All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG)
We are pleased to be able to tell you that we have started the process of setting up an All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for thyroid disease.
“All-party groups are unofficial, and have a membership of backbench Members of the House of Commons, or of both Houses. They are classified either as subject groups (relating to a particular topic eg. forestry) or country groups (relating to a particular country or region). The groups tend on the whole to cover subjects which are not generally contentious in party terms.
To sum up, all-party groups may draw attention to certain aspects of public affairs, may assist in keeping the Government informed of parliamentary opinion, and may act as pressure-groups to promote some particular cause.”
It is not easy to do this and there are very strict rules on how to set one up and keep one running. An APPG setup requires the support of at least twenty MPs (at least ten of which must be Government (Labour) MPs, and at least six of which must be Official Opposition (Conservative) MPs).
We do have some MPs interested in helping us but as you can see, we need at least twenty. It would be very helpful if you could write to your MPs and ask for their help. If you are not sure what to write, we have given you an example letter below.
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Your name and address
Date
MP’s Name
Constituency Address
Dear…………………
All Party Parliamentary Group for Thyroid and Related Diseases
Thyroid UK was established over 6 years ago to offer help, support, advice and information to people with thyroid and other related chronic conditions who were, and still are, struggling alone in the community. It has a database of over 11500, a Newsletter subscription of over 900, and receives approximately 1000 ‘hits’ on its website every week.
The thyroid, a vital endocrine gland, is situated at the base of the neck just below the Adam’s Apple and weighs only 5ozs. Many other related diseases are caused by the breakdown of the thyroid and other endocrine systems.
Thyroid disease is nearly always diagnosed by blood tests alone, the many signs and symptoms of the condition usually being given insufficient consideration. Furthermore, the blood tests themselves may often be incomplete and inaccurately interpreted. This leaves thousands of people needlessly suffering extremely poor health. Thyroid disease affects not only the sufferer but also the sufferer’s spouse or partner, children and other family members, friends, and work colleagues. Please find attached a comprehensive list of the signs and symptoms of hypothyroidism (underactive thyroid gland).
Thyroid UK is attempting to set up an All Party Parliamentary Group for Thyroid and Related Diseases. Could you help? There will be many members of your constituency who will be greatly affected by thyroid disease - some treated, some under-treated and some receiving no treatment at all as they remain undiagnosed due to the undue reliance placed on the thyroid function tests.
If you can help Thyroid UK, please contact: Anne Crashley, Tel: 0788 0804 004 Email: anne_crashley@btopenworld.com
Yours sincerely
Your name
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Sign your name and send or take it to your local MP, and also send him/her the letter at the House of Commons, London SW1A 0AA. If you do not know who your MP is you can find out at www.writetothem.com or your local library.
It would be even better if you could make an appointment to visit your MP personally – they usually hold surgeries on Saturday mornings. Please let them know of the difficulties of diagnosing thyroid disease due to the sole use of the blood tests and the misinterpretation of them. Give them my email address – enquiries@thyroiduk.org and ask them to contact me about the setting up of a group.
We will be doing a mail-shot to people within the constituencies of those that we want to target so look out for our letter!
I’ll keep you informed of how we get on!
N.B.
Diana Holmes has organised a meeting to discuss the diagnosis and management of hypothyroidism. She sent me this email:
Dear Lyn,
If you could encourage your members to write to their MP's with their own story - albeit brief and inform them that Sir Patrick Cormack will be convening a meeting in October ( date to decided -by Sir Patrick) regarding the diagnosis and management of hypothyroidism. Each letter has to be individual.
If you could impress on them that it is important that their own MP's attend to add weight to the already growing numbers of MP's already interested. The more MP's we have on board the better.
Thank you
Regards
Diana
Perhaps you could add this information when you write to your MP?
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