The second Bridges symposium and first under the Health Innovation and Education Cluster (HIEC) Stroke workstream, ‘Bridges – Life After Stroke’ held on 26th April at St Georges, University of London was a great success, attended by over 75 healthcare professionals, stroke survivors, carers and individuals working and interested in stroke care.
Dr Fiona Jones opened the event outlining the joint effort with HIEC supporting the stroke pathway, and giving an overview of the recent recommendations for self-management within policy and quality reporting.
Informative and inspiring presentations were given by Dr Damian Jenkinson, Head of National Stroke Improvement Plan on progress to date at a national level improving stroke care, Andrew Mitchell, stroke survivor gave a compelling account of his experiences of recovery and life after stroke, Tristan Brice, Stroke Co-ordinator in Haringey presented experiences of integrating self-management into their stroke pathway from prevention to community integration and co-ordinating across services and sectors involved, and finally Dr Sheila Lennon, Reader in Rehabilitation University of Ulster spoke about the results of the recently completed randomised controlled trial in Belfast, using Bridges with stroke survivors in the community.
Dr Fiona Jones closed the event with an overview of the next steps for Bridges including; a research trial to start this year, development of a Bridges resource for carers and feedback from attendees of the Bridges workshops, on changes to their practice supporting self-management effectively for life after stroke.
Feedback from attendees was overwhelmingly positive; we were happy to see everyone had an excellent impression of the symposium, and felt it was useful as a study day with interesting talks on relevant topics. There were some interesting topic suggestions which we will consider for next year’s symposium.
Thank you to all attendees who took a moment to complete the evaluation forms on the day. If you didn’t have a chance to submit feedback or suggestions and would like to do so, please contact Bridges via info@bridgesselfmanagement.org.uk or 0208 725 2445.
The speakers have kindly submitted their presentation slides, to view simply click on the titles below.
Fiona Jones - 2nd Bridges - Life after Stroke Symposium
Damian Jenkinson - Accelerating Stroke Improvement? Progress to Date
Andrew Mitchell - Life after stroke: Second time around - Presentation slides - Summary of main points from the talk
Tristan Brice - Roles & Pathways: The Stroke Network in Haringey (An integrated Approach)
Sheila Lennon - Bridges self-management for stroke survivors in the community: A feasibility RCT
Here are a few comments from those who attended:
“The content, length of the event and organization...were all excellent. Having four speakers was perfect and so was choosing a 4:00pm to 18:30 slot meant it was possible to go to work in the morning then make my way here.”
“Events like this are an excellent opportunity wide range of topics, thank you wish there were more events like this.”
“I would like all clinicians working with stroke care patients to attend the same”