From the President

GAVIN FINKELSTEIN

Gavin Finkelstein is President, Haemophilia Foundation Australia

Our conferences seem to come around quickly these days.

However, looking back, it is interesting that some seemingly significant issues have loomed large then settle, while others continue to challenge our stakeholder community over many years. 

You can expect most of the challenges will be represented in some way at the upcoming Australian Conference in Sydney in October: from access to new and emerging treatment products, to best practice guidelines for the treatment and care of bleeding disorders; and how best to measure the outcomes of treatments through to the tools we want and need to live well with a bleeding disorder. 

How we live well with a bleeding disorder depends on the treatment and care that is available, and our approach to our bleeding disorder. This also includes how we are feeling, coping with the issues that come up and managing our mental health. 

The new and emerging therapies for haemophilia will likely challenge the way services are set up and provided in the future. This may differ from what we are used to – on one hand, we may think we don’t need to attend an HTC as often as before, yet we may need specialist haemophilia health professionals even more to work to help us with our damaged joints, and new complications! 

I look forward to discussion at the Conference with our members and other stakeholders about what treatment and care might look like heading into the future.