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PCRS-UK News

PCRS-UK Hosts 6th World Conference of the IPCRG

25th — 28th April 2012, Edinburgh

Have you booked your place yet? Don't miss out…!

With such eminent speakers and world leaders as Richard Smith (ex-editor of the BMJ), Paul Cullinan, Adnan Custovic, Nick Glasgow, Andy Bush and many others, this 6th World Conference of the IPCRG, hosted by the PCRS-UK, promises to be an exceptional conference offering amazing learning opportunities for all healthcare professionals working in UK primary care. Focusing on the everyday respiratory diseases we see in primary care such as asthma, COPD and respiratory infections, and with five parallel learning streams as well as major plenary sessions, the programme offers exceptional value for money and the chance for you to update your professional development portfolio.

We are proud to report that 236 abstracts were received from over 32 countries: 99% were accepted, and selected abstracts will be published online on the PCRJ website www.thepcrj.org.

With this year's conference we are also testing webcasting for the first time. We have broadcasts planned to Chile (where the Ministry of Health will be hosting a meeting), Argentina and Spain, to take advantage of the Spanish-speaking sessions. We are still able to discuss other webcasting options for English speaking countries.

***There is still time to register for the conference.*** Visit http://www.ipcrg-pcrs2012.com for all the details including programme and registration information.

NEW rates for non-clinical researchers now available.

Nurse Group Leaders Meeting April 2012

The PCRS-UK will be hosting a “meet and greet” lunch session for those of you attending the 6th World conference of the IPCRG in April. Nurse leaders and aspiring nurse leaders can meet and share ideas about running nurse groups — a great opportunity to meet your “buddy” and find out more about support from PCRS-UK. A great reason to attend this fantastic primary care focused respiratory conference!

In the autumn we will also be running a workshop entitled “Are you In Tune?” — offering lots of innovative ideas to help support you be ‘in tune’ with your group and make all your local meetings a great success.

If you are interested in attending either event or would like more information on how PCRS-UK can help you join or set up a nurse group, contact Melanie Whiting at the PCRS-UK — mel@pcrs-uk.org

Respiratory Leaders Meeting April, 2012

The PCRS-UK respiratory leaders meeting in Solihull in November 2011 proved to be another roaring success with delegates leaving inspired and motivated to make changes across their network.

Don't miss our next event, a half-day workshop at the 6th World Conference of the IPCRG, Edinburgh, entitled “Understanding yourself to understand others — making a difference as a respiratory leader”, on Friday 27th April 2012. Attendance is free to any PCRS-UK member registered for the Edinburgh conference and will help you understand yourself in ways that will help you to work with and influence others. Delegates will be asked to complete a pre-workshop questionnaire and bring respiratory case studies for discussion in round table sessions. The session will be led by an experienced PCRS-UK faculty with group work a key feature to discuss “real life examples” from practice. Another great reason to attend the 6th World IPCRG conference!

For more information on this event and the support PCRS-UK provides to help you take the lead and influence services locally, please contact Melanie Whiting at mel@pcrs-uk.org

IMPRESS

Impress guide on Pulmonary Rehabilitation — essential reading for those concerned with service delivery

This new paper reviews the evidence, explains what pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) is, how it works, its value, and why it should be commissioned. The paper aims to answer questions that most healthcare commissioners and planners want answered in order to commission PR services and it supplements the Commissioning Pack for COPD to be issued by the DH England soon.

You can access the guide via the IMPRESS website at http://www.impressresp.com

IMPRESS Awards and models of good practice

Congratulations to the winners of the 2011 IMPRESS awards. Visit the IMPRESS website (http://www.impressresp.com) to view the winning entries of the three categories: improving quality; increasing high value services and reducing low value services; and integration across boundaries.

IPCRG News

IPCRG working globally and collaboratively

Education: difficult to manage asthma

Following a literature review and an intense and energetic one-day meeting of IPCRG representatives from Portugal, Pakistan, Chile, Sweden and the UK, with secondary care colleagues and an EFA representative, we are in the process of producing a set of practical resources on difficult to manage asthma. These will include a desktop helper, briefing for policy-makers, and an online toolbox of resources. It will incorporate guidance on who and when to refer, and to what services — and importantly, what to do before considering referral.

Better Breathing Bangladesh, a project led by IPCRG-Bangladesh with financial assistance from IPCRG, includes an educational programme for primary care delivered by Education for Health, and the establishment of community respiratory clinics (CRCs) across Bangladesh from where the doctors who qualify from the courses will work. So far eight CRCs have been opened. The official inauguration of the first CRC took place in February by the Honourable Minister of Health and Family Welfare.

Research

Two of our UK studies will be reporting at Edinburgh. 1. Camille Alexis-Garsee of Middlesex University: A qualitative analysis of barriers, motivation to quit and tailored interventions for smoking cessation in smokers with and without COPD, and 2. Dr Hilary Pinnock: Qualitative exploration and quantitative validation of the Royal College of Physician's three questions for assessment of asthma control (RCP3Qs) when used in the Quality and Outcome Framework indicator pilot 2009/10.

The FRESH AIR Survey Uganda funded by IPCRG has started on site on 15 February 2012 with training by the research team from Uganda and University of Groningen of the first 45 health care workers. We have submitted our petition on the importance of such studies, raising the profile of non-communicable disease in sub-Saharan Africa to the World Health Organisation and to the Commonwealth Secretariat. We received 1116 signatures from healthcare professionals. Thank you if you signed.

The work of our Romanian colleagues, supported by the IPCRG E-Faculty, will also report in Edinburgh on the Barriers to the Provision of Smoking Cessation Assistance among Romanian Family Physicians.

During the Edinburgh Conference, the IPCRG will select the successful applicants for our next e-faculty to be developed during 2012–13.

Advocacy

GARD: Elections to the 15-person WHO-GARD Planning Group resulted in re-election of Niels Chavannes, our President Elect, as Representative of the professional organisations in the field of primary care, and election of Osman Yusuf, IPCRG director, as Representative of organisations devoted to specific diseases in his capacity as director of The Allergy and Asthma Institute, Pakistan.

We also congratulate our Associate Members representing the following professional organisations: Monica Fletcher — pharmacy, physiotherapy, nursing and other associations of professions allied to medicine; Lan Le Thi Tuyet — respiratory medicine; Alvaro Cruz — Country-Focus group; and Antje Fink-Wagner — patient organisations.

We support GARD's strategy to encourage the development of national respiratory action plans to align with the UN resolution on NCDs and are very pleased that GARD will be circulating our position paper on the role of primary care in chronic lung disease to its members, as we want to see a strategy for primary care in every national action plan.

See http://www.who.int/gard/news_events/en/

See http://www.theipcrg.org/resources/positionpaperone.php and http://www.theipcrg.org/resources/resources_chronicdiseasemgt.php

European Parliament: Invited by our associate member EFA, we presented twice in November 2011 at the Parliament. Miguel Roman gave the primary care input to a workshop on COPD, and Dermot Ryan presented the primary care perspective at the launch of EFA's book on Respiratory Allergies.

Siân Williams and Miguel Roman

ERS General Practice and Primary Care Group 1.6

ERS Congress, Vienna, 1st-5th September 2012

Abstract submissions

Last date for submissions was 23rd February, but there is always an extension for the ERS and the possibility of submitting late breaker abstracts. So if you haven't already done so, submit now!

PCRJ Award for the best quality abstract submitted to Group 1.6

There were over 100 primary care abstracts selected for the ERS Congress in Amsterdam last September, and the top five were shortlisted for the inaugural PCRJ Award for the best abstract submitted to Group 1.6. Worth €500, and kindly funded by the Primary Care Respiratory Journal, the PCRJ Award will once again be awarded to the best primary care abstract selected for the 2012 ERS Congress in Vienna. The award is particularly aimed at encouraging young researchers to submit their work. The winning abstract will be announced during the Group meeting in Vienna. Further information to follow.

Joining the ERS

Are you an ERS member? If you're not and you regularly attend the ERS Congress, why not join the ERS and receive all the membership benefits? If you are thinking of joining, please ensure that you join Group 1.6, the General Practice and Primary Care Group!

Niels Chavannes, Chair Group 1.6

Bjorn Stallberg, Secretary Group 1.6

Other news

UK National Review of Asthma Deaths, across

all 4 UK nations, started on 1st February 2012, and will systematically investigate all deaths from asthma occurring over the next 12 months. The PCRS-UK is a member of the RCP-led consortium running the review and will keep you informed. UK-based readers are requested to report any deaths from asthma occurring between 1 February 2012 and 31 January 2013 as soon as possible after death. Visit the RCP website (http://www.rcplondon.ac.uk/projects/national-review-asthma-deaths) for more information.

Urgent call for assessors: Examining primary care notes will be a key part of understanding the circumstances leading up to and surrounding a death from asthma — so it is essential to ensure a large proportion of assessors are from primary or community care. If you are a UK-based primary care practitioner please consider becoming a panel assessor. Please visit the website (http://www.rcplondon.ac.uk/projects/panel-assessors) for more information and details on how to apply.

Asthma UK Research Funding

Asthma UK are delighted to announce a number of exciting new developments relating to Asthma UK's research strategy and funding over the coming year and beyond. Further information related to all of these initiatives can be found on the ‘For researchers’ section of our website: http://www.asthma.org.uk/for_researchers/index.html

a) Fellowship awards 2012

Applications for Asthma UK's 2012 Research Fellowship awards due to commence from this October are now being sought. Asthma UK is offering awards for individuals who wish to develop, or continue developing, their career in asthma research and who will undertake a research project within a priority research area to enable them to do this.

b) Applications for both Senior Postdoctoral Development Awards and Senior Clinical Academic Development Awards are invited. All applications for these awards, and future Asthma UK funding schemes offered within the new research strategy, will need to be made via our online research management system. The deadline for fellowship applications is 27 April 2012.

c) New Asthma UK Centre in Applied Research

Work is now underway on the new Asthma UK Centre in Applied Research. An initial briefing document has been written and is available on the website. A call for applications will be issued later in the year.

See www.asthma.org.uk

Available online at http://www.thepcrj.org