Ambulance UK April 2021

NEWSLINE
Mariana Campilho said:
“I applied for The Company of
Nurses Scholarship as I wanted
the opportunity of being able to
study in an area that I am truly
passionate about, and to be one
of the first nurses doing so made
it even more special.
“I was delighted and felt it
an enormous privilege to be
awarded the Scholarship,
especially as I am aware of
the high standard of the other
applicants.
“I am looking forward to being
able to study along different
professionals all equally
dedicated to the area of
prehospital care and to be able
to learn from different experts in
the field.”
Mariana began the MSc course
in January 2021, the first cohort
to include nurses, and she
also works as a Nurse in the
Emergency Department at The
Royal London Hospital. Before
this Mariana completed a
secondment with the Physician
Response Unit (PRU), a
community emergency medicine
service which attends emergency
calls in people’s homes. The PRU
is a joint collaboration between
London’s Air Ambulance, the
London Ambulance Service (LAS)
and Barts Health NHS Trust. The
PRU responds to 999 calls, taking
the Emergency Department to
the patient, and reduces risks for
vulnerable patients by helping
them avoid a trip to hospital.
Brenda Griffiths, Chair of the
Company of Nurses Charitable
Trust said:
“The Trustees are delighted to
be able to support London’s
Air Ambulance and this MSc
programme with a Company of
Nurses Scholarship. Emergency
out of hospital care is critical,
specialist and complex.
“We know that Mariana and those
in her care will benefit greatly and
look forward to hearing all about it
as the course progresses “.
The Company of Nurses, which
aims to raise standards of nursing
care, encourage health and
wellbeing, and save lives, has
offered the scholarship through
it’s Ann Campbell RBNA Memorial
Fund which supports a student
with the payment of their tuition
fees for the MSc in Pre-Hospital
Medicine over the next three
years.
The part-time MSc in Pre-Hospital
Medicine was launched in 2019
through the Charity’s IoPHC
and is specifically for doctors,
paramedics and nurses who
practice in emergency settings,
particularly in pre-hospital
medicine, and who wish to
become better practitioners in
their roles.
Now recruiting for its third year,
the MSc is a practice-based
course taught in face to face
‘teaching pods’, helping to nurture
and develop talent and continue
leading the way in pre-hospital
emergency medicine education.
No Duff UK – The
small company
making a big noise in
the charity world
By Dave Leigh.
No Duff UK is a Not for Profit
Community Interest Company
based in the North West UK
but with contacts and members
all over the country. They
provide help and support to
serving and former members
of the NHS, HM Forces, Police,
Emergency Services, Prison
Service and Animal Welfare.
They are unique because they
do not differentiate between
the Services but take the view
that if you have served the
Country or the Community
you are part of one big family.
Tragically, suicides from both
serving and former members
of these organisations are on
the rise and No Duff UK’s aim
is to try and prevent this.
There is often limited help
on offer from within those
organisations when serving and
virtually none when retired.
No Duff UK are also great
believers in the phrase “ You
don’t heal in the place where you
got sick”.
What does ‘No Duff’ mean? No
Duff is a military term meaning
“This is not a drill” which
captures exactly the mind-set of
the company when it comes to
Mental Health.
No Duff UK was founded in 2019
by CEO Dean Owen. Dean has
served in the Military, Prison
Service, Police and RSPCA.
He was medically retired from
the Police with PTSD after a
serious injury on duty. In 2020
he realised that this was too
big a job for one person and
approached the other Directors
to help out, bringing in a
broad spectrum of service and
experience from all the services.
What did No Duff UK achieve
in 2020?
They have a private peer support
group on Facebook over 1,000
strong which is a designated
‘safe place’ to seek help and
support, and even have a bit of a
rant if needed.
They’ve also expanded onto
Twitter where they have 1200
followers.
They have helped 31 members
get into therapy.
They have a contract with a
North West Police Force to
provide therapy to their staff.
They have prevented 4 suicides.
They have assisted a Veteran
who was stuck in Europe, without
funds, to get back home.
They have assisted at least
4 Veterans into full time
employment.
They have established a successful
health and fitness group on
Facebook, as physical health goes
hand in hand with mental health,
that has over 500 members.
What are their plans for 2021?
In 2021 No Duff UK hope to
establish a Headquarters in the
North West of England that will
house treatment and therapy
rooms, conference facilities and
classroom facilities and a fitness
suite.
They also hope to establish a
Community Garden Project as
gardening has also been shown
to help people with their Mental
Health.
It is also their intention to establish
a support group for family
members of serving or former
members of the services.
They may be small now but are
ambitious enough to say that they
intend to expand to cover the
whole of the country.
No Duff UK is funded exclusively
by donations, whatever funding
grants they are successful with
and by fundraising events, which
has had to take a back seat due
to Covid restrictions.
No Duff UK can be found at :-
www.no-duff.com
https://www.instagram.com/
noduffuk/
https://mobile.twitter.com/
noduff1
AMBULANCE UK - APRIL
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