Hand and wrist orthoses for adults with rheumatological conditions

The BAPO Professional Affairs Committee provided feedback on this practice guideline by the College of Occupational Therapists and subsequently endorsed it. It may be of interest to orthotists practising upper limb orthotics in this patient group. It was developed using a NICE accredited process and is available to download from the COT website at the address below.

https://www.cot.co.uk/library-publications/cot-publications/practice-guidelines

BAPO September 2015 Bulletin

BAPO Flagship Scheme

Are you proud of the service your centre provides? Does your team collectively work to high standards? Do you strive to improve the quality of care you provide? Would you like a scheme that acknowledges these achievements? BAPO will soon be asking its membership whether we introduce an accreditation scheme to acknowledge excellence. Look out for further updates coming soon.


Membership

A working group has been convened to look at membership of the Association. We will be coming to you soon to scope your opinions about the function of the Association and what benefits of membership you want from BAPO.

Workforce and Professional Review

Link now open for the workforce review - WE NEED TO HEAR FROM YOU!
Completely confidential and only 5mins of your time.  Please respond and pass onto your colleagues from your university years through to work.  We want to hear from anyone who holds a P&O qualification.
http://survey.bapo-online.com/index.php/469793/lang-en


Engaging with Students

BAPO is giving an introduction talk to 1^st year students at both Salford and Strathclyde about BAPO and how we can support them in their chosen profession.
We have several student volunteers on almost all of our committees - interested in joining? Give us a call.

Make Every Contact Count - Healthy Conversations
Check out this great resource to help us make a difference to our patients health.

Working in a NHS England Vanguard site? Your Professional Body want to hear from you!                                                                              


Short course update

Spaces still available on:
KAFO Stance Phase Control and Lower Limb Solutions – 3&4 October 2015

Assessment Diagnosis and Treatment of MSK Foot and Ankle problems for Orthotists -  5&6 October 2015 (Leeds)
1&2 December 2015 (Nottinghamshire)

FES: Advanced Orthotic Technology – 21 November 2015

For further information please visit the BAPO website at www.bapo.com

Professional Affairs

The Professional Affairs Committee would like to highlight the release of the NICE Quality Standard and amendments to an existing Standard:

Type 1 Diabetes

Diabetes in Adults


BAPO Conference & Exhibition:

Your copy of BAPOmag Issue 3 should arrive on your doorstep mid-October and will provide lots of information on Conference 2016.  We’ll have info on our exciting clinical programme, entertainment line-up and details of prizes and competitions running at Conference.

To make sure you don’t miss out on our early bird registration offers make sure you register between 1 Oct and 1 Dec.  Conference info and details on how to register are available at www.bapo.com

Opcare- Prosthetist (Manchester), Orthotist (Bristol)

To view this job vacancy click here

HCPC, Prosthetist/Orthotist Programme visitors, Various locations

For further information on the vacancy available, please click here

Steeper Job Advert - Principal Orthotist/Orthotist - London & the South East/London & Essex

Click here to view Job Advertisement.

Steeper Group - Prosthetics Contracts Manager, Various

For further information on the position available please click here.

Guy's and St. Thomas' - Orthotist, London

For further information on the position available please click here.

BAPO Bulletin August 2015

HCPC

HCPC registration time has almost ran out. Please ensure you have received your documentation and re-registered this year. If you have recently moved house and not informed them, the paperwork will be sent to the wrong address. This will not be a reasonable excuse for failing to renew your registration and you will be lapsed from the register.

Workforce review

Recently BAPO submitted evidence of our workforce called for by Health Education England.  It gave a good illustration of the issues in our industry but also raised several areas of concern including poor retention after training.

BAPO is leading a review of the workforce. Please look out for the electronic link to our online survey arriving via e-mail in the next week or two. The survey will be open for 4 weeks and is a start of a nationwide multipart review of our profession.

It will only take 5 minutes of your time. We would be grateful if you could pass it on through social media to your colleagues, old and new. With this survey, we are trying to determine what factors cause people to leave the profession and determine what we need to do to reverse the trend. Engaging with BHTA, our training universities and the NHS we will be forming a working group to come together to tackle the issues that are identified. Please respond as we want to hear your views it is completely confidential and we need to know what is happening to our workforce.

Education

Short course spaces are still available.

Differential diagnoses of MSK foot and ankle conditions

FES and orthotic interventions

Contracture management

KAFO 2 day course- conventional and stance phase control

Please visit www.bapo.com or call the Secretariat for further info.

BAPO Conference 2016

Suzanne Rastrick, Chief Allied Health Profession Officer, NHS England opening conference 2016.

Kevin Kirby, Dr Chris Nestor, Dr Michael Dillon to name a few! Registrations open soon; look out for the early bird offer *limited time only*

FES: Advanced Orthotic Technology

Click here to view more information on this short course.

Trulife Job Advert - Junior and Senior Orthotist Vacancies

Click here to view job advertisement.

Peacocks - Orthotist, Somerset

For further information on the position available please click here.

Kent and Medway NHS Trust - Prosthetist/Orthotist - Kent

Click here to view Job Advertisement

Blatchfords - Prosthetist/Orthotist

Click here to view Job Advertisement.

Job Vacancy: Halo Medical - Orthotist, Norfolk

For further information on the position available please click here.

BAPO NICE Quality Standard Endorsement

The BAPO Professional Affairs Committee are pleased to advise the endorsement of the recent NICE Osteoarthritis and Pressure Ulcer Quality Standards on behalf of BAPO.

If you would like to view these documents please follow the required link below:

Osteoarthritis QS

Pressure Ulcer QS

BAMT urges increased provision of music therapy for dementia - Music Therapy Week 2015

Professional body urges increase in provision of music therapy for dementia 

 David's story - 'I feel more alive and happy after each session' 

 Music Therapy Week 22 - 28 June - highlights

 

This year's Music Therapy Week is focusing on the valuable role music therapy has to play in supporting people with dementia and those who care for them. Leading research has shown that music therapy can significantly improve and support the mood, alertness and engagement of people with dementia, can reduce the use of medication, as well as helping to manage and reduce agitation, isolation, depression and anxiety, overall supporting a better quality of life (Ridder et al, 2013). Music therapy can help people at all stages in their journey with dementia to enrich life and tap into the resources that people with dementia still have.

81-year-old David Jacques was diagnosed with both vascular dementia and Alzheimer's disease four years ago. He has progressive short-term memory loss, experiences difficulty organizing his time and sometimes gets lost.

'David came to his first music therapy session armed with books of folk songs and opera,' recalls Pemma Spencer-Chapman, a music therapist at the Guideposts Trust Music Therapy Service in Oxfordshire. 'This was unusual,' she says, 'as most clients don't have any musical training. If I played or sang the melody, David could hold the tune. He sang the melodies increasingly from memory and marveled at his brain's ability to remember them'. The brain remembers emotional experiences more easily than facts, and the emotional nature of music helps these memories come to the fore.

But it wasn't until Pemma suggested to David to improvise with his voice while she accompanied him that a real breakthrough was made, 'to my surprise, David sang not just a melody but words as well. Words and melody have come to him hand in hand,' Pemma says. 'He is surprised, pleased and empowered and I feel his identity has been strengthened in a different way, by being at the heart of the improvisation.'

'I feel more alive and happy after each session', David.

David's wife, Penny, says music therapy is now the high spot of David's week. 'I wish that this form of therapy could be available on the NHS for everyone with dementia as it is clearly so beneficial.'

Prof. Martin Green OBE, Chief Executive of Care England – the leading representative body for independent care services in England, states, 'Music therapy is intrinsic to enriching the quality of life for those with dementia. Recent research demonstrates the significant role it has to play in supporting a better quality of life, and that is because music taps into the resources that people with dementia still have, enabling them to maintain connections with loved ones and the world around them. But, the impact is wider reaching. Carers also see the impact that music therapy can have and thus helps them to better understand the people they are caring for, providing a higher quality of care.'

Over 800,000 people live with dementia in Britain and this is expected to increase to 2 million by 2050. Currently, provision of music therapy for people with dementia is uneven across the UK and those diagnosed are often not able to access it when they need to. Pemma is one of over 800 HCPC state registered music therapists who use the unique non-verbal properties of music to support people at all stages of their lives – from helping new born babies develop healthy bonds with their parents, to offering vital, sensitive and compassionate palliative care at the end of life.

Donald Wetherick, Chair of Trustees, says, 'The British Association for Music Therapy is committed to ensuring that music therapy is available to all those who can benefit. This Music Therapy Week we are focusing on people with dementia and their families. Dementia care is a growing healthcare need – it is also an area where music therapist's skills are being shown to be effective and valued. We want to see the enormous potential for music therapy in this field being realized, for the benefit of all those affected by dementia.'

Events for Music Therapy Week are taking place throughout the week from Shetland down to Truro including a parliamentary roundtable discussion sponsored by MPs Tracey Crouch and Debbie Abrahams, taster music therapy sessions, open days, exhibitions, and live improvisational gatherings.

Highlights include:

• An open community group meeting for people with dementia, their families and carers, and improvisational session and welcoming back of puffins at Simbugh Lighthouse, Shetland, Tuesday 23 June

• Open morning at the Royal Hospital for Neuro-disability, Putney, London, Wednesday 24 June

• Roundtable parliamentary discussion, 'Music therapy and dementia: enriching life when it is needed most', Portcullis House, Victoria Embankment, Thursday 25 June

• Cornish church tower bells will peal for Music Therapy Week, Saturday 27 June

• A week of instrument making, concerts and tea parties for the children and families at Rainbows Hospice in Loughborough, All week.

 

Find out more about what's happening during Music Therapy Week 2015, view our MTW2015 Events Map.

 

To find out how you can get involved, please visit www.bamt.org and support the campaign online at Facebook and Twitter using @musictherapyuk #MTW2015 #musictherapyuk 

For supplementary information please click below:

Music Therapy & Dementia Doc

BAMT MTW2015 PR Doc

---------

For further information, please contact:

Grace Watts,

British Association for Music Therapy

M: 07989 355337

E: pr@bamt.org

APOS - Senior & Junior Prosthetist/Orthotist - Galway

Please click here to view Job Advertisement.

Blatchfords - Orthotists - Various Locations including the S West of England, the Midlands & East Anglia

For full details of this job advert please click here

Functional Casting and Contracture Management in Neurology Short Course, September 2015, London.

Functional Casting and Contracture Management in Neurology Short Course. Saturday 26th September.  Regional Rehabilitation Unit, London.

Optimising alignment and maintaining range for patients in the early stages of neuro-rehabilitation is very important. Many units now adopt techniques to apply semi-rigid casts to help maintain range although these are generally used as resting splints. Definitive Ankle Foot Orthoses (AFOs) can play a major role in getting such patients on their feet in an optimum alignment to compliment recovery.
 
This course describes and contains a practical workshop on how these casts can be modified to act as weight bearing devices to facilitate gait as an assessment or temporary tool while waiting for a definitive orthosis to be manufactured. This also makes the cast a more dynamic device for providing stretch and maintaining muscle length.
 
The presenters have worked together for many years in this specialist inpatient neuro-rehab setting and will share how they integrate use of orthotic intervention to facilitate early treatment.

The course is open to Orthotists and therapists involved in neuro-rehabilitation along with Prosthetist-Orthotist Students.

Cost:
BAPO Member - £130
Non-member - £190

**Please note registrations close 1 September 2015**

To book a place on the workshop please click here for a copy of the booking form and submit to the BAPO Secretariat using the details below.

BAPO Bulletin June 2015

NICE

BAPO has responded to 3 NICE consultations this month on your behalf.

Stroke, Osteoarthritis and Pressure Ulcers.

HCPC Fees Increase

BAPO responded as your professional body on the consultation to increase HCPC fees. Unfortunately although we did not support the fee increases, they have decided to increase the registration fee from £80 to £90 for all registrants.

Workforce Planning

BAPO is currently involved in workforce planning nationally with 3 different work-streams in England, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

We actively need your help to identify practitioners who are working in a different way, whether its using innovative technology, integrated in different teams or pushing the boundaries of their clinical practice- we want to hear from you for a quick synopsis.

Time is pressing, we need this evidence by 12^th June. Please e-mail us at enquiries@bapo.com with your details if you want to be involved.

2015/16 Work-streams

BAPO work-streams for 2015/16 have been identified.

·       Workforce planning

·       Professional review

·       Centres of Excellence Scheme

·       Commissioning (service specification document)

·       We will also conduct a membership review to investigate what we do as an association, where your money goes and what you want out of the association in the future.

These work-streams will run alongside existing engagement with the Orthotic service review in England, creating an evidence base for clinical practice and supporting our regional groups.

Interested in one of the subjects above and want to become involved? Contact enquiries@bapo.com

Confidential Patient Communication Guidance

Independent guidance to help ensure safe, confidential and effective emailing between patients and healthcare professionals has been published by the Professional Record Standards Body (PRSB).

The guidance, created and backed by key organisations representing care professionals and patients, reflects PRSB findings that 9 out of 10 people want this electronic option to be more widely available. It builds on existing email practice to ensure that safety, confidentiality and effectiveness are assured for patients and professionals, allowing a real alternative to letters and faxes that currently cost the NHS more than £100m a year.

The PRSB, an independent body, was asked to consult widely with patient and professional representatives to develop the guidance, which is published to coincide with the new Secure Email standard issued by the health service’s authority in this area – the NHS Standardisation Committee for Care Information (SCCI). The guidance reflects the findings of a new PRSB report into the issue, entitled Faster, better, safer, healthier communications.

Access the report here.

Access the standards and guidance here.

For further information email the PRSB at info@theprsb.org 

For details on our short course programme, please visit our website www.bapo.com