Copy and paste, and then edit the below to write to your MP about adding aplastic anaemia to the NHS website.

Your letter will have more impact if you use your own words and personal experience, so please do edit and replace bits of what we've suggested below, or write your own from scratch!


Add your address to the top of your letter.
This lets your MP know that you are a constituent of theirs.

Dear add your MP's full name

Tell them your name and whether  you / a family member have aplastic anaemia. 

I am writing to ask you to use your influence or offer advice about how we might ensure aplastic anaemia is added to the list of conditions on the NHS website as soon as possible.

Aplastic Anaemia is a rare and life-threatening blood disorder caused by the bone marrow not functioning properly. In people with aplastic anaemia, the bone marrow fails to produce enough of all three types of blood cells. People with aplastic anaemia are treated in the same wards as people with blood cancer and often receive similar treatment.

However, unlike other similarly  rare conditions, aplastic anaemia is not listed as a condition on the NHS website. 

This is a particular problem because aplastic anaemia is frequently confused with "being anaemic" (having an iron deficiency.) Not only is aplastic anaemia absent as a condition on the NHS website, but when you search for it you are presented with pages about iron deficiency and other, less serious conditions, making this confusion worse. This makes it difficult for people with aplastic anaemia to ask for the support they need from family and friends and leads to difficulty with taking extended time off work for life altering treatment, including bone marrow transplants. It also results in people who are seriously ill struggling to access the UK benefits system. 

The need to explain the condition and its impact to family, friends, workplaces and schools without any NHS webpage to summarise is taking its toll on the community. The recent Rare Voices report shows high levels of anxiety and isolation in people with aplastic anaemia or a similar/related condition, and reports that over half would like more support with navigating the healthcare system, and 50% would like advice on how to explain the condition to others.

Many patients go to clinicians for letters that explain the impact of the condition, to take to employers. Having aplastic anaemia on the NHS conditions website would save NHS staff time and improve the mental health of aplastic anaemia patients. The Aplastic Anaemia Trust have leading NHS haematologists on their Research and Clinical Advisory Panel and have offered to draft text for a webpage.

Any advice you can provide on how to add aplastic anaemia to the NHS conditions website would be very much appreciated.

Yours sincerely,