{"id":13839,"date":"2017-08-15T15:34:44","date_gmt":"2017-08-15T14:34:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/armanios.co.uk\/dev\/sia\/?p=13839"},"modified":"2017-08-15T15:34:44","modified_gmt":"2017-08-15T14:34:44","slug":"from-the-bottom-to-the-top","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/armanios.co.uk\/dev\/sia\/from-the-bottom-to-the-top\/","title":{"rendered":"From the bottom to the top"},"content":{"rendered":"

Our two SCI nurse specialists Carol Adcock and Debbie Green were recently training health and social care staff from across the country in bowel management techniques. It\u2019s a subject very few people want to talk about, but it\u2019s really important that we do so as good bowel management is, for many spinal cord injured people, a vital part of being able to lead an independent and fulfilled life.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Meanwhile, a member of our staff sits on the NHS Continuing Healthcare Stakeholders Forum, a NHS England body that shapes the development at a strategic level of policy around the funding of packages of care for those with the greatest care needs.<\/p>\n

So what\u2019s the connection? Well, to meet our mission of supporting SCI people to lead fulfilled lives, it\u2019s essential that we actively engage with the NHS \u2013 one of the most important organisations in the life of SCI people. We do that at lots of different levels and in lots of different ways. Many of our members appreciate how different parts of the NHS have supported their care and rehabilitation \u2013 whether it\u2019s at the point of injury, during rehabilitation or beyond. We recognise the fantastic commitment of NHS staff and how they often work in challenging circumstances \u2013 something recognised at our 2017 Rebuilding Lives Awards earlier this year which saw numerous nominations and awards from across the NHS.<\/p>\n

Our Peer Support Officers \u2013 all spinal cord injured themselves \u2013 are made welcome on the wards and regularly meet newly injured people in hospital at the start of the rehabilitation journey. The team\u2019s personal experience of SCI makes them ideally placed to provide a positive insight into life beyond injury \u2013 something recognised and appreciated by care staff as much as SCI people themselves. Meanwhile our SCI nurse specialist help drive standards of nursing care by sharing vital information on SCI with other health professionals.<\/p>\n

Yet too often we also hear a different story; a dispiriting tale of people battling to get good care and a failure to place the patient\u2019s interests at the heart of decision making. We estimate, for example, that about a third of spinal cord injured people do not get access to a specialist SCI centre and the expert skills that can make all the difference during their rehabilitation. We speak up on issues like that and to robustly challenge the NHS when we think they could be doing things better.<\/p>\n

We like to think of our relationship with the NHS as that of a critical friend \u2013 we\u2019ll shout and cheer when they\u2019re doing the right thing, but we\u2019ll also make our voice heard when our members tell us they\u2019re not getting the care and support they need and deserve. It\u2019s one of the great benefits of being an organisation whose work is shaped by the experiences of our members \u2013 over 70% being SCI themselves. We bring a unique insight that is sometimes forgotten but is always valuable \u2013 that of the SCI person themselves.<\/p>\n

We can offer praise or concern \u2013 quite often in equal measure and sometimes with the same breath. The NHS is an organisation that\u2019s central to the lives of SCI people, their family, friends and carers. And that\u2019s why we\u2019ll be working hard to ensure our vital and unique voice continues to be heard across the NHS as we campaign and influence on behalf of SCI people.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Our two SCI nurse specialists Carol Adcock and Debbie Green were recently training health and social care staff from across…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6907,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[231],"tags":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/armanios.co.uk\/dev\/sia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13839"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/armanios.co.uk\/dev\/sia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/armanios.co.uk\/dev\/sia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/armanios.co.uk\/dev\/sia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6907"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/armanios.co.uk\/dev\/sia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13839"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/armanios.co.uk\/dev\/sia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13839\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/armanios.co.uk\/dev\/sia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13839"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/armanios.co.uk\/dev\/sia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13839"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/armanios.co.uk\/dev\/sia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13839"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}