Funded travelling fellowships announced for health and care workers

The Winston Churchill Memorial Trust have announced they will be investing over £1.34 million by awarding up to 150 Travelling Fellowships for medical, health and care workers in 2016.

This will directly support British citizens who want to travel overseas to gain knowledge, experience and best practice to benefit others in their UK professions and communities, and society as a whole.

As part of their Medicine, health and patient care category, the Trust are looking to fund nurses, care staff, therapists and others involved in this area, to travel overseas to look at best practice and innovative programmes. Upon return to the UK, the new ideas would be disseminated for the improvement of their hospital, organisation or community.

This is the third year of a joint three year partnerships with the Burdett Trust for Nursing to fund 10 Travelling Fellowships a year (2014-2016). The Trust are also working with the Royal College of Nursing, and FoNS – Centre for Nursing Innovation to effectively coordinate and disseminate the key findings of these important Fellowship projects.

The Trust are particularly interested in hearing from those involved with nursing and social care to improve care and respect for the dignity of the patient. This may include palliative care, leadership and team working projects to improve patient care, and covers hospitals, care homes, general practice and home care.

This category was introduced in response to the findings of the Care Quality Commission and Francis reports, and concerns raised by the public, healthcare professionals and politicians.

Successful applicants must demonstrate the commitment, character and  tenacity to travel globally in pursuit of new and better ways of tackling a wide range of current challenges facing the UK, and upon their return work to transform and improve aspects of today’s society.

A travelling sabbatical for people with the drive, determination and desire to help others, can further their leadership and role model abilities.

Employees who are awarded Fellowships bring great benefits to their employers, not only in terms of the beneficial impact of their personal development, but also with the advantage of their enhanced knowledge, new ideas and examples of best practise that they bring back to the organisation.

Applications are judged purely on project merit, and these opportunities are available to UK residents over the age of 18, of any ethnicity, religion, or gender.

Successful applicants will receive an average Fellowship grant of over £6000, covering return airfare, daily living costs, insurance and travel within the countries being visited, for approximately 6 weeks overseas.

The application process for travel in 2016 is now open, and there are 11 varied categories in which people can apply.

The deadline for the 2016 applications is 22 September 2015.

For further information, contact The Winston Churchill Memorial Trust on 020 7799 1660 or visit: www.wcmt.org.uk

CASE STUDY

Joanne McPeake, a Staff Nurse in critical care in Glasgow, and Lecturer Practitioner at the University of Glasgow, travelled to the United States of America in 2011, where she visited various Intensive Care Units, exploring the best use of techniques to improve short and long-term outcomes for patients in the UK recovering from a period of critical illness. Major topic areas explored included: the role of the social worker in critical care; the role of early mobilisation in the critical care setting; approaches to sedation and delirium management; the role of cognition training in critically ill patients, and the use of family and patient councils within the acute care setting. 

Since her Fellowship Joanne started a PhD in Nursing and Critical Care, which was directly influenced by her travelling fellowship. The study, supported by the Florence Nightingale Foundation, analyses alcohol related admissions to critical care. Joanne continues to work clinically in critical care in Glasgow, as well as being an honorary lecturer at the University of Glasgow.  Her Fellowship has impacted on her practice hugely, especially with regards to early mobilisation of patients and delirium management. Joanne applied for funding to set up a family and patient council for critical care in Glasgow as a direct result of her Fellowship learnings, having visited a similar group in Boston.