Annual Report 2019

Ectopic Pregnancy Foundation Report – 2019

The multiple choice questionnaire for gynaecologists, general practitioners and medical students remains popular.  Certificates are sent to respondents displaying their percentage score and these can be used as part of the individual Personal Development Portfolio (PDP).

The patient 24 hour helpline has been busy, and thanks to Healix International for providing this important service to women and their relatives.

Website

2019 has seen significant changes to the website. This has entailed a completely fresh design and build on a far more stable platform which is much easier manage and maintain whilst providing a much better user experience. Another major change to the homepage is ‘What do do if you think you have a ectopic pregnancy’. This link gives clear and concise advise on what to do and what to expect when are are seen by a medical professional with a possible ectopic pregnancy.

Further changes include an enlarged ‘Donate Now’ button which links to the JustGiving website.

We have made changes to the faculty include Professor C Davies, professor of anatomy at Imperial College London and professor Kim Henshaw, Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology. We have also recruited a number of specialist registrars in gynecology and a medial student representative.

Mr Joe Hanberry FCCA has kindly agreed to be honorary treasurer to the foundation.

Compliance

This charity is registered with the Charity Commission, charity number: 1122286. Its profile, including financial information can be inspected at www.charitycommission.gov.uk.

Patient Experiences

A number of women have e-mailed accounts of their experience of ectopic pregnancy to be shared with others and this has been a very popular part of the website.

Fundraising

We are very grateful to all our fund-raisers who enable our various activities to happen.

Collections at ‘Best for Less Limited’ in Rickmansworth continue to be a further source of funds.

The Imperial Medical College (Charing Cross and St Marys Hospital) run a rag week and the Chair has been written to suggesting that they choose us as their charity.

Distinctly entered a national football tournament and donated the £1,600 prize fund to The Ectopic Pregnancy Foundation.

Challenges For 2020

With the increasing number of early pregnancy units fewer women with an ectopic pregnancy are seen in the Accident and Emergency Departments.  This means that doctors in A&E have less experience and the diagnosis may not be considered, especially if women with vague gastrointestinal symptoms fail to be diagnosed potentially leading to maternal mortality.

We plan to meet with the President of the College of Emergency Medicine to discuss collaboration and discuss the possibility of adding relevant multiple choice questions their junior’s core training.

After reviewing the website traffic data, we feel the need to undertake work on Search Engine Optimisation (SEO). We have identified Lottie as an expert in this field with a proven track record. I will approach her for  advice and comment and will then decide to implement her suggestions for this work.

Also, we aim to meet the President of the Royal College of General Practitioners to publicise the GP MCQ’s and make then part of the Gynaecological training and part of the their Professional Development Portfolio.

We are in the process of analysing data from the new website in order to see how the website can improved further and ultimately help more people around the world.

We have up to now relied on volunteers who gave their time freely to work on the administrative side of the website.  We feel we have now reached the stage where it is important that we put things on a more formal footing.  We need to employ somebody on a part-time basis for fundraising and general administrative duties.

At present we do not have a Patron for the Foundation.  One of the challenges for 2019 will be to identify and appointment one or more patrons.

 

 

Publications

We encourage research in ectopic pregnancy and have had a number of publications in peer review journals.

Ovarian Ectopic Pregnancy: Aetiology, Diagnosis and Challenges in Surgical Management.  Journal of Obstetrics & Gynaecology.  July 2012, Vol 32, No 472-474.

Joseph R, Irvine  M 2012.

Reporting Rates of ectopic pregnancy: Are we any closer to achieving consensus?

Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology; Vol 32, No 1, Pages 64-6.

De Rosnay P, Irvine M 2012.

Dr Robert Lawson Tait: The Forgotten Gynaecologist J Obstet Gynaecol. 2011 Nov;31(8):695-6. doi: 10.3109/01443615.2011.613497Glenn J1, Irvine LM.

Acknowledgements

Also Mr Russell Smith (Healix International), and Mr Tom Shurville, Distinctly for the web development and optimisation.

Dr Peter Mason and his team at Healix International for the ongoing support of hosting of the 24 hour patient helpline.

Mr Laurie Montgomery Irvine
Founder and Chief Executive
January 2020