Working in Partnership

You can click on the title to find out more information on each case study or alternatively scroll down the page to view them all.

Using Our Specialist Knowledge, Teaching and Professional Expertise

Relationship Between Research and Enterprise - Transferring Knowledge

At the Forefront of Policy, Development and Implementation

Diversification and Developing New Partnerships

Collaborative Programmes

Events and Conferences

Using our Specialist Knowledge, Teaching and Professional Expertise

The Mental Health Team is providing postgraduate education and training for the new IAPT low-intensity therapists in the Northwest.

People suffering from depression and anxiety in the Northwest are set to benefit from improved access to psychological therapies with the announcement of a £43 million programme that will produce an extra 500 specialists over the next three years. The ‘Increasing Access to Psychological Therapies’ (IAPT) scheme is part of the government’s 2005 election pledge to provide improved access to psychological therapies for people who require the help of mental health services.

Two types of new IAPT workers based in Primary Care Trusts (PCTs) and some Mental Health Trusts will be employed and educated to provide new IAPT services – ‘low intensity’ and ‘high intensity’ therapists. Two-hundred IAPT students from across the Northwest started their training programmes last semester.

The team are working collaboratively with Manchester University and the University of Central Lancashire to provide the postgraduate education and training programme for more than 200 new IAPT ‘low intensity’ therapists in the Northwest from 2008.

These new mental health workers will be trained to assess and support patients with common mental health problems – mainly anxiety and depression – in the self-management of their recovery, including helping them to return to work or other meaningful activity.

The role of low-intensity therapists and the alternative methods for delivering therapy, mean that these new workers will be able to provide rapid access to help and carry a high patient caseload, with each therapist, once fully trained, treating between 150 and 200 patients each year.

Grahame Smith, Head of Mental Health and Psychological Therapies added: "This is a great opportunity to work collaboratively with the NHS in the Northwest to improve access to mental health services for many more people who are currently either not treated at all or face long delays for treatment."

Successful LJMU training impacts on Youth Offending Service across the Northwest

Members of the Social Work and Working with Children and Young People team designed a bespoke training programme to help guide Youth Offending Service staff in Liverpool City Council on enhanced ways to present risk assessment documentation,

After consulting with senior managers in the Youth Offending Service, 7 three day courses were delivered in the Liverpool area. The training programme was very well received and as a result of this a Consortium of Local Authority Youth Offending Services, involving five Merseyside local authorities, contacted the team and asked them to do some similar training for them. This has also been very well evaluated.

The Social Work Team Help to Empower Mental Health Service Users

The Empowerment in Mental Health Certificate in Professional Development (CPD) is specifically designed for Mental Health Service Users who are advocating for better services in Mental Health. In this case they are already in some way involved in trying to change mental health culture to be in line with service user perspectives and social perspectives

This bespoke course began when Warrington service users who didn’t feel they had the skills and knowledge to undertake that advocacy role requested it and worked with our Social Work team to design what now is the CPD in Empowerment in Mental Health. Because of the success of this course the Joint Forum service group have since commissioned it; as well as Joint Forum members, some delegates are from the Richmond Fellowship plus some external agencies.

The course has been really well reviewed. Oi Mei Li of the National Institute for Mental Health in England and Honorary Lecturer in the Faculty said: “It is important that mental health service providers value the contributions that people who have experienced mental ill health can make to local services. This course helps to develop skills that enhance involvement and act as a stepping stone on a pathway to further opportunities in education or employment.”

Health Minister Rosie Winterton MP, added: “I am confident that this course will help people who have previously suffered mental health problems to get the skills and qualifications they need to help them get on the road to employment”.

The Advanced Practice Teams ECG modules are the first NHS and HEI packages of education to be accredited by the Society for Cardiological Science and Technology (SCST).

The Advanced Practice team in partnership with The Liverpool Heart and Chest NHS Trust, offers a fresh modern approach to post-graduate continual professional development. The team have aligned their Continual Professional Development (CPD) Framework with the NHS Knowledge and Skills Framework, National Occupational Standards (NOS) and National Workforce Competencies (NWC). Three modules included in the CPD Framework are designed to equip the practitioner with practical skills of recording and interpretation of elec

trocardiograms has been developed by the Advanced Practice team.

State of the art equipment and the use of live patient models facilitate a blended approach to learning which enables the student to acquire knowledge and skills necessary to safely record and interpret electrocardiograms. These skills are then further enhanced within the workplace under direct supervision of experts to enable competency to the achieved.

HEACT 3314 Understanding ECG’S Principles of Recording 3 & 5 lead ECG
HEACT 3315 Principles of Recording 3,5,12 lead ECG
HEACT 3316 Principles of Interpreting a 12 lead ECG

The modules above have all been mapped against the Society for Cardiological Science and Technology (SCST) guidelines and all the ECG modules offered in the CPD framework were accredited by the Society, which have endorsed these high standards of education and training packages. This is the first NHS and HEI package of education to ever be endorsed by this prestigious society and validates the hard work of Sue Baker, (Senior Lecturer) and her Advanced Practice colleagues.

National Bowel Screening Programme

Bowel Cancer is the 3rd highest cause of death by cancer in the UK each year. Because of this the National Bowel Cancer Screening Programme has been established to screen all members of the public. The Advanced Practice team and the Royal Liverpool University Hospital have worked on a collaborative venture to produce a course to meet the needs of Bowel Cancer Screening (BCS) Practitioners as part of the National BCS programme.

All students are seconded onto the course by the BCS Centre when they start in the post of BCS Practitioner. This is a requirement of their role and as we collaboratively are the only institution with the skills to offer this course in England they come to us from all over the country.

The rationale behind the course is that if the patient receives a positive Faecal Occult Blood they are invited to meet the BCS Practitioner. LJMU and the Royal Liverpool Hospital's job is to train these practitioners in order for them to be able to access the patient's suitability for a colonoscopy. This is thought tobe an essential and pivotal role to the whole success of the programme.

The National BCS Programme is rolling out through England with completion planned for 2010, by which time advertisements will be appearing on television to encourage people to go to a screening.

LJMU lead the way to address mental health needs of young people in schools and the local community of Halton.

The Mental Health team have developed The Certificate in Professional Development (CPD) in Child and Adolescent Mental Health (CAMH) in partnership with Halton Primary Care Trust and 5 Boroughs Partnership NHS Trust in order to formalise and accredit specific mental health training provided to secondary school staff within Halton. The aim of the training is to support school staff, agency staff and voluntary organisations to develop new approaches to pedagogy, ethos and behaviour management in an effort to address the mental health needs of young people in school and the local community.

This course will enhance the skills in the promotion of the emotional health and wellbeing of young people and increase the early identification of mental health concerns, enhancing appropriate timely referrals to specialist mental health services.

LJMU ensure blood is taken properly

The Advanced Practice team in the Faculty of Health and Applied Social Sciences has identified the need for and developed a venepunture course which is essential for all health workers who are required to take blood.

The courses are tailored to the individual needs of the students and can be full day courses for students who are new to the skill or half day updates for students already previously deemed to be competent.

As there are many facilities who require their staff to be competent in venepuncture the course has become popular, the teaching is done by experienced practitioners who are competent and up to date in venepuncture. Students get proof of training/update (required by the NMC for trained staff) and HCA’S also have a record of training/ update for their Portfolios. The evaluations for the courses have always been very positive and LJMU has led the way with recognising the need for venepuncture updates outside of the hospital setting.

Age Assessment for Asylum Seekers

LJMU’s Faculty of Health and Applied Social Sciences built up a positive track record in delivering successful Age Assessment training for a number of Local Authorities across the UK.

Working with young people who are subject to immigration control and who are separated from their families has continued to prove a challenge to social workers across the UK. Pete Grady has developed the Introduction to Age Assessment Training to support workers in this difficult area of practice. Over the past years the course has been delivered to a number of Local Authorities as well as through the Northwest Consortium (East) a body responsible for coordinating local authority responses to immigration issues.

The training has highlighted the need for a clear approach to age determination and supported workers in developing their own understanding of how, when and why age assessments might be required in order that young people can be given the best quality services through local authorities.

Pete Grady commented, "The training recognises tha 'age' is a set of behaviurs and characterisitcs tat are determined by our experiences as well as by the amount of time that we have been alive. It encourages critical hinking about the concept of age and its use in assessments and supports participant to develop an approach that is roote in current best practice standards. Our aim is to support workers to have belief in their ability to make a judgement based on the available information and to recognise that such assessments may be revised in the light of emerging evidence."

The training has been continually evaluated and always rates very highly with participants in terms of their learning and usefulness for practice.

Repeat contract with Liverpool Direct Limited

The Faculty of Health and Applied Social Sciences was again successful in its tender to supply Liverpool Direct Limited (LDL) with substantial training covering many aspects of Children’s and Adult Social Care. The training is delivered to a wide variety of professionals working across LDL’s clients in the public, private and voluntary sectors, including Liverpool City Council (LCC)

The new contract involves 27 courses which are due to run several times over the 2 year contract period with the opportunity to extend for a further year. The scope of courses range from Eye Care to Court Skills, from Diabetic Monitoring to Caring for Stroke Patients. Depending on the level of content required, courses are offered as half, one, two or four day courses.

Nick Medforth, Head of Enterprise (UK) commented: “I would like to thank everyone who has contributed to the delivery of this contract which has required the involvement and commitment of staff across the Faculty. The contract is closely monitored by LDL and the repeat business generated reflects the high levels of satisfaction reported by course attendees and commissioners. This can only be achieved through the good will, creativity and professionalism of our staff and your contributions are very much valued.."

Police and Criminal Evidence Act (PACE) 1984 1 Day Training Event

The Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1 day course is for practitioners who will be supporting vulnerable adults in police stations once they have been charged. Malcolm Kinney, Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Health and Applied Social Sciences provides a 1 day training course which goes through the legal requirements and the necessary skills to undertake that role.

Since the course began LJMU has seen an increase in demand, one of the reasons for this is that nurses are increasingly undertaking this role so it has been extended to a broader group of professionals. Feedback has been very positive with participants feeling confident that they will now be able to undertake the role effectively. At the moment the course is only delivered to Sefton but it is thought that there will be an opportunity to extend it out to other authorities.

Relationship Between Research and Enterprise - Transferring Knowledge

The effectiveness of the Specialist Breast Care Nurse

A team from the Faculty are working collaboratively with Clatterbridge Centre for Oncology NHS Foundation Trust to study the effectiveness of the Specialist Breast Care Nurse. The study is being funded by Breakthrough Breast Cancer Charity with the aim to highlightthe added value of the Breast Care Nurse post.

The study will last 5-6 months with the aim to evaluate the effectiveness of the breast care nurse whilst identifying the costs and benefits of the post and what is the optimal case load for a breast care nurse. The team were contacted by Breakthrough Breast Cancer and asked t bid for this study due to the work they have done so far for the Epilepsy Action Charity, evaluating the effectiveness of the Epilepsy Specialist Nurse. Again this focuses on looking at the added value of the role nd involves the same methods plus focus groups.

The team led by Professor Fiona Irvine, Head of Research Capability Development includes; Dr. Jan Hopkins, Jennifer Brizell, Liz Stokes, Research Assistants and Professor Marilyn James, Centre for Public Health.

The Venture Junior Mentor Project – Evaluation

The Faculty of Health and Applied Social Sciences was recently asked to evaluate a mentor scheme that is run by The Venture, an adventure playground in Caia Park – a disadvantaged community in Wales. The Venture was founded over 30 years ago and has been widely recognised, both at home and abroad, for its good work. A few years ago, a new scheme was introduced to provide 1:1 and small group mentoring for children aged 6-13 and Venture mentors are now engaging regularly with over twenty of those deemed most at risk of social - peer, community or educational - exclusion. Programmes are individually tailored through negotiation with carers and children and so vary from person to person depending on their specific aims and objectives.

The mentors mainly use the child’s interests as a vehicle for delivery and to achieve this they have access to all the facilities of the Venture, as well as a small budget to do other activities. By developing relationships, along with discussion and reflection, it is hoped that the child’s sense of achievement and confidence can be progressed. The evaluation is utilising a mixture of case studies, interviews and focus groups and while we are focussing on the experiences of the mentors, all stakeholders’ views are being taken into account including mentors, carers and community workers. It is expected that current good practice will be highlighted along with some possible suggestions for improving this much needed and worthwhile project.

Dovecot Speaks for itself

Developing dialogue, trust and reciprocity - A participatory action research project in Liverpool

As a de-industrialised social housing estate with high rates of unemployment Dovecot has lost many of the connections it once had with external work and social networks. As a reaction to this, `bonding networks` can increase in intensity to provide support but can then become controlling. As opportunities for experience of the world outside decrease the community closes down, opportunities for `bridging networks` that allow for empowerment and social mobility gradually decrease.

A team in the faculty are carrying out this research with 2 purposes in mind. Firstly it is a stand-alone project to develop an inter-generational needs analysis of residents in the Dovecot area, which will support the development of a community development strategy for the locality. Secondly the proposal also forms the initial stage of a larger collaborative project where the outcome from this research, i.e. the needs analysis, will be used to apply for further funding to tackle the key problems that have been identified by the people themselves.

The outcome of the work will be a development strategy that has come from the participants. Most importantly however, the research aims to empower local residents to liaise with agencies to meet their needs, influence policy-making, take leadership roles within the community and apply for funding to address the needs identified in the research e.g. binge drinking with young mothers and programmes to tackle mental health problems.

From Kingsway House to Kyrgyzstan

Faculty of Health and Applied Social Sciences lead a multi-national team working with communities in Kyrgyzstan

Professor Jane Springett’s most recent consultancy took her to the mountains of Kyrgyzstan, leading a team tasked with reviewing the Kyrgyz Rural Health Reforms: Manas Taalimi 2006 – 2010 and offering advice as to future developments.

The request came from the Swiss Development Agency who have contributed to the funding of the reforms as part of the process of rebuilding Kyrgyzstan after the fall of the Soviet Union and the withdrawal of Russian investment and personnel at the end of the 1980’s. Professor Springett commented, “I have long been involved in researching community based approaches to health and health promotion involving participatory action research and on paper this initiative seemed almost too good to be true.”

Instead of being an isolated project, which is normally the case, the intention was to go countrywide based on experiences of two regions. Professor Springett said: “The final report highlighted areas for improvement and provided pointers for the next stage of development. However as a team we were able to say that the whole initiative was an exemplar of what participatory community based approaches to health should be both in terms of the Region and the elsewhere. There is much we can learn from very warm and friendly people.”

She continued: “The approaches taken in this project reflect the underpinning philosophy and values of the Faculty of Health and Applied Social Sciences through working in partnership and collaboration with the community locally, nationally or internationally”

At the Forefront of Policy, Development and Implementation

Research shows bank accounts reduce re-offending

According to an authoritative report by LJMU’s Paul Anthony Jones (Research unit for Financial Inclusion, Faculty of Health and Applied Social Sciences), a pioneering scheme which enables offenders to open a Co-operative Bank account while in prison, appears to be having an impact on the rate of re-offending.

The report shows that in the first two years of the project, which began at Forest Bank Prison, Salford, in 2006, 256 prisoners have opened accounts with the Co-operative Bank while serving their sentences. Of those 193 have been released and only 72 have since returned to prison. These early results suggest that opening a bank account can positively impact on re-offending rates. The Co-operative Bank has now accepted applications from 28 other prisons bringing the total of accounts opened, since the scheme began, to 1,392.

Paul Jones said: “Bank accounts are not the panacea for reducing re-offending rates but the scheme at Forest Bank has important lessons for everyone involved in the prison service. It is clear that bank accounts are an important element in enabling ex-prisoners to become valuable members of society and other banks should now consider copying the excellent pioneering work carried out by the Co-operative Bank.”

As one former inmate told the researchers “It seems superficial doesn’t it just to say the most important reason for me is that I can be like anybody else.” Another ex-offender explained: “It is hard to explain, I felt better when I got the bank account, you’ve got something, I felt better inside. I can’t wait to get my wages paid in.”

The report urges other banks to follow the lead set by the Co-operative, but it also recognises that the issue needs a society-wie resposibility in which prisons, banks, National Offender Management Service (NOMS), Government, the voluntary sector and others all have a role to play. In all he report makes 24 recommendations designed to make access to bank accounts an important element of the rehabilitation process.

The Chief Executive of The Co-operative Bank David Anderson said: “We understand that access to employment and housing are extremely important factors in reducing the risk of re-offending but these can only be obtained if ex-offenders have bank accounts. The Co-operative Bank now has a relationship with 29 prisons, which represents nearly 20 per cent of all the prisons in the UK but we cannot tackle this important issue alone. Therefore, I would encourage other banks to play their part in providing accounts for prisoners so all inmates can have this opportunity.”

You’re Welcome

Initiative to make health services young person friendly

A team from LJMU’s Faculty of Health and Applied Social Sciences has been involved in developing awareness of ‘You’re Welcome’, a Quality Self Assessment Toolkit to ensure that all services offering health related support, advice and interventions to young people will be genuinely friendly, welcoming and responsive to young service-users.

Commisioned by the Teenage Pregnancy team and Government Office North West, and working alongside colleagues from the University of Cumbria, the University of Chester and representatives of organisations providing services to young people, the team developed and delivered a structured programme of training to support the early stages in the implementation of You’re Welcome locally and regionally, later leading to a national roll-out of the programme.

You’re Welcome was published by the Department of Health in April 2007. It underpins an initiative which aims to ensure that Health Services (including non-NHS provision) are Young Person Friendly, by setting out Quality Criteria which cover principles in 9 topic areas Accessibiliy, Publicity, Confidentiality and Consent, The environment, Staff training, skills, attitudes and values, Joined-up working, Monitoring and evaluation, and involvement of young people, Health issues for adolescents and Sexual and reproductive health services

(Specific quality criteria for specialist areas, such as child and adolescent mental health services will be delivered later.)

LJMU, University of Chester and University of Cumbria have delivered the accredited pilot training programme across the Northwest to participants including service managers and trainers. The regional pilot was officially launched by Government Office North West in Liverpool on 29th September 2008 and involved project leaders, contributors and service providers from across England and, most importantly, young service-users themselves. It is envisaged that all organisations providing health-related services to young people across the country will have achieved the You’re Welcome badge by 2020

LJMU Pacesetters

The Faculty of Health and Applied Social Sciences was awarded an 18 month contract by West Midlands Strategic Health Authority for the Participatory Evaluation of Pacesetters. The Pacesetters programme is a partnership between local communities which experience health inequalities, the NHS and Department of Health (DoH).

Pacesetters is currently working with six strategic health authorities to identify and deliver equality and diversity improvements and innovations which aim to result in:

Patient and user involvement in the design and delivery of services
Reduced health inequalities for patients and service users
Working environments that are fair and free of discrimination

The project team is led by Professor Jane Springett with colleagues from 3 organisations based in the West Midlands: Training for Change Associates: Equip Training and Shared Journey.

Professor Springett commented: “Central to the principles of pacesetters is engagement with communities as set out in the DoH guide, ‘A dialogue of equals’. Participatory evaluation strives to achieve a dialogue or equals whereby external evaluators actively engage with people to enable them to reflect on why they are doing what they are doing, what works, what does not work and most importantly what can be learnt. We act as a support system for a continuous learning that can feed back into the service improvement process directly.”

LJMU develops further links with Department of Health

The Public Health Primary Care team have been working with the Department of Health (DoH) to produce an appraisal of options which lead to accreditation of the Family Nurse Partnership training. Family Nurse Partnership (FNP) is an evidence-based nurse home visiting programme that is concerned with the health, well being and self sufficiency of low income, first time mothers. The three main goals are to improve pregnancy outcomes, improve child health development and improve parents economic and self sufficiency.

Liverpool John Moore’s University has been successful in their bid for accreditation of the FNP programme which is now running nationally over 20 sites. The FNP nurses undergo intense training in the three key areas underpinning the programme; self efficacy, human ecology and attachment theory. Also, the family nurses explore theory around pregnancy, infancy and toddlerhood, as well as developing skills in motivational interviewing.

Carmel Henshall, Senior Lecturer commented; “This is a fantastic opportunity for LJMU to forge links with the Department of Health; particularly as the FNP is a national evidence based programme which is high profile and will continue to be rolled out in more areas across the country’

Linking Credit Unions and Money Advice - New research examines the benefits of partnership working

Following the Government's renewed commitment to tackling financial exclusion, research funded by the Friends Provident Foundation has been released examining the effectivenes of credit unions and money advice providers working together. The Southwark Credit Union Money Advice Project (SCU-MAP) report "Linking Credit Unions and Money Advice" has been written by Paul Anthony Jones (who established the Research Unit for Financial Inclusion at Liverpool John Moores University) and is publihed by Liverpol John Moores University.

A copy of the report can be downloaded at: www.ljmu.ac.uk/HEA/financialinclusion/

The study explores an initiative funded through the Barclays Financial Inclusion Fund that linked the services of Blackfriars Advice Centre, Southwark Credit Union and Twinpier Debt Management Agency in a joint effort to provide overindebted and financially excluded people with access to affordable financial services and money/debt advice. In its year of operation, the project was able to serve over 150 people with credit union and money advice services.

Key conclusions of the research include:

Linking credit unions and money advice is an innovative area of financial inclusion policy and practice
Referrals from credit union to advice agency and vice versa raise complex and challenging issues for staff in both types of organisation, but they are at the heart of successful partnership work aimed at tackling overindebtedness and financial exclusion
Money/debt advice, together with access to affordable financial services, needs to be linked to money guidance, financial capability work, and income maximisation measures
Existing “siloed” financial inclusion funding streams do not always promote effective partnership working.

Paul Anthony Jones commented: "The driver for this project was to develop a joined-up, holistic approach to tackling overindebtedness and financial exclusion in order to create a new understanding between the credit union and money advice sectors" He continues, "Collaborative working adds value to credit union service delivery, affords greater rewards for money and debt advisors, and offers the opportunity of reater long-term financial stability to clients."

Evaluation of Department of Health Single Equality Scheme

The Faculty’s reputation for participatory evaluation led to our involvement in the above summative evaluation. The team involved, led by Prof. Jane Springett fought off competition to successfully win the tender to assess the Department of Health (DH) Single Equality Scheme Learning Sites Scheme in December 2008. The evaluation stemmed from the Learning Sites initiative focussed on bringing together Equality and Diversity Leads from selected NHS organisations to learn from each other and experts with a view to supporting the development of Single Equality Scheme within their Trust.

Since the whole initiative was NHS rather than DH led a participatory approach to evaluation was preferred. The evaluation took place over three months and the final report was submitted on 30^th March a day before the initiative finished. Through using an online survey developed in collaboration with a reference group from the learning sites and a World Café event as key methods we were able to capture a picture of what worked, what did not work and what went well to help inform future initiatives in this area.

Diversification and Developing New Partnerships

Paramedic bid success

LJMU becomes largest North West provider of paramedic training.

LJMU has won a major contract from the North West Ambulance Service NHS Trust (NWAS), making it the region’s largest provider of paramedic training. The successful bid is founded upon a longstanding collaborative partnership with NWAS dating back to 1998 and builds upon the well-established portfolio of programmes for qualified paramedics. NWAS selected the University to provide the Diploma in Higher Education Paramedic Practice following a three-stage tender process, enabling a further 40 students to become paramedics.

The new two-year programme will run alongside the popular Foundation Degree in Paramedic Studies, already provided by LJMU in collaboration with NWAS.

Shirley Congdon, from the Faculty of Health and Applied Social Sciences, said "We currently have 120 students on the Foundation Degree in Paramedic Studies and over 800 others on a waiting list for the course. Were delighted to have one this contract as not only does it reflect the success of our collaboraive partnership with NWAS and he quality of our teaching and facilites but importantly it enables us to help more students realise their dreams of becoming paramedics."

The Diploma in Higher Education Paramedic Practice will start in September 2009. Thanks to LJMU's established links with the North West NHS Strategic Health Authority, students will have access to a range of clinical work placements. The University's extensive collaborative relationship wih the Merseyide Fire and Rescue Service, Merseyside Police, NWAS, Merseyside Coastguard and HM Revenue & Customs Border Patrol wil also enable students to take part in real-life emergency scenarios.

Training takes place in LJMU’s state-of-the-art Paramedic Suite. Equipped with ambulance-standard equipment such as immobilisation boards, resuscitators and life-sized mannequins, students are able to practise different emergency techniques under the direction of LJMU’s expert pre-hospital team. This team of nine paramedic academics is the largest in the UK. All members of the team maintain clinical practice with NWAS.

Faculties join forces to support Knowsley Children’s Services

The Faculty of Health and Applied Social Sciences in cooperation with the Faculty of Education Community and Leisure have secured a contract with Knowsley Children’s Services Directorate to provide a Children’s Workforce Common Core of Skills and Knowledge Practitioner Development Programme, and accompanying Training the Trainer Workshop.

The Practitioner Development Programme will be offered to staff within the Children’s Services Directorate and will include:

Children, young people and family services
Schools and early years services
Safeguarding and specialist services
Family support and children’s health services

The Common Core of Skills and Knowledge for the Children’s Workforce sets out the basic skills and knowledge needed by people (including volunteers) whose work brings them into regular contact with children, young people and families. The Practitioner Development Programme will enable professionals to work together more effectively in the interests of children and young people, and will provide the basis for further integrated working. Ceri Anwen Jones, Faculty of Health said; “We are really pleased to be working collaboratively with Knowsley to support and enhance their integrated services in delivering outcomes for children, young people and their families as part of the Every Child Matters agenda.”

999 ‘First Person on Scene’

The Urgent and Pre Hospital Care Team has been awarded a contract to deliver the First Person on Scene (FPOS) Award to Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service (MF&RS) The FPOS award provides delegates with the practical skills to deal with the immediate response needed in an emergency situation until a qualified ambulance person or other qualified help arrives.

The award which involves written examination and practical assessments, leads to a certificate approved by the institute of Health Care Development (IHCD) from Edexcel. The FPOS framework allows the award to be tailored to specific industries and a Fire Service specific FPOS award will be developed with MF&RS. This is likely to include elements such as treatments of burns and application of appropriate wound care products, smoke inhalation and the relationship to pre-existing medical conditions, advanced patient immobilisation and the extrication from Road Traffic Collision.

During the contract the Urgent and Pre Hospital Care Team will deliver the FPOS award to over 150 staff. They will work closely with six Fire Service instructors to support and develop existing skills. It is this cross-fertilisation of skills that will enable the future delivery of the award to be undertaken by MF&RS, with LJMU providing guidance and quality assurance.

Dave Taylor, Head of Urgent & Pre Hospital Care team said: “this is an example of true partnership working between two first class organisations with the common aims of improving patient outcomes and enhancing the knowledge and skills of its workforce. LJMU hope that this will be the first steps towards Mersey Fire and Rescue Service developing a cutting edge programme of study that is built upon its existing expertise but also introducing contemporary issues required to meet the demands of existing and future stakeholders.”

The Will to Empower

The Will to Empower is an exciting action research project developed by the Working with Children & Young People team from the Faculty of Health and Applied Social Sciences. The participation of children and young people in decisions that affect their lives is top of the political agenda, supported by publications such as ‘Hear by Right’ (2008). Organisations now have a responsibility to demonstrate that they engage with young people. The Will to Empower is concerned with how effective participation initiatives are at engaging with all young people, and how much young people’s views genuinely influence decision making.

With the support of colleagues from Liverpool Youth Service the Will to Empower has recruited a diverse group of 12 young people, who will undertake research with young people from across Merseyside. The first phase of the project is to train the young researchers in participatory and visual research methods using teaching approaches designed to demystify some of the language around research and to make the process accessible and fun. Once the young people have completed some initial training this will be developed alongside the research itself, to ensure the training remains relevant and appropriate. The next session has a party theme, with the qualities of a researcher lucky dip, and research methods pass the parcel. Stand by for more fun and games…

Medical Emergency Responder Training

The Pre-Hospital Care Team has been awarded a 2 year contract (with the option to extend for a further two years) with HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) to deliver Medical Emergency Responder Training for their Commercial Vessel Rummage Training Team. HMRC has forty staff working in this specialist team whose role is to perform thorough searches of maritime vessels and, if necessary, carry out their own rescues.

The Medical Emergency Responder training and medical Emergency refresher training will teach skills in immediate life support procedures and casualty handling should a medical emergency occur while on a commercial vessel, either at sea or within a port environment.

The training is two weeks in duration and in the second week HMRC’s instructors will deliver training in confined spaces rescue, use of breathing apparatus, working at heights and rope rescue equipment, LJMU’s team will support the second week by advising on the best use of equipment and minimising trauma to the casualty.

The training will be delivered at HMRC’s premises in Liverpool by the pre-Hospital care team, supported by the Enhanced Practice Team within the Faculty and will utilise the ‘Altea’ a specialist training ship used to simulate the conditions in which the team works.

Chris Edwards, Business Development manager commented, “The Commercial Vessel Rummage Team is an international centre of Excellence so partnering with them on this contract is very exciting.”

CPD Audit Support Event for Paramedics

LJMU’s hosted this event (in conjunction with Chester University), following on from our recent success in winning the Paramedic Education Contract for the North West Ambulance Service (NWAS). This is the 1st event of its kind attended by practising paramedics in the NWAS and took place in preparation for the Health Professions Council (HPC) audit due later this year. Following on from other health professionals, this audit will see Paramedics become the next group of HPC registrants to be reviewed in relation to their Continual Professional Development (CPD) activity over the last two years. One in every forty Paramedics will be randomly selected to present their CPD activity profiles to the HPC.

In advance of this, the Cheshire and Merseyside area held two half-day seminars to raise awareness of what would be expected of registrants should they be called to submit evidence of their CPD activity. Over 130 delegates attended the two days, some travelling from as afar as Blackburn, Rochdale, Blackpool and Cumbria to hear the speakers present on a variety of subjects.

Following a presentation by Mark Potter, the CPD Communications Manager for the Health Professions Council, there was an opportunity for those attending to undertake some CPD activity in the form of one hour educational workshops covering both clinical and non-clinical subjects. The workshops were supported by both external speakers and the Trust’s Area Medical Directors providing expert input.

LJMU’s Head of Pre-Hospital Care Team, Dave Taylor commented, “as an inaugural event LJMU and the Pre-Hospital Care team worked in close partnership with the NWAS to ensure that the day achieved its goals.”

Collaborative Programmes

Case Study – ChildLine/ NSPCC

The Faculty has worked in partnership with ChildLine Northwest for several years. A number of our staff, students and graduates have become volunteer telephone counsellors thereby contributing to ChildLine’s unique listening service for Children and Young People. This has proven to be an excellent development opportunity for both staff and students, and enhanced the employability of some of our graduates.

For the past 5 years the University has been supporting and accrediting the ChildLine Volunteer Counsellor training programme, providing some of the volunteers with their first opportunity to participate in study at Higher Educational level. A number of ChildLine/NSPCC staff are Honorary lecturers with us and contribute to our teaching by helping us develop courses and to enhance our students listening and responding skills, which they then use when they come into contact with Children and Young People in a range of practice settings.

In 2007 ChildLine set up a new service based in the NSPCC building in Liverpool, providing further opportunities for us to work together. We have just established our first LJMU/ChildLine/NSPCC jointly funded PhD Scholarship which will explore adult service users experiences of childhood and being a parent. We are currently exploring the possibility of working together to provide a validated volunteer training programme to run across the county.

Management of Violence and Aggression

The Mental health team have developed and delivered the first instructor training course for the management of violence and aggression in partnership with Mersey Care. This is the first in a new series of courses to teach trainers in the prevention and management of violence. It has attracted students from Pembrokeshire and Yorkshire as well as Warrington and Oldham and from within Mersey Care.

It was delivered in three 15 credit modules at degree level which encompassed non-physical approaches, teaching, training and demonstration and the application of physical skills underpinned by legal and ethical considerations.

Gerry Drummy, senior lecturer in mental health commented; “this training will address a current deficit within the teaching of trainers in violence and aggression management. Hopefully the trainers will take the message to both forensic and non forensic settings. It has been a good opportunity for LJMU to address a need and work collaboratively with the staff in Mersey Care to achieve the goal of training.”

Personal Development Training for Band 3 workers in Ashworth Hospital

The Mental Health Team in collaboration with the Practice Development Team (PDT) at Ashworth Hospital have developed personal development training aimed at band three staff, mostly nursing assistants, who are clinically based within the High Secure Services. The programme came about due to the team’s recognition of the fact that this group of staff are often overlooked when training needs and professional development are considered, yet this is the group that often has the most patient contact at ward level.

Evaluation of the first intake was rated very positively by all group members who were asked to review each of the subjects covered, The Personal Development Team hope that this programme can be rolled out to band three staff across the Trust and to other Trusts too. The course design allows for it to be adapted to cater for the education needs of various mental health settings.

Events and Conferences

Working with Young People and Children, Research Seminar Series

As an outward looking team, keen to engage with stakeholders, the members of the Working with Children andYong People Team initiated a semnar series with children and young people as the theme. The sminar seies consisted of seven seminars overa twelve month period. Over seven seminars, over 400 people attended, with an audience of over 160 at the seminar on Young People, Suicide and Self Harm. The series has been extremely well received with comments including "Really enjoyed the seminar - interesting and thought provoking, well done!" and "Worth while and much needed, thank you for the opportunity to attend."

With the enthusiasm generated by the success of the series the team are already working on plans for the future. Angela Pike, who led the December seminar commented ’the first series has been more successful than we could have hoped. The next series will take its themes from the feedback from stakeholders. Of course this includes our students who also attended the seminars. This is what we mean when we talk about added value at LJMU. It is these ‘extras’ that make a difference to the student experience’.

The Northern Financial Inclusion Conference 08 - Research Unit for Financial Inclusion

The Research Unit for Financial Inclusion (RUFI), based in the Faculty of Health and Applied Social Sciences at LJMU, joined forces with the Association of British Credit Unions (ABCUL) to hold its 3^rd Financial Inclusion Conference at the BT Convention Centre, Liverpool on Thursday 4^th December 2008. The event was supported and sponsored by The Co-operative Bank.

This major conference, the largest financial inclusion conference in the UK, was addressed by Kitty Usher, Parliamentary Under Secretary at the Department of Work and Pensions and by leading players in the field of financial inclusion. These included four members of HM Treasury’s Financial Inclusion Task Force: David Anderson, Chief Executive of Co-operative Financial Services; Mark Lyonette, Chief Executive, Association of British Credit Unions Ltd; Danielle Walker-Palmour, Director, Friends Provident Charitable Foundation; and Bala Mahendran, Chief Executive of Basildon District Council. Nearly 300 delegates attended the conference representing policy makers, academics and practitioners throughout the UK and Ireland. The conference marked ten years of the promotion of financial inclusion in low-income communities.

As with credit unions, the conference reflected on a range of policy initiatives, emanating from Westminster, Edinburgh and Cardiff, which have aimed to promote financial inclusion in low income communities. The past decade has seen the introduction of basic bank accounts, a focus on the provision of affordable credit, the Savings Gateway, the Child Trust Fund, an increase in insurance with rent schemes, an expansion of money and debt advice in low income communities, the Financial Inclusion Fund, a new Government financial capability strategy, the recent money guidance pathfinder programme and the arrival of Financial Inclusion Champions. In reflecting on the past and on what has already been achieved, the conference aimed to identify new strategic issues and measures for the future.

Training Agencies Conference

In July, the Faculty of Health and Applied Social Sciences hosted the annual conference for the Training Agencies Group (TAG) for Youth and Community Work Educators in Higher Education. The conference theme, ‘Changing Perspectives: Research and Development in Youth and Community Work’ drew in over seventy colleagues from across the United Kingdom.

The event included workshops and papers on the critical pedagogy that underpins teaching and the professional development of youth and community workers. It proved timely in the context of youth and community work education, given the move towards a graduate entry profession from 2010 and the new QAA benchmarks for ‘Youth work, community education and community development’, which are currently out for consultation.

In the plenary, Bernard Davies, influential writer and thinker on informal education, offered his perspective. Among his insights was a reminder of the critical stance that educators need to take between the academy and the workplace in order to support youth workers in practice and raise the profile of effective youth work in the lives of young people.

Delegates were complimentary on the Liverpool TAG conference, observing that they enjoyed the well balanced mix between workshops, networking and opportunities to visit some of the city’s cultural highlights in this special year.

Content owner: Liz McGough

Page last modified by Peter Spencer on 25 October 2012.

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