Mid-year reflections across Neurology Academy

I like to have a moment to take stock halfway through the year, and this one seems to be full of celebratory moments for Neurology Academy!

Our website has reached one million views since the start of 2019 and we've delivered our first six months of events at full capacity, supporting healthcare professionals who are still incredibly overstretched as a result of the pandemic. We constantly evolve our offerings to meet needs, and our new hybrid model means in-person and virtual attendance at courses and events are equally meaningful experiences. It's been lovely to hear praise for our bespoke and flexible options from various roles and backgrounds

We're supporting a huge variety of healthcare professionals now, and they all continue to strive for the best for their patients, working to improve and transform services for those they support even amidst the current challenges. Our workplace projects have been inspiring as ever, with Dr Gregor Russell winning the project award for our first Alzheimer's MasterClass for his work setting up a pilot brain health clinic. March’s MS Advanced MasterClass saw some incredible project work from establishing cognitive pathways to a community-administered disease-modifying therapy for MS saving the NHS £250,000 per annum!

We believe all education should lead to transformation, and our website acts as an online repository of best practice and service development initiatives for everyone to access, be inspired by, and learn from. This year, we have published our first ever Education with Impact reports, summarising core workplace projects around a common theme or area: 'Supportive skeletons' focuses on bone health in Parkinson's, whilst 'Quality improvements in Mild cognitive impairment' highlights simple ways to promote brain health, support dementia prevention, and improve support for those experiencing cognitive impairment.

So far this year, we have run 11 MasterClasses and events, 17 webinars, launched a brand new virtual course in Mild cognitive impairment, and supported the updating of the Spinal muscular atrophy pathway for adults.

Our brand new General Neurologists MasterClass upskilling generalists in the essentials for MS runs in November, and our Dementia MasterClass has been overhauled for October 2022.

Our tried and tested model has been running for 20 years in Parkinson's and five in MS, yet is constantly being tweaked and improved to remain current and as practically applicable as possible. This year we are using the model to support education in Spasticity and Neurourology and are exploring work in Myasthenia Gravis.

We want to improve the lives of anyone living with a long term condition by educating and upskilling the healthcare professionals supporting them, and enabling service transformation at a local level. If you are aware of a gap in education, I'd love to hear from you!