A springboard for change: from delegates to leaders

From 2002 to where we are today, the broad range of Academies we offer has been enabled and developed through partnership with healthcare professionals. We have been privileged to support individuals who have journeyed through the Academy as delegates, then speakers and Faculty in creating education where they have seen gaps. Our shared passion to provide practical, transformative education is improving the lives of those living with complex conditions across the UK and beyond.

Neurology Academy offers a continued professional journey through intermodule project presentations into other courses as delegates, speakers or faculty. It provides healthcare professionals with an opportunity to enhance skills and present their ideas and achievements to a peer network, receiving recognition and increasing confidence to lead change locally.

This springboard of support and training can lead to becoming actively involved more widely - impacting management, service or policy development and leading change at both a local and national level.

A few examples include:

Dr Riffat Tanveer who studied registrars' experiences of training in MS for his intermodule project, leading to the development of MS Basecamp, a course specifically for neurology trainees.

Prof Gabriele de Luca whose work in clinical leadership has made him instrumental in the development of our innovative MS Leaders Academy.

Rachel Dorsey-Campbell and Joela Mathews are both specialist pharmacists who, after attending an MS MasterClass, saw a gap in neurology-specific training for pharmacists and developed Neuropharmacy Academy as a result.

Additionally, Rachel's intermodule project developing a calculator for the hidden costs of administering and monitoring disease-modifying therapies in MS has gone on to influence planning for appropriate staffing at a local level across the country.

Specialist nurse Ruth Stross mapped local services after attending an Intermediate MS MasterClass, which found problems in local bladder management. This led to an innovative home UTI kit being rolled out during the pandemic and the development of a local pathway. She has gone on to be part of an expert consensus group which has developed national guidance for bladder management in MS and is now creating a national best practice pathway. She has since been appointed Head of Nursing for Neurology Academy.

Both Prof Iracema Leroi and Dr Ed Richfield, after attending a Parkinson's MasterClass, saw a gap in training and went on to develop Dementia Academy and Palliative Care Academy respectively as a result.

A collection of 16 short interviews highlights 14 other healthcare professionals who began as Parkinson's Academy delegates, became speakers and Faculty, and have had an outstanding impact on their local services, or on national initiatives. These were compiled to celebrate our 16th year in 2018.