge Street, King’s Lynn, although built in 1605 was, by the 18th Century, the favourite tavern of the crews of the whaling ships.
From 1771, every ship of sufficient strength to encounter the Greenland seas, manned and provided in a manner proper for the whale fishery, which proceeded to Greenland and returned to its port of origin, would be entitled to a bounty of 40/- a ton, this having increased from 20/- per ton, on every voyage for five years. This increase in bounty, and possibility of a good catch, encouraged on average about five ships a year from King's Lynn to undertake the venture.
The large merchants in the town were very much involved, responsible for funding the whalers. Every vessel of 200 tons had to carry four boats and 30 men including master and surgeon. Four of the 'men' would be apprentices, some starting as young as 12.
The whales were caught mainly for the blubber, the oil being used for lighting. The advent of gas was the effective nail in the coffin of whaling and this, together with the withdrawal of the bounty in 1824, is reputed to have finished whaling in Lynn.
The Floods of 1953 | March 2006
The Group seems to like talks on local history, so in March we found ourselves listening to Keith Leesmith talking about the '53 Floods. Of course, we all remembered these and some members had personal experiences to add.
Actually the sinking of the Princess Victoria ferry in a fierce gale in the North Channel at Stranraer was the beginning. 124 passengers and nine crew were lost. There were only 44 survivors …and yet this major disaster was hardly covered in the national press.
What hit the headlines was the terrific, frightening and sudden flooding of the East coast of England.
The Met Office had warned of a deepening depression
, but communications between different areas were virtually non-existent. In King's Lynn, 20% of the town was inundated. At Snettisham, Heacham and Hunstanton 66 died, two-thirds of the Norfolk total. This was mainly because many people lived in beach bungalows, due to the severe housing shortage following the Second World War.
In Norfolk 100 died, 24000 homes were damaged or destroyed, a third of a million were made homeless and yet only £1.5 million was claimed on insurance. There was no counselling. People just coped as best they could with neighbour helping neighbour.
On Wednesday 11 January 1978 there was an even greater surge but there were only 3 deaths, and they were caused by the wind not the sea. The difference was that by then there had been extensive warning systems put in place. Lessons had been learnt.
The Orthopaedic Surgeon's View of Osteoporosis | April 2006
Mr Packer treated us to a version of a talk he had previously given to members of the medical profession on October 20th last year, and began by asking if we knew why that date was significant. To our shame, none of us had realised that it was World Osteoporosis Day.
He then began by talking about the stages of development in the recommended treatment of osteoporosis. Bringing us up to date, he talked about a New Dawn
and a much more holisitic approach which takes into account peoples' lifestyles as well as the management and prevention of falls. He reiterated that new treatments can actually increase bone density rather than just halting its decline, and can thus lower fracture rates.
His next topic was the provision (or lack of it) in West Norfolk. He also outlined the ideal approach, saying that he would like to see a multi-disciplinary approach, and that several consultants are in agreement with him on this. To provide a DXA scanner, with an appropriate clinic and a specialist nurse, would be inexpensive in comparison with the cost of treating fractures and their associated problems, and Mr Packer confirmed that studies are beginning to show that early intervention is cost-effective, not only in financial terms, but also as he put it in terms of quality of life as well as quantity
. He also stressed how important it is for each GP practice to have an interested person
within it.
Mr Packer made the point that it may not be necessary to wait for a scan before starting treatment. Indeed, anyone who has a fracture should be considered for treatment.
He finished by talking about some new surgical techniques. These, as the rest of the talk, were illustrated with slides. Mr Packer was very complimentary about the work that the NOS does, and from our point of view, it was very gratifying to hear him echo many of our concerns, as well as our wish list.
Thank you Ros Harre for April's report.
