The British Association of Prosthetists and Orthotists

News

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Do you have experience of working with assistive devices for hands and wrists, or users requiring assistive devices?

Do you have experience of working with assistive devices for hands and wrists, or users requiring assistive devices? We are looking for people who fit these criteria to take part in an online research survey titled “Analysis of current hand and wrist assistive devices, and requirements for a future device”.

The questions will include your opinions and experiences prescribing and assessing assistive devices, your preferred assistive devices, outcome measures and expectations of assistive devices. The online questionnaire should take no more than 15 minutes of your time.

The study contributes to future healthcare research in designing assistive hand and wrist devices from the perspective of the workforce who develop, assess, and prescribe them.

More information about the study, eligibility, and how to take part can be found by following the link to the survey:

https://stratheng.eu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_6go3XNt6goQPrds

Thank you for reading and if you have any questions, feel free to email the principal investigator:

 

Angel Galbert

CDT Prosthetics and Orthotic Engineering

Department of Biomedical Engineering

University of Strathclyde

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Are you interested in digitalisation and informatics?

We have an opportunity for a BAPO member to attend a forum where AHP colleagues can discuss and share anything about digital and informatics.

The group will meet every 7/8 weeks. It is an informal, open space to share what has been going on within our own profession but also to establish opportunities to collaborate and learn from other professions. There is no agenda but it is a forum to ask questions and share our thoughts together. There will be colleagues from every AHP professional body. There may also be a potential future digital AHP conference or networking group.

The individual will need to have an understanding of the digital agenda, and a passion to represent BAPO in this space by contributing to a wider MDT forum. This is a great opportunity to learn and develop your skills.

If this is something you would be interested in, please contact enquiries@bapo.com.

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The National Education and Training Survey (NETS)

NETS will open from 3 October – 28 November 2023.

The NETS is the only national survey open to all students, trainees and doctors and dentists in training undertaking a practice placement or training post in healthcare services across England. It is the voice of the current and future multi-professional healthcare workforce. By understanding your experience, we can work together to ensure that all individuals are supported to learn and train in safe and inclusive learning environments.

NHS England Education Quality teams triangulate NETS results with multiple education quality indicators, including other sources of learner feedback and soft intelligence, to form a comprehensive picture of the multi-professional practice learning environment. Together, this information is used to identify areas of good practice in addition to emerging and escalating concerns at a national, regional, organisational and professional level.

The results of the NETS will be published in January 2024 and will be available to view at national, regional, professional and provider-level with the option to analyse response data by programme and specialty.

NHS England are seeking to reach a larger number of Allied Health Profession students and trainees. Working collaboratively to reach as many students as possible will enable them to develop the broadest possible picture of clinical learning environments across England. This will provide a valuable source of evidence for all of us to drive improvement and learn from good practice.
For more information, visit the website

Complete the survey here

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Teatime Talk

Monday 9 October 2023 6pm – 7pm

EDI, allyship and subconscious bias presentation hosted by: Gemma Cassidy, Mental Health / Wellbeing and EDI Lead – BAPO, Bhavna Mehta, Paediatric Orthotist in Alder Hey Children’s Hospital, Florence Goodwin, Acting Chair, Professional Affairs Committee, Member, Research Committee – BAPO

EDI talk for National Inclusion Week. This presentation will help to define what equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) is, who it protects, why it is important and what it means in clinical practice. We will also discuss allyship and how the wider P & O community can help to improve EDI, in addition to exploring the subconscious bias’ that we can all hold.

Register for the Teatime Talk here

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Funding available for prosthetics and orthotics apprenticeships

NHS England is pleased to announce that to help grow the prosthetics and orthotics workforce we are offering approx. 20 training support grants nationally to employers of £8,300 (per apprentice, per year for three years) for the following apprenticeship programmes if started in 2023/24:

  • Level 6 Prosthetist and orthotist degree apprenticeship
  • Level 3 Prosthetic and Orthotic Technician apprenticeship (where this leads to future progression of the learner onto the level 6 Prosthetist and orthotist degree apprenticeship)

To apply for this funding please complete the request for funding request form here – https://forms.office.com/e/PkFW7FrdWd

​Please note that neither you (the employer), nor NHS England, are committing to anything at this point in time. Employers are advised to wait for confirmation from NHS England as to which training posts will be awarded funding before enrolling candidates on programme. Please read the attached funding guidance in full before completing the funding request form.

This EOI will close on the 1st October 2023. Employers will be informed in the first week of October if they are successful in securing the funding.

P0 Apprenticeship – Employer Funding Guidance