Patient Groups
The Bristol office of the Society for Endocrinology is an administrative
office. We do not have any medically-trained staff, or any staff who
can give any medical advice on hormonal problems. However, there are
many patient groups who can give very good advice, and below we link
to some of the patient groups we work with.
These groups are made up of individuals, and so we can’t vouch
for all the advice that they might give. Sometimes it is difficult to
be able to recognise which patient groups are reliable, and which are
not. If you are unsure, we would suggest you consider the following
points:
- Does the patient group seem to have reputable advisors? These
would normally include reputable doctors. Endocrinology is an area
of medicine which is quite academic, and so a lot of senior endocrinologists
are associated with large teaching hospitals, or universities.
- That is the qualification of the advisor? If someone has a PhD
(Doctor of Philosophy), then they are still called a Doctor, even
though they are not a medical doctor. That doesn’t mean that
they are not knowledgeable; however medical doctors tend to have
qualifications like MB. ChB., or M.D.
- Does the group give the impression that it works with the medical
establishment, or against it. There are some patient support groups
which do not support what medical opinion is saying. The Society
for Endocrinology likes to think that it’s members are putting
forward views which have been scientifically tested, and are representative
of what we know just now.
See also...