For anyone who doesn’t do
detail – this isn’t the post for you!
After all of my debating
about what to wear to the Houses of Parliament I decided on a black dress,
orange/red jacket, black shoes, and a scarf to tie it all together. However
what I hadn’t taken into account was the weather! We left home in pale sunshine
but it was very cold so I wore my new bright blue coat, which worked ok as the
scarf tied the colours together. But my mistake was not thinking about – rain,
sleet and snow – all of which we had.
We arrived at the Cromwell
entrance to the Houses of Parliament in plenty of time with rain and sleet just
beginning. I then queued for a short while for the first checkpoint getting
wetter as time went on. Once into the first room you are security checked just
like at an airport and then you have your photo taken and printed onto a small
ID card and attached to the lanyard which had been placed around my neck at the
first check point.
Moving on you then enter the
cavernous Westminster Hall. It is a huge hall with the most amazing hammerbeam
roof - one of the only parts of the
Palace of Westminster that was left after the Great Fire in 1834. It is used
for many things – ceremonial addresses by heads of state or the Queen to both
houses, for banquets and for lyings in state before funerals. Here I was again
asked where I was going and directed to the Central Lobby through St Stephens
Hall. The floor is tiled and the walls covered in panels and statues who
welcome you into their world. You then enter the octagonal Central Lobby – the
most beautiful lobby complete with a huge chandelier. This is the crossover place where all corridors and houses meet.
It is like an ants nest – little ants scurrying here and there, many walking
very fast, most with a purpose but some (like me) feeling quite overwhelmed. It
was so, so busy. I was again directed to another lobby area where I was asked
to sit and wait until 5 minutes before the start of my event. There appeared to
be quite a few other events taking place and quite a lot of waiting people.
This time allowed me to have a good look around me. From my seat I could see
the beautiful Central lobby covered in ‘ants’ either meeting or scurrying to
wherever they were going and I could see the next lobby where people waited to
be admitted to their event. Most people were dressed smartly ( it made me feel
that I had got the dress code right), some visitors were wearing jeans etc… and
there were lots and lots of suited men.
At 3.55 I was shown down a
small staircase into a long corridor with many doors leading off. As we walked
past the rooms you could see many small rooms with tables set for meetings and
along the corridors tables set with glasses and finger buffet food.
We were the directed down
another small set of stairs into a tiny lobby where we collected our name
badges and then entered a marquee attached to the side of the Houses of
Parliament. (When you look across the river to the Houses of Parliament you can
see the marquee) It has the most wonderful view of the river and St Thomas
hospital beyond.
On entering the Marquee I
felt quite overwhelmed – knowing no one and not really understanding how it all
worked. Thankfully a lovely lady quickly came to chat with me. She was from
Fresenius the company that make the dialysis machines that I used. We had a
good chat about kidney disease and machines etc… A good start! I was then able to go and introduce myself
to Fiona Loud (Kidney Alliance) who had invited me and we had a short chat. She
was very distracted – understandably by all the guests arriving. I was aware of
the pressure she must have been under to organise and host such an event,
whilst also having to speak and taking the opportunity to lobby the MPs and
Lords who attended about the issues they were targeting this year in relation
to Acute Kidney Injury (AKI).
I was just beginning to
think that it was getting a bit scary again when Leo Bailey arrived. She is the
Matron for Kidney Disease at Royal Berks and is also part of the Kidney
Alliance. It was wonderful to see her and she looked after me for the rest of
the afternoon, which was lovely. She knew many of the guests and chatted freely
to people, introducing me as she went around. It was her first visit to the
Houses of Parliament so she was also fascinated by everything.
The talks began and the host
– MP Glyn Davies introduced himself. He is the co-chair of the All Party Parliamentary Kidney Group. He
also introduced Anna Sourby MP who is the Parliamentary Under Secretary of
State for Public Health. Both spoke for only a few minutes as there was a bell
sounding which told them that they had 8 minutes to get to the chamber to vote.
It was great to witness this and to feel that we were actually witnessing the
action of the House of Commons! There were 2 Drs speaking – Dr Donal O’Donoghue
(National Director of Kidney Care) and Richard Fluck (Chair of Kidney Alliance)
both passionately speaking about how we can reduce the mortality rates of AKI
and giving all the facts and figures. I will write about this at another time.
Following this a patient spoke of his personal experience of AKI. It was very
moving to hear his story. Fiona then spoke of what needs to be done and the
importance of hospital staff and GPs understanding about AKI.
I realised how lucky I had
been to have an oncologist who checked my kidney function as part of bloods
taken after my transfusion and then to be seen so quickly by a renal consultant
at 10.00 at night and a plan put in place. I am thankful for such good care.
The talks were followed by
sandwiches, cakes, drinks ( all beautifully presented) and milling around.
Thankfully I had Leo by my side, which made this part so much less scary. We
chatted to quite a few people, telling my story and hearing about their
involvement with the kidney world.
There were many passionate people wanting kidney disease to be more
widely known about. There is much research in the pipelines but of course money
as always remains an issue. It was interesting to see that Fiona didn’t stress
the importance of more money but of the money that there is available being
better used. She highlighted how expensive dialysis is and that anything which
can prevent or postpone dialysis – saves money. It was very interesting. I was
encouraged to have a voice within the renal world as so many patients with
kidney disease are too poorly to be vocal about their needs. To this end I have
been invited to be involved with the kidney patients group at Royal Berks – we
shall see where this leads.
At one point during our
milling I found myself standing next to Lawrence Keogh – a famous chef who has
himself had a kidney transplant. I wish I had been braver and asked him about
it. He is a campaigner for transplants and has written a diet book especially
for kidney patients which is free to download. He seemed very friendly.
Once we had milled for a
while and eaten some very yummy sandwiches and cakes it was time to leave.
Looking out of the windows across the river we could see that it was snowing
heavily, making a beautiful picture. I wish I had been able to take photos but
this was not allowed. There was a photographer taking official photos, which
will be used for publicity.
We then left back through
the Central Lobby and Westminster Hall and out into the busy streets of
Westminster. Thankfully it had stopped snowing by then. Paul was waiting for me
by the gates, having been to The Tate while I was at the reception.
We finished our day with a
meal and cocktails at Las Iguanas – a wonderful end to a magical experience.
Today is World Kidney Day –
I wonder how much coverage it will get on the news? I think it will get lost in
the new Pope and Comic Relief just as it gets lost in our big hospitals in
dingy corridors and dark, hidden corners. Expect more to come on this!
I
intend to go back over the summer and explore the history and see all the
places that I didn’t get to see this time. It has over 1,000 rooms in total,
100 staircases and over 3 miles of corridors – wow! No wonder it feels like an
ants nest.
There is a photo to follow but it is on Paul's phone.
