SUMMARY OF MINUTES OF RECENT BOARD MEETING of TRUSTEES

At a recent board meeting the Trustees discussed and acted on several items, amongst which were the unfortunate cancellation of the Wales meeting due to lack of take-up of tickets. It is hoped to re-schedule the meeting for later in 2017. Arrangements were made for the next meeting which will be at Bart's Hospital on July 16th 2017, details are already on the website. The Brain Charity have been approached to give a presentation on the benefit PIP; many members are transitioning to the new benefit from DLA and the process has involved financial hardship for many and a great deal of stress. Other speakers will include our patron Professor Peter Goadsby and Dr Anish Bahra from UCLH. There will also be breakout workshop sessions on specific subjects.

CH awareness day was discussed; this year OUCH Italia took the lead in this event, but following discussion the board unanimously agreed to make March 21st CH awareness day each year in the UK. The theme selected by OUCH Italia was empathic experiences from CH sufferers of what life is like for a CH sufferer with the emphasis on an overall view of their life, not what happens when they have an attack. One trustee and one officer were scheduled to attend the House of Commons event hosted by St Thomas' Hospital and Jim Fitzpatrick MP, head of the APPG on Headache disorders. Various other members had radio and media interviews, and press releases were drafted.

Three new helpline staff will be approached for training [names to be announced at a later date] so that sickness and holidays can be adequately covered.

New layout and regular items for 'CHit Chat' were discussed.

Member Ian Howard had made a request to address some issues to Trustees at the board meeting, a request the Trustees gladly acceded to, but unfortunately Mr Howard was unable to attend due to work commitments. The board made it clear that he would be very welcome to attend a future board meeting to discuss his concerns.