Julie is Keynote Speaker at TB Forum

Julie Morgan, MP for Cardiff North, is the keynote speaker today at the Royal College of Nursing in London at the Tuberculosis Nurses Forum.

Julie Morgan MP said:

“I was very pleased to be invited to speak at the RCN about the work of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Global TB that I co-Chair in Westminster.

“I’ve always had a great interest in TB and the treatment of TB. My first job after leaving university was as a social worker in a TB hospital. The hospital was Sully Hospital near Penarth and that experience certainly gave me great respect and appreciation for the work that TB nurses do.

“Sully Hospital was a very forward looking hospital in many ways. The ethos was total respect for the patient and the social worker was very much part of the team. I learnt so much in that hospital – it has remained with me ever since.

“The general feeling 30 or so years ago was that TB was under control in the UK and that there would be no need for TB nurses in the future, but unfortunately this is not the case: TB rates are on the rise again and TB nurses are as vital as ever.

“I’ve also visited Kenya and Rwanda with the charity RESULTS UK and I have seen for myself the devastation that TB is causing in Africa where TB/HIV co-infection is a very real problem.

“Perhaps the most shocking thing of all is that tuberculosis is, of course, completely curable – and curable at a low cost. In this day and age, people should not be suffering from or dying of this disease.”