It is with great pleasure that I find myself writing my first Chairpersons report and I suspect this will be the first we have on our NALNECT records.
I find it hard to believe that we have achieved so much since our first Executive Committee was elected at St.Annes Hospital, Dorset on the 18th of February 2003, the joint Chairs at that time being Brian M. and Yvonne F.
Since then we have met 15 times and our list of achievements are extensive, here follows what I would consider to be the main ones:-
1. The organisation of two National Conferences, the first in Hull in September 2006 and the most recent in Leicester in June of this year.
Both of these events were attended by over 120 delegates and more importantly had active patient involvement in the form of attendees and speakers, please note that I use the term ‘patient’ at the request of those ‘patients/ex patients’ who attended the Leicester Conference who were very clear that that is what they wished to be called .
2. The establishment of a core set of Nurse Competencies which have since been adopted by the Royal College of Psychiatrists and now form the foundation of the SHO Training.
3. Active work with ECTAS regarding the implementation and review of their standards.
4. The establishment of international links within Europe, America and Australia.
5. Recognition amongst other national organisations re the benefits of working with NALNECT and the experience of the practitioners within it, the RCN,DOH,RC Psych, RCA to mention a few.
6. The request by the Minister of Health to attend a meeting at the Houses of Parliament to participate in a discussion regarding the use of ECT and how that could be best incorporated into the ‘New’ Mental Health Act 2007.
7. The promotion and establishment of further Special Interest Groups, Midlands are now up and running and a South East /London Group is on the horizon.
8. The provision of support and advice to colleagues within ECT Depts across the country.
9. I think we can be particularly proud over the last year of the establishment of an Award for ECT Nurses who wish to pursue and promote good practice / practice development. The decision as to which Team/Teams receives the £1000 award will be made at our October meeting with the RCN’s Mental Health Advisor attending in order to ensure we have an independent person on the panel.
10. We must also remember the work that has been done with ECTAS with regard to the development and planned roll out of a National ECT Nurse Training Package
What does the future hold for NALNECT, ‘how longs a piece of string’ as the saying goes, there are a few certainties, we will be organising a 3rd National Conference the venue is still being negotiated, however it will be in either Leeds, Manchester or Birmingham, the first NALNECT Nurses Award will be allocated later this year and the first ECT Nurse Training course will take place in january, february and march 2009, an excellent example of partnership working between NALNECT and ECTAS.
We will also continue as an organisation to promote the formation of Special Interest Groups across the country, this has been somewhat of a problem but we did make some positive contacts at the most recent Conference which should enable us to push ahead with this.
Technology is always somewhat of a thorny issue for me but in order that NALNECT can become a more accessible organisation we will continue with our endeavours to create our own website, this has proved to be a difficult task for us and will be one of our priorities for the rest of the year.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank all committee members for their continued support and hard work during our time together and extend a special THANKYOU from the Committee itself to Stephen F. and Jan T. (and their colleagues back at base) who have been the backbone of the Conference organisation and planning and without who I don’t think we could have done it, let alone made them the successes they were. And of course to Alison F. who has faithfully recorded our discussions and ensured we get our minutes in time for each meeting.
Thank you for your time
Rebecca
NALNECT CHAIRPERSON
10.07.08
