“What Have We Been Doing?”

A huge and exciting step forward for Nikki’s Trust

Following months of hard work and determination we are delighted to announce that Nikki’s Trust  achieved charitable status in October 2012. This now means that we can move forward as a charity and continue our campaign to raise awareness for the HPV vaccine and progress with our goal to advance pain control management of bone cancer.

We are thrilled to be in this position but this was only made possible in the first instance with the support and generosity of the ‘Phyllis Tuckwell Hospice, Farnham, Surrey.  www.pth.org They have enabled us to collect funds through their established channels. Thanks to Phyllis Tuckwell Hopsice and all of last years events arranged by family and friends Nikki’s Trust total fundraising to date stands at an incredible £28,000.  This would not have been possible without the continued support and fundraising efforts of so many.  As you will have noticed they have been so many ideas and initiatives and this is only the beginning.  If you have any great ideas or would like to raise funds for Nikki’s trust please get in touch at contactus@nikki’strust.co.uk  we would love to hear from you.  Please let us know and we can add you to our events page.  Every penny raised will make a difference and ultimately save lives.

 

Moving Forward to Achieve the Goals the Trust Has Set.

The Trust has been researching and collating information with regards to the goals set by the Trust and is now in a position to update you as to the progress of these objectives.

Pain Control – October 2012

  • This was one of our primary concerns following Nikki’s journey.  We are pleased to announce that the trust has made a grant of over £3,000  for 8 doctors and senior nurses from the Phyllis Tuckwell Hospice to attend an ‘advanced pain and symptom management course’.  This enables a better understanding and awareness of new techniques that the course provides.  This is an important first step to ensure that new techniques stop being just theory and are used to start benefiting patients like Nikki.  The trusts is now looking at providing similar training to other Hospices within our area of operation, Kent & Surrey.

Awareness of the HPV Vaccine that can prevent Cervical cancer

 September 2012 – Positive Results from Discussions with Production Company

  • We are very pleased to be working with a production company, looking to start a project on producing a short film which will be shown to all girls aged between 11-16 years in full time education. 
  • We have established that there isn’t a generic source of material that is used to educate girls who are eligible for the vaccine.  We feel very passionate that the same message should be clear, concise and relevant and delivered in an appropriate format, therefore as a trust this is something we are looking to achieve as quickly as possible. This will be taken forward to our meeting with the Department for Health in December. We see this as an opportunity to put forward the DVD we plan to produce with the hope this can be rolled out nationwide.

Meeting with Department of Health – December 2012

  • A meeting was held between the Deputy Head of the Department of Health Immunisations Branch (DoH IB) and the Trustees on 17 December,  they discussed issues around cervical cancer and the HPV Vaccine .

Production of DVD

The aims of the DVD were discussed and further meetings are planned to ensure that the DVD will be a useful tool for educating the right target audience and it meets all the goals of the Trust.  The trust are also  investigating to see if there is a ’mop up’ process in place that ensures that all girls who did not take up the vaccine at a younger age are given the opportunity to re-think their decision before leaving school. The Trust will look at the educational material that is available to this group to enable them to make an informed choice before leaving school.

 

Access to the vaccine for older girls

  • We discussed that whilst the vaccination ‘statistically’ is most effective when delivered to 12-13 year olds, it is still ‘medically’ effective in older girls; an older recipient would be safe in the knowledge that they have done everything they can to protect themselves. Currently for recipients over the age of 18 getting the vaccination is a difficult process with many obstacles. Many of these could be removed if the vaccine was to be treated like travel vaccinations; our goal would be to ensure that an older girl wanting to pay for the vaccine could simply go to the GP and walk out with an injection in one arm and an appointment card for two further doses. The DoH IB agreed to investiagte further.

 

We hope you will agree that alot of positive actions has been going on behind the scenes and this really is thanks to your generosity.  We are already making a difference and will be continuing in our efforts, striving to achieve our goals and will keep you updated as we move forward.  In the meantime we are thrilled that Nikki’s Trust is officially now an independent charity.

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