News

Alliance Meetings

On Monday 25 June 2007 over 25 members met at the Stroke Association in London to learn more about Individual Budgets. Judith Whittam of the Care Service Improvement Partnership beagn the day by explaining the policy behind this initiative.  You can see her presentation by clicking on the following link: Judith Whittam. 

Diane Eaton and Julie McConnell then told of their experiences piloting individual budgets in Manchester and Roger Adams and Carol Middleton talked about how Homecare Direct can work with voluntary sector organisations to support people on individual budgets Homecare Direct.

In the afternoon, participants watched Gavin Croft's DVD presentation of his care plan Gavin's Plan, then heard from Keith Collins about his experiences.

If you need further information, please e-mail lucybrazg@neural.org.uk

Getting the best from neurological services

We are delighted to announce that the Department of Health has funded reprinting of this popular publication. 

15,000 copies have been distributed to neurology and neurosurgery departments, primary care trust patient advice and liaison service managers and to key professional and stakeholder organisations to support implementation of the NSF for Long-Term Neurological Conditions. The electronic version will be available shortly on the Department of Health website.

For paper copies please contact Zawar Patel at the Department of Health.

MS Trust Annual Conference:  4 - 6 November 2007                 Change is one thing, progress is another 

The MS Trust's 2007 annual conference will bring together over 300 nurses, therapists, consultants and social care professionals who share a commitment to ensuring progress in services for people with MS.  The varied programme will explore the current climate of change and the possibilities for progress in both clinical practice and service development.  The conference will provide fantastic opportunities for developing MS expertise, sharing ideas for innovative practice and networking with other professionals.

For more information, visit www.mstrust.org.uk/conference

Alliance policy

At its AGM in November, members of the Alliance considered “The way forward”, a strategic review of priorities carried out by our Trustees.  The aim of this review had been to ensure that the Alliance’s agenda for the coming year continued to reflect an ever-changing policy environment, the aspirations of member organisations and inevitable resource constraints faced by the Alliance.  The paper proposed that, whilst the NSF should remain the crucial backdrop to future strategy, with the Alliance continuing its involvement in official NSF related fora, the NSF should not be the sole focus of activity and the Alliance should seek to adopt a more pro-active role in broader issues of relevance to members.

Members responded very positively to the strategy review and suggested several aspects of service provision that the Alliance could usefully seek to campaign on.  The Trustees agreed to keep their campaigning priorities under review as the year progressed, in the light of policy developments and resources.  In addition, members supported proposals to:

• Encourage member organisations to think of how they can use the Alliance to endorse their campaigns
• Welcome proposals to co-sponsor campaigns where a member organisation wished to lead a campaign on behalf of the Alliance, and
• Subject to resources, undertake campaigns of a generic nature of potential benefit to all members.

Ataxia UK launch Guidelines for Best Clinical Practice

Ataxia UK have announced the launch of new Clinical Guidelines for the management of ataxia. These Guidelines were developed in collaboration with neurologists and other healthcare professionals with expertise on the ataxias. The focus is on the progressive ataxias, with an aim of providing recommendations on diagnosis and management for professionals at any level who come into contact with ataxia.

The Guidelines and the GP summary are now available to download from Ataxia UK's website http://www.ataxia.org.uk