In March some of us attended the first World Health Innovation Summit in Carlisle. It was an amazing two days and we are now part of the group planning the next summit in March 2017.
We shall be posting details shortly so watch out for the dates and do try and join us. Check out this link to find out more and sign up to get updates direct
http://www.worldhealthinnovationsummit.com/
http://www.worldhealthinnovationsummit.com/home/about-us/explanatory-note-whis/
Many of our members say they experience difficulty in having an uninterrupted sleep. If you find sleep a problem join us on Wednesday 5th October at a Chance for Life, Penrith at 10.30 am when we have Vicki Gilman coming to talk about her work.
The Neurological Alliance has launched its second neurological patient experience survey.
The survey aims to collect vital information about the experiences of care received by people affected by neurological conditions and help us to understand how much progress has been made in improving neurological services.
The survey is open until September 30th and the Alliance welcomes responses from anyone with a neurological condition living in England.
They will be using the survey findings to feed into a report early next year. The report will set out a comprehensive picture of what is happening in relation to neurological services and make recommendations about how care can be improved.
This is without doubt a timely and exciting opportunity for the neurological community.
The Neurological Alliance needs your feedback to be able to make the strongest case to decision makers about how services need to change. Cumbria Neurological Alliance fully supports the Neurological Alliance in its ambitions, and we welcome the survey as an important tool in measuring improvements to neurological services in the future. We really value your support and look forward to sharing the findings with you over the coming months.
Please click here http://bit.ly/28L3jGU to complete the survey.
The Department for Work and Pensions has appointed Paul Gray to lead the second independent review of PIP. It will consider how evidence is being used to assist the correct claim decision and the speed and effectiveness of information-gathering. A call for evidence is now open and will be concluded by April 2017.
Sue Ryder recently published a report examining public attitudes to neurological conditions, noting that 45% of the UK feared getting a neurological disorder the most, compared with 36% who feared getting cancer. The survey also revealed worrying levels of public stigma and bullying towards people with neurological disorders.
The NHS England Community Neurology Project held its inaugural public event on 29th June at Royal Holloway University and launched the new commissioning guide, “Transforming Community Neurology”.
The three-part guide was produced in collaboration between the Thames Valley Strategic Clinical Network, NHS England, and other stakeholders including the Neurological Alliance and Sue Ryder. It is aimed primarily at CCGs, identifying the needs and priorities of people living with a long-term neurological condition and who to deliver integrated care pathways. It also covers issues such as mental health services, relevant datasets and benchmarking, and the potential of new technologies. Please encourage your commissioning contacts to read and use the report to influence their planning on neurology services.
New clinical reference group chair and meeting with Sir Bruce Keogh
NHS England has announced that the new chair of the restructured neurosciences clinical reference group, now including neurosurgery, is Professor Adrian Williams, Consultant Neurologist at University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust. The NA is delighted to hear about his appointment and have set up a meeting with him and NHS England to discuss how the NA can support his new role.
The NA also had a very constructive meeting with NHS England medical director Sir Bruce Keogh in early July. As a result, they will be working closely with him, his team and Professor Williams to develop and support a new and effective clinical leadership structure for neurology services.
A question by Baroness Gale was asked in spoken House of Lords health questions on June 9th, referring to NHS England’s decision to cut the National Clinical Director for neurology. The question received a number of supportive follow-up responses and the transcript of the session is available here.
During his response, Lord Prior (the government’s Lords health spokesman) agreed to meet with the Alliance which NA is in the process of arranging.
We are sorry to have to cancel our meeting on 8th June. We are rebooking Vicki Gilman to come to speak later in the year. Please watch this space.
At our Annual General Meeting in Penrith last week I presented our Annual Report.
We welcome comments and suggestions for further areas of work and hope to extend our work across the county in the coming year.
Please let me know if you would like to become a member of our Alliance and attend our meetings.
You can subscribe to these updates on the front page of the website.
Glenys Marriott
Chairman Cumbria Neurological Alliance
