Sharing good practice at regional physical health conference
Hosted by NHS Yorkshire and the Humber clinical skills and simulation team, staff from the Trust’s learning disability services attended a regional conference exploring the sustainability of clinical skills and simulation training for people with mental health and learning disability needs.
The event, which took place on 19th March 2013 included presentations by key note speakers exploring: the national priorities around mental health and physical health; the skills needed to implement physical health care interventions; and a senior management perspective of clinical skills and simulation.
The event aimed to give attendees the opportunity to:
• Identify equipment needs and discuss opportunities for funds
• Showcase work relating to the ‘Yorkshire and Humber physical health agenda regional action plan’
• Experience and discuss initiatives, training and projects from across the region
• Network and create collaborative partnerships
• Share ideas to improve delivery of clinical skills, simulation and knowledge of long term conditions, whilst incorporating the patients psychological outcomes that effectively enables genuine holistic care
Representatives from the Trust’s learning disability services attended the event and presented their work on developing a screening tool to monitor the side effects experienced by people with learning disabilities who have been prescribed anti-psychotic medication.
Nigel McLoughlin, clinical services manager for learning disability at the Trust explained, “During the networking sessions our team, representing the Trust, presented the screening tool we have developed in light of the 2009 POMH-UK Topic 9a audit.
“The results of this audit highlighted that there was inconsistent reporting among health trusts in the UK of monitoring for side effects in people with learning disabilities who have been prescribed anti-psychotics. The tool we have developed aims to address this, ensuring our staff are monitoring and recording in sufficient detail, any side effects experienced by patients.
“Attending the conference was a great opportunity to hear about the work being progressed in this area and contribute to plans as they are developed. We will now be sharing what we learnt, in particular the references about utilising clinical simulation in the training of staff in response to the Francis report, with others within the Trust.”
Other teams from the Trust also attended the conference to present their work including representatives from the PICU unit at Fieldhead, the Barnsley recovery team and the learning disability services in Barnsley.
For more information about the screening tool or the work the Trust is doing to address the findings of the audit, contact Nigel at nigel.mcloughlin@swyt.nhs.uk