Behçet's UK

🔍National Behçet's Centres Convene for 10-Year Review The UK's three national Behçet's centres of excellence in Liverpool, London and Birmingham convened for their 10-year anniversary meeting at the nautically-themed @TheLinerHotel in Liverpool. Hosted by Prof Robert Moots, founder of the Liverpool centre, in which our #multidisciplinary behcet's service integrates rheumatology, dermatology, ophthalmology, oral medicine, neurology, GUM, clinical psychology, specialist nursing and support coordination. Patient testimonials underscore the impact of these centres - Highlights included perspectives from @TonyThornburn (chief of @BehcetsUK) and from Jan Mather who spoke engagingly about how the centres impacted her care, what things were like before and the value of support co-ordinators such as Liverpool's Jacqueline Pooler - who covered some of the challenges in the workplace and the support which is available for our patients. Clinical psychologist Suzanne Crozier explored service adaptations due to #COVID-19, fatigue management, and the role of #compassion-based therapy. Our nurse consultant Sarah Hardy neatly covered the service issues and hot topics for our centres. We had #ClinicalTrials updates covering Secukinumab (Rob Moots), BioBehçet (@devasitunayake) and I discovered the fantastic collaborations in #paediatric rheumatology and other specialities on upcoming guidelines focusing on young people with this disease (Clare Pain Rheumatologist). John Higham clarified definitions and differentiating features of Behçet's ulcers, and Mona Ghadiri-Sani presented on Behçets-associated headache and #migraine. New patient resources are being developed through partnerships, for which patient involvement is central. #Biomarker discovery and multi-omics research advance, noted Dr Situnayake, as patient volumes rise. I gave a cheeky shout-out for the era of #Oculomics, and how we hope to screen and prognosticate #Behçet's Disease with features seen in the retina and choroid that might indicate subclinical ocular/systemic inflammation. The meeting celebrated John Mather's retirement as Operations Manager for the Behcet's centres after years of dedicated service. Together, these national centres stand as beacons of hope for this challenging disease, driving progress and innovation in care, and reaffirming an unwavering dedication to improving the lives of patients across the UK and beyond. I learnt a lot from my colleagues in other specialities and hope that we can continue to advance both with #Behcets and other #RareDiseases. 🤞 · • —– ٠ ✤ ٠ —– • · @behcets_usa @LivUni @StPaulsNews @LUHFTlearning @WaltonCentre #Ophthalmology #Ophthalmologist #oftalmologia #optometry #orthoptist #optometrist @LivHospitals @LivHospitalsRI @HCPLiveRheum @LivUniHLS #rheumatology @EyeNewsMag @OphthoMag #rheumatology #dermatology #oralmedicine #neurology #genitourinarymedicine #psychology #whywedoresearch – at Liverpool, England