International Brain Injury Association 9th World Congress on Brain Injury
Posted February 20th 2012
The Huntercombe Group is delighted
to be silver sponsors of the ; International Brain Injury Association 9th World Congress on Brain Injury, held on the 21st – 25th March 2012 at Edinburgh’s International Conference Centre.
The IBIA World Congress is the
largest gathering of international professionals working in the field of brain
injury. Delegates are comprised of physicians, psychologists and
neuropsychologists, therapists, social workers, nurses, case managers, legal
professionals, advocates and all others working in the field of brain
injury.
The Ninth World Congress program will
feature internationally recognized invited speakers, platform lectures,
workshops, short oral presentations and poster sessions.
The aim of the Ninth World Congress
is to provide an opportunity for establishing collegial relationships with
international professionals focused on the care and/or service of persons with
acquired brain injury and/or the science of brain injury research. State of the
art research will be presented dealing with information spanning from basic
science to clinical (coma to community) aspects of brain injury.
International priorities in the field
of brain injury research will be discussed. Finally, the Congress seeks to
provide didactic opportunities for clinicians interested in advancing their
knowledge in brain injury science, medicine and care. The official language of
the Congress is English, and sessions are open to all delegates registering to
attend the event.
Huntercombe Group should play bigger role in psychiatrist training, Dr Claire Royston advises inquiry
Posted February 20th 2012
Independent
healthcare providers, including the Huntercombe Group, should play a bigger role
in the training of NHS doctors, medical director Dr Claire Royston has told a
parliamentary inquiry.
Independent
providers such as the Huntercombe Group are now leaders in clinical specialisms
including eating disorders, forensic mental health and learning disability
care.
To
reflect this, medical deaneries should approve more consultant psychiatrists
employed by the Huntercombe Group and other providers for the post-graduate
training of NHS doctors, Dr Royston recommended in written evidence to a House
of Commons health select committee inquiry into government’s plans for
healthcare education, training, and workforce planning.
In
her submission, Dr Royston emphasised that NHS medical deaneries have
historically not offered post-graduate psychiatrists with clinical training
placements with independent providers.
This
is despite the fact that independent providers already provide NHS-accredited
placements for trainee clinical psychologists and student nurses and, for
example, almost all Huntercombe Group patients are NHS
patients.
“This
status quo must also change in order to ensure a provision of a flow of
suitably-trained specialist psychiatrists for NHS patients,” wrote Dr Royston in
her evidence to the inquiry whose remit includes ensuring that the future NHS
workforce is sufficiently skilled through measures such as post-registration
training.
“NHS
deaneries must be encouraged to recognise that independent providers, such as
the Huntercombe Group, not only have suitably-accredited consultant
psychiatrists to supervise placements, but that such doctors lead clinical
innovation in particular specialist fields.
“NHS
medical deaneries should be levered to create more productive partnerships with
independent providers.”
Under
government plans for April 2013, deaneries will have seats on local education
and training boards which will take over responsibility for medical education
and training.
In
her submission, Dr Royston emphasised that:
(i)
The Huntercombe Group has more than 40 experienced, suitably-qualified and
accredited consultant psychiatrists to manage clinical placements. It also
employs over 3,000 clinicians, runs 60 clinical units and hospitals in England,
and Scotland, and has a total of 1,658 beds. It works with over 80 NHS primary
care trusts, 50 local authorities and specialised commissioning groups in
England, and health boards in Scotland, Wales and Ireland.
(ii)
The NHS as a whole needs to ensure that patients benefit from a steady flow of
suitably-experienced consultant psychiatrists specialising in areas such as:
eating disorders and secure care for detained adults and young people. The
independent sector provides a significant proportion of such services to the
NHS, and so has a wealth of expertise.
(iii)
To ensure an on-going productive partnership between the NHS and independent
services, NHS psychiatrists need to gain experience of specialist
independent-sector services.
Dr
Royston's evidence also detailed how independent providers such as the
Huntercombe Group are well-placed to advise on specialist mandatory training for
healthcare support workers/healthcare assistants in specialised healthcare
environments.
*
See: Health Committee inquiry into Education, training and workforce
planning
http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/health-committee/news/11-11-08-etwp-torcfe/