This week Parathyroid UK attended the Society for Endocrinology’s Clinical update training programme for recently appointed consultants in diabetes and endocrinology.
It provides an update on current clinical practice and offers delegates an unparalleled opportunity to network with fellow trainees and established Endocrinologists.
At the same time is the clinical update for Endocrine nurses, so attending these events gives us exposure, and the opportunity to speak to the Drs and nurses about the work we do such as supporting patients, providing information to patients and Drs alike, and raising awareness about all parathyroid conditions.
Our stand was very busy, and the new consultants were keen to learn about managing us, and I used every opportunity to discuss what is important to us, such as being able to access blood tests, with results, and how different we all are.
Some patients can feel perfectly comfortable with a calcium of 2.1 mmol/l, while the next person would be happiest around 2.35 mmol/l for example.
We met some specialist endo nurses who run their own clinics and it was heartening to hear that they are on the increase.
The ESE guidelines on the management of Hypopara were on display and many endos were encouraged to print them off using the QR code for our website.
These are the inroads we are making by bringing these matters to their attention, and hopefully another generation of new consultants will take back this knowledge and use it in their clinics to improve their care of us all.
I also listened to an interesting lecture on Hypercalcaemia, run by a very experienced endo who is also one of our advisors, and it was good to hear their discussions on how best to manage these patients.
Another lecture on hypErpara in pregnancy was interesting, and the patient involved had a successful parathyroidectomy in the second trimester with normalisation of calcium and PTH and went on to deliver a healthy baby at term.
The recently published ESE leaflets on hypErpara in pregnancy were very popular and are available to download from the website ( as are all our leaflets).
Sadly, It has been shown that many of us receive sub standard care in our management, but take heart that our message IS getting out there, and IS making a difference!
Jane Compton
Support Team
April 2023
