The venue was wheelchair-friendly, with disabled toilet facilities, a ‘roomy’ kitchen with serving hatch (where I could spread out my ‘Welsh cakes’ and nibbles), plenty of seating and because we were a charity connected with medical matters, we had the use of it free. I must admit that it was a bit difficult to find as the car park said ‘Staff only’ and I had been told that there would be an attendant who would direct lost souls, but no-one was there so poor Terry (my husband) was sent out in the cold to look for strays to direct them. Once everyone was settled in we had a pleasant and informative meeting.

Firstly, I would like to thank Carolyn and Justine for travelling to Swansea to meet us all and setting me on the right path as to what I should bring to the fore etc. Carolyn introduced herself to the audience and spoke of the many benefits of PINNT. We were happy to hear of the Restaurant Card and how it should help when we eat out. Later Carolyn managed to meet attendees and answered many of the questions they had lined up for her.

We had a good turnout and apologies were sent from members in mid and north Wales due to other commitments or difficulty in distance/travel etc. I am originally from mid Wales and often visit there so I will call on members in that area when I next visit and have a chat over a cuppa. I was very pleased to see new faces, especially three enteral patients with their families. The HPN patients know each other as we meet up at clinic and are lucky that we have good support. However, I was sorry to hear from some of the carers of the enteral fed patients that they did not have such good back-up. Having been on enteral feeds I know what it feels like not knowing where to turn when a problem arises and feeling quite alone at times. I hope that our meeting did help and I know that Carolyn spoke to many and helped with their queries.

A few of the audience were non-members but I think that will change as I have had many queries since the meeting. I have sent out numerous posters and pamphlets to organisations where I know there are artificially fed folk but I think half just put the information into their drawers and forget about it. We must keep on spreading the news of PINNT. I had a telephone call from the Carers’ Magazine for Cynnon Taff area mentioning that they had seen a PINNT poster in one of the hospitals and asked if they could put it in their newsletter, which they did.