06 May 2018
(Last updated: 2 Jul 2019 17:07)
ASCN UK will use this forum to share the latest conference news, important date reminders and interesting materials related to the theme of this year’s conference – ‘Breaking Barriers and Enhancing Relationships’ 9th-11th September 2018 ICC, Birmingham.
"Wendy Osborne (Education Officer) and I have recently returned from WCET 2018 conference in Kuala Lumpur where we were able to network and make connections with organisations which will help to raise the profile of ASCN UK further. The time away gave us the opportunity to examine our ethos and start planning for the future with other organisations in mind. To this end, and as some of you may have already heard, we have agreed to hold a joint conference with WCET and this will take place in Glasgow, UK, in October 2020. This can only enhance your conference experience with wound and continence agendas added on.
Thank you all for your continued support of ASCN UK. We do hope to see you all at Conference again this year. The challenges we face as nurses on a daily basis can be those faced by our patients too. Together we can learn from each other and we hope to give you the knowledge and skills to help you in your daily practices. See you in Birmingham!"
Maddie White
Chair, ASCN UK
Call for Papers - Closes June 1st 2018: Be part of this year's conference
In February, ASCN UK published its Call for Papers for the Annual Conference programme. ASCN UK will be held from 8-11 September 2018 in Birmingham. With 500+ expected participants from across the UK, the conference is the only National Conference dedicated to stoma care in the UK.
The 2018 programme will be prepared around the theme ‘Breaking Barriers and Enhancing Relationships’ which aims to address the many issues which may arise whilst developing and building relationships within the clinical stoma care arena.
Your abstracts shape the conference content – this conference is your opportunity to share the great work you are undertaking in your departments. This meets the aims of you as a specialist sharing your knowledge, as well as providing evidence for your re-validation.
All submissions will be presented to the committee anonymously for review and shortlisting.
We encourage abstracts on all stoma care topics that might address some of the following areas:
- Setting up, running and developing nurse clinics
- Redesigning services and ways of working for quality / service improvement
- Developing competence, nursing leadership and working at an advanced level of practice
- Developing protocols and guidelines to support speciality practice
- Nurse led follow-up / nurse prescribing
- Engaging the multidisciplinary team, including consultant / GP support
- Patient safety and improving quality of care and productivity
- Audit and evaluation of service
- Evaluation of enhanced recovery
- Case studies
- Educational Programmes
Please spread the word – May is the last month for abstract submissions!
Submit your abstract
Outstanding funding for education and other CPD activites
If you are seeking funding to attend this year’s Annual Conference and are unsure how or where to begin the process, please view the BHTA Flyer here for a simple step-by step guide on the various options available to both Sponsored Contract Funding and Non-Sponsored Hospital Funding.
For more information on educational funding, click here.
Jean Preston Fund:
ASCN UK will in 2018 be offering access to the Jean Preston Fund to support members-only in their attendance at the 2018 Conference.
Full or partial funding will be available for individual members currently practising as a Stoma Care Nurse. The amount of funding to contribute to the costs of participation in the conference will be determined at the discretion of the ASCN UK Committee and may include a contribution towards travel, registration and accommodation costs. Successful applicants for funding will be advised by 18th June. Applications received after this date will be notified by 10th August.
2018 Annual Conference News
In this edition, we are pleased to share with you further preliminary Annual Conference programme information, including a high-level agenda and details of some of our confirmed keynote speakers.
The ASCN Annual Conference is the only National Conference dedicated to stoma care in the UK. Furthermore, the content of the programme is largely directed by you – our stoma care nurses. Please take the opportunity to submit an abstract before our deadline of 1 June and give yourselves the chance to share your recent research, case studies or observations that will made a difference to the work and lives of stoma care patients and nurses. Visit the conference website for full details.
Our confirmed speakers so far include:
- Sexual function and colorectal patients: How can stoma care nurses help their patients overcome sexual function issues during and after treatment? - Lorraine Grover
- Bridging the Dementia Gap in Stoma Care Workshop - Michaela Parker and Carolyn Swash
- Pelvic Exenterations - Pardeep Kumar
- Breaking Down Barriers in Gender Expression - Sharon Fillingham
- Patients’ anticipations and realities of living with a stoma for IBD - Lesley Dibley
ASCN Members Achieve Recognition at the BJN Awards 2018!
The British Journal of Nursing Awards took place on Friday 9th March 2018 at the prestigious Shakespeare’s Underglobe in London. The Awards celebrate the very best in nursing and recognise individual achievement across a number of categories.
In the category of Stoma Care Nurse of the Year Award, we are delighted to share with you that two of this year’s final shortlist, included members of ASCN UK:
- Jacqui North, Hollister Ltd – ASCN UK MEMBER!
- Second place: Helen Cox, James Paget University Hospital - ASCN UK MEMBER!
- Third place: Karen Perry, Royal Gwent Hospital
ASCN UK would like to congratulate all finalists on their awards and recognition by the BJN Award 2018.
For details of all award winners, click here.
Cardiff-based Stoma Care Nurses Receive Queen's Nursing Institue Award
ASCN UK congratulates Cardiff-based nurses Pip Chandler and Lisa Leamon who have been granted the Queen’s Nursing Institute (QNI) Long Service Award for completing 21 years of continued service in community nursing.
Pip took on the role of stoma staff nurse at the Royal Devon and Exeter back in 1997 following a period in an oncology unit in Cumbria which brought her into contact with an ostomate. She is now a Care Nurse Manager at Coloplast, a medical device manufacturer specialising in chronic care.
Lisa became a specialist stoma nurse in the same year after spending time in the gynaecology ward caring for patients who went on to have stomas and is presently a Coloplast Care Nurse working in partnership with Cardiff and Vale University Health Board where she cares for all patients discharged into the community following bladder or bowel surgery leading to a stoma formation.
To continue reading, click here.
Stoma Care Articles
ASCN UK Education Officer, Wendy Osborne and Chair, Maddie White have been contributing to the BJN’s Stoma Care Supplement in the development of research into parastomal hernias.
ASCN UK also thanks all its members who contributed to BJS May 2018 article above and the below article regarding colostomy patients.
RCN Accreditation Renewal - Stoma Care Nursing Standards and Audit Tool
ASCN UK are delighted to announce that their publication ‘Stoma Care Nursing Standards and Audit Tool’ has been granted re-accreditation by the RCN until April 18th2019.
This is a huge achievement for us and we are delighted that all our efforts, and the very real significance of this guide, has been recognised and supported by the RCN.
Rectal Discharge Information: Plea to Members
Question: Do any of you have flyers/booklets that you use specifically to discuss this with patients?
Why do we ask? We have interest from our Area Reps with regard to this.
Request for your action: Can you share what you use? If so, please can you send it to ascnuk@in-conference.org.uk
Many thanks for your attention to this. ASCN wish to share Best Practice in Stoma Care and will be looking at adding this to the clinical guidelines in the future.
ASCN UK Advanced Stoma Care Module at the University of East Anglia
We are pleased to report fantastic progress with the development of the new online 40-credit level 7 module ‘Advanced Stoma Care’ with the University of East Anglia (UEA). The module, taken together with the core module ‘Using Evidence to Lead and Enhance Practice’ will enable students to step off the programme with a postgraduate certificate (PGCert) in Advanced Professional Practice, or to continue towards the 3-year MSc in Advanced Professional Practice.
‘Using Evidence to Lead and Enhance Practice’ will be available online in September 2018, providing an excellent foundation for ‘Advanced Stoma Care’, which aims to launch in January 2019.
Conference raffle recipient for 2018: Purple Wings
ASCN UK are delighted to confirm that the proceeds of this year’s Annual Conference raffle prize will be donated to Purple Wings.
Purple Wings is a charity that helps sufferers of IBD with ostomies regain confidence through our Time for Me Grants. They provide a tailor-made service by offering grants to individuals, families and couples in real need to ‘me time’. The charity has sent people for meals with loved ones and families on days out, proving that you really can ‘live’ and not just ‘exist’ with, an ostomy.
If you are interested in making a donation be it small or larger, please click here and add 'ASCN UK' under Company Name.
The NHS turns 70 on 5th July 2018!
The UK’s much-loved Institution, the NHS, was born on 5 July 1948 when it was launched by the then Health Secretary, Aneurin Bevan, at Park Hospital in Manchester (known today as Trafford General Hospital). It was the culmination of a hugely ambitious plan to provide good healthcare to all. For the first time, hospitals, doctors, nurses, pharmacists, opticians and dentists were brought together under one umbrella organisation, to provide services that are free for all at the point of delivery.
2018 sees the 70th Anniversary of the NHS. This landmark date is an opportunity to recognise the NHS’s key milestones and achievements, with a number of events and initiatives taking place across the UK to mark the occasion.