Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust opened a new Smell Disorders and Allergy Clinic at Gloucestershire Royal Hospital in November. The consultant-led service will be the first time that patients can be seen at a dedicated and specialist smell clinic in the area.

This new service is being run in partnership with Fifth Sense. We will work closely with the clinic to provide local support and information to patients, help signpost people to the new service and work with hospital staff to contribute to the latest cutting-edge research in this specialist area.

On Saturday 12 November we held a joint event to launch this new clinic. Duncan Boak our CEO alongside Mr Okechukwu Okonkwo spoke about the new clinic to a packed room. Duncan spoke about the work that had been undertaken by both ENT Consultant Mr Okonkwo and Fifth Sense to ensure that support would be available for those with a smell and taste disorder in the Gloucestershire area.

We were very lucky to have one of our members there who spoke very eloquently about his experiences and his loss of smell and taste journey. His thoughts and insights were broadly reflective of the experiences of many of those who attended. We would like to thank Trevor Jones for his willingness to talk about his journey and experiences.

Some Fifth Sense members had travelled quite a distance, including from York, to attend the event. The feedback we received reflects the real need for more clinics like this one.

One of the important outcomes for those attending was the fact that they met other people who are affected and ‘realising that they are not alone or imagining things.’

We hope to hold more of these events in other parts of the country, working alongside medical professionals to ensure that these disorders are more widely recognised and that with our support more people will be able to access smell and taste clinics.