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B.A.N.C.C. NEWS WINTER 2009 Vol 7 issue 1 Editors: Azeem Ahmad Jane Butler Jan Keenan INSIDE THIS ISSUE: PRESIDENT’S LETTER Page: 1 - 2 - President’s Letter Page: 3 - 4 - BANCC Council 2009 - Professional Development and Support Fund -BHF/BANCC Course Page: 5 - 6 - In Support of mandatory professional registration for Cardiac Physiologists Page: 7 - NICE Guidelines: BANCC Representation Page 8 - BCS Conference 2009 – BANCC programme update - Sudden Cardiac Death pathology database Plus… Miscellaneous Items, Events/Courses, Website Links & How to contact BANCC! Dear BANCC members, There are several things to bring to your attention in this issue of BANCC News. Joint BANCC/BCS membership for £100 Firstly, I draw your attention to the excellent offer that BCS have made regarding joint membership. You may be aware that to become a full member of BCS usually costs £200 and that benefits include online subscription to Heart, access to online educational materials and free entry to the annual conference. BANCC members are offered these same benefits plus the benefits of being a member of BANCC for a total of £100!! So, your upcoming year’s subscription to BANCC via direct debit in June would be £30, but for another £70 you can get joint membership of BANCC + BCS, which gives you free access to the BCS Conference in June (which would otherwise cost £200 with the early bird rate). This basically means that if you take up the offer, you would have 3 months BCS membership free! If you are interested in taking up this offer, watch for further details shortly in a separate mailing. Continues on Page 2 1 President’s letter continued Advertising study days Secondly, we are regularly informed of study days all round the country. These are posted on our website and we have a list at the end of this newsletter. This is a free service for the benefit of our members so do let us know if you would like to advertise your study day or conference with us. Conference planning BANCC have collaborated with BCIS, BACR and BSH to produce an excellent programme for BANCC members over all three days of the BCS conference in June (see page 8 for an update). We are also working with Healthcare Events to plan the cardiac stream of their `Nurse-led clinics’ conference in November and may be building on previous successes with the RCN cardiovascular nurses to plan a further one-day conference. More news soon. BANCC council elections – this means you! Finally, it is election time again! (Details emailed on 30 January 2009). Several council members will step down in June and I would encourage all of you to seriously consider nominating yourselves or your colleagues for a place on council. As I have said many times before, any one of you would be a great asset to the council and you would all bring different skills and expertise. It would be fantastic to have representation from nurses specialising in heart failure care, cardiac rehabilitation, adult congenital heart disease, primary care, acute coronary syndromes, arrhythmia care, cath labs, cardiac wards, cardiac care units, cardiovascular nursing research and education. Additionally, I would love to have nominations from Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales so that we can be far more `UK’ representative. So, as you can tell from this newsletter, BANCC council are still very busy trying to make this an association that you can all be proud of and want to be more active in. Remember to tell your colleagues about BANCC as the more members we have, the more representative we can be both nationally and internationally. I look forward to a record number of nominations and new members this year! Best wishes, Jenny Tagney President, BANCC 2 BANCC Council 2009 Jenny Tagney President 2007-2009 Current Role: Consultant Nurse in Cardiology, Bristol Royal Infirmary Areas of special interest: Developing evidence-based care for patients with Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillators. Acute coronary syndromes and chest pain assessment. Jayne Mudd President-Elect 2007-2009 (automatically succeeds to President) Current Role: Specialist Nurse in Arrhythmia Management, James Cook University Hospital Areas of special interest: Cardiac rhythm management Jane Butler Honorary Secretary 2007-2009 Current Role: Consultant Nurse in Heart Failure, London Chest Hospital Areas of special interest: Heart failure and cardiac education. Jan Keenan Junior Secretary 2007-2009 (automatically succeeds to Hon Sec) Current Role: Consultant Nurse in Cardiac Medicine, John Radcliffe Hospital Areas of special interest: Cardiac nursing Sanjay Ramdany Treasurer 2007-2009 Current Role: Community Matron, St Mary’s Hospital, Isle of Wight Areas of special interest: Heart failure and cardiac research Imelda Sotto Junior Treasurer 2008-2011 (automatically succeeds to Treasurer) Current Role: Senior Clinical Nurse Specialist, London Chest Hospital Areas of special interest: Heart failure Ordinary Members Roger Gamon 2007-2009 (second term) Current Role: Primary PCI Clinical Project Manager, Greater Manchester & Cheshire Cardiac Network Areas of special interest: Cardiac care Mary Currie 2007-2009 (second term) Current Role: Service Director for Innovation, Business Development and Performance, South West Essex PCT Areas of special interest: Cardiac diagnostics, heart failure, arrhythmias, prevention Helen Cox 2007-2009 (first term) Current Role: Senior Lecturer in Cardiac and Critical Care Nursing; University of the West of England Areas of special interest: Predominately specialised in cardiac care over the last 20 years, teaching and research interests include cardiac and pre-hospital care, telemedicine and heart failure. Other areas of interest which have developed are managing critically ill patients both in high dependency and general ward settings. Jacqueline Hunt 2008-2010 (first term) Current Role: Community Heart Failure Nurse, Eastbourne District General Hospital Areas of special interest: NSTEMI treatment, particularly medically managed patients and risk factor management in both primary and secondary care. 3 Non voting Members Susie May Current Role: British Heart Foundation representative. Nurse Project Manager for the British Heart Foundation. Areas of special interest: Setting up innovative specialist nurse and allied healthcare professional services across primary and secondary care. The skills, knowledge and education of cardiac nurses. Department of Health representative to be confirmed Honorary Member Professor David R. Thompson Current Role: Professor of Cardiovascular Nursing, Department of Health Sciences & Department of Cardiovascular Sciences, University of Leicester, Lead for BANCC research network Areas of Special Interest: Cardiac rehabilitation, quality of life HOW TO CONTACT BANCC: All council members can be contacted by email: [email protected] For any administrative queries or information requests, please contact: Azeem Ahmad Affiliates Coordinator BANCC c/o The British Cardiovascular Society 9 Fitzroy Square London W1T 5HW Telephone: 020 7692 5415 Email: [email protected] Professional Development and Support Fund This year we have considerably increased the funds available for members to apply for and directed them towards enabling members to attend educational conferences. Members can apply for up to £500 to attend an international conference and £250 to attend a UK conference. Applications are still invited for this year. The deadline is 31 March 2009. To access further details, please go to the link below: http://www.bcs.com/pages/page_about.asp?PageID=374 Sanjay Ramdany Treasurer, BANCC BHF/BANCC Course The first cohort to complete this new course run from Salford University have evaluated it very well. Candidates for the second cohort were interviewed in the middle of January and successful candidates will be notified in due course. We hope to have a piece from one of the past and one of the new students in the next newsletter. 4 In Support of mandatory professional registration for Cardiac Physiologists The National Service Framework (NSF) for Coronary Heart Disease was published in 2000, heralding a new era for cardiac services in England with a powerful policy push to achieve targets. Along with it came the promise of improved quality, efficiency and accessibility for patients. In cardiac services, undoubtedly as in other areas, we have seen a cascade of service redesign, improvement and development that has left many of us in a state of shock at the creativity demonstrated in contrast with the way we worked only a few years ago. The same is true of Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. In Wales there is a target to bring referral to treatment within six months by the end of 2009, in Scotland the whole journey to cardiac intervention has a target of 16 weeks, and in Northern Ireland there is a 13 week target for a first outpatient appointment, with a 21 week target for inpatient or day case treatment. The important point about the NSF, however, as well as subsequent targets in all four UK countries, is that these have allowed nurses to develop, by taking on diagnostic roles, or follow-up clinics, to enable the entire team to work smarter and more effectively. The NSF is not profession-specific. It requires, for example, that a patient with chest pain suspected to have angina be assessed within 14 days – not necessarily by a Consultant Cardiologist, but by someone with the skills to evaluate and diagnose coronary disease. Health policy has led us to the development of nurse-led services - rapid access chest pain clinics, followup for patients with coronary disease, thrombolysis, diagnostic and follow-up services for people with arrhythmias and pre-hospital thrombolysis delivered by paramedics. More than this, health policy has developed with us to continue to improve accessibility. Policy has supported our service and individual professional development by providing the necessary legislation and centrally co-ordinated educational standards for nurses and pharmacists to prescribe, for paramedics to treat, and assured quality by continuing to develop professional regulation, to ensure quality of care and excellent governance arrangements. Or has it? In my celebration of what the NSF and subsequent targets have done for the development of nursing, I exclude a significant and absolutely key group of professionals involved in the cardiac patient’s pathway. To whom do I refer if I need to investigate when my patient continues to experience chest pains despite intervention? Or presents with dizzy spells or palpitations? Or has physical signs of heart failure or a murmur following a heart attack? In so many situations this is the role of the cardiac physiologist. In fact, as nurses we are increasingly reliant on cardiac physiologists, to support both diagnostic and follow-up work. Some cardiac physiologists independently undertake echocardiography, exercise testing, arrhythmia analysis, and myocardial perfusion scintigraphy, but have been working in this capacity largely on behalf of physicians for some years. Increasingly, nurses are part of the same team, working in partnership with cardiac physiologists to provide improved access and quality patient-focused services, and increasingly, we appreciate the exceptional skills of this professional group. Our current challenge in England is to deliver an 18-week wait for patients from referral to treatment. This relies on early access to diagnostic services. If we already run one-stop Cardiology or chest pain clinics with instant access to investigation, then why is it so difficult to get everyone diagnosed and treated within 18 weeks? Actually it isn’t, but it does need lateral thinking, smarter use of diagnostic services, and serious consideration to developing the role of our physiologist colleagues. Support for these developments is stated very clearly in a document published by the Department of Health in June last year, ‘Transforming Cardiac Diagnostic Services to Deliver 18 Weeks’ (DH 2007), which challenges cardiac physiologists to review traditional ways of working, and in particular gives vocal policy support for role development. I would contend, though, that cardiac physiologists have already risen to the challenge that this document lays out for them. Unlike other professional groups however, they are not supported by the professional regulatory structure that supports nursing development. There is no mandatory professional registration for cardiac physiologists, and this is holding back service development, allowing a very small minority of poor practitioners to continue to practice, which is a significant patient safety issue. Let’s put it in black and white. If a patient has an exercise test and develops ST elevation on the treadmill, the cardiac physiologist is better placed and more experienced than a junior doctor to declare that the 5 patient is within a hair’s breadth of a heart attack. What can they do? Leave the patient to get a doctor? Would you? Give oxygen, GTN and 300mg aspirin. Right? No. It can’t be done – without mandatory registration, a cardiac physiologist cannot use a patient group direction, or train to prescribe, so can therefore diagnose the problem, but have their hands tied when it comes to first-line, low-risk, timedependent treatment. What about administration of drugs in the context of transoesophageal echocardiography, or perfusion scintigraphy, or stress echocardiography? The same applies. Whilst not all registered professional groups have access to legislation that supports the use of patient group directions for the independent administration of medications, non-registered health professionals can not under any circumstances use a patient group direction. It could be argued that a local agreement can be made for staff to be supported in administration of medications, although without the legal framework that supports other professional groups, organisations are understandably nervous about the governance and risk implications of this and this is a significant limiting factor. Delivering the 18-week target will rely on access to diagnostic services. There is a bid for clinical physiologists to work closer to patients, for example in primary care settings. There has been an increase in the number of independent sector providers offering diagnostic services currently provided by clinical physiologists. In secondary care where teams work together, there is a structure that supports quality and governance, but this is not guaranteed in the independent sector. Regulation of professions offers public protection. It also offers support for professional working. It is about ‘sustaining, improving and assuring the professional standards of the overwhelming majority’ (Hewitt 2007). It means an agreed common set of standards for training and education, mandatory registration, and an agreed level of competence. It exists to provide safety and quality. ‘Making the Change’ (DH 2001) stated that during 2002, there would be consultation by the Health Professions Council on extending professional regulation to all groups of healthcare scientists. Currently there is voluntary registration for Clinical Physiologists (that is cardiac physiologists, audiologists, gastro-intestinal physiologists, neurophysiologists and respiratory physiologists) via the Registration Council for Clinical Physiologists (RCCP), who presented an application for regulation to the Health Professions Council in 2003, which was accepted. A letter from the Health Professions Council to the Secretary of State for Health recommending regulation followed in 2004. Yet four years on, clinical physiologists are still waiting for mandatory professional registration. There is an overwhelming sense of frustration in our physiologist colleagues that lack of registration is holding back service and professional development, and quite rightly, a serious concern that there is no mechanism for stopping poor practitioners from offering their services. As nurses, we need to stand alongside our colleagues and offer support, not just in local mutterings and sympathy, but as actively as possible, for the continued improvement of services and for patient safety. Write to the Health Minister, write to your MP, use whatever means possible, to support their cause. At BANCC, we will continue to work with our nursing and physiology colleagues to campaign as widely and vocally as possible, to support the mandatory professional registration of cardiac physiologists. The louder we are heard, the less we can be ignored. Jan Keenan Junior Secretary, BANCC References: Hewitt (2007) Trust, Assurance and Safety – The Regulation of Health Professionals in the 21st Century London: HMSO Department of Health (2000) National Service Framework for Coronary Heart Disease London: Department of Health Department of Health (2001) Making the Change; A Strategy for the Professions in Healthcare Science London: Department of Health Department of Health (2007) Transforming Cardiac Diagnostics Services to Deliver 18 Weeks London: Department of Health 6 NICE Guidelines: BANCC Representation Review of NICE Technology Appraisal Guidance No 94: Statins for the prevention of cardiovascular events in patients at increased risk of developing cardiovascular disease or those with established cardiovascular disease: Proposal to move guidance to the Static list The planned date for review of the above guidance was November 2008. This is the date at which the NICE decides whether sufficient new evidence has emerged for the Appraisal Committee to be asked to undertake a full review appraisal. Having re-run the search strategy from the original assessment report the NICE has not found any relevant additions to the evidence base that would have a material effect on the guidance. Consequently the NICE propose that the original guidance become static. Topics on the static list may be transferred back to the active list for further appraisal if new evidence becomes available that is likely to have a material effect on the last guidance issued. For further information, please go to http://www.nice.org.uk/Guidance/TA94#summary Thank you to Alison Pottle, Royal Brompton and Harefield NHS Trust for representing BANCC in the review process. Update of 2006 clinical guidelines for Chronic Heart failure Annie MacCallum and Wendy Churchouse have been representing BANCC in updating these clinical guidelines. They will give us an overview once the process is complete. NICE updates to the Technology Appraisal Processes The NICE has undertaken a review of the Guides to the Single and Multiple Technology Appraisal Processes. These guides contain information on how technology appraisals are conducted. The new, draft guides opened for consultation on Wednesday 3 December 2008. The Institute would like to receive comments on these documents from anyone who has an interest in the Technology Appraisal Programme. The documents can be made found on the NICE website at http://www.nice.org.uk/getinvolved/currentniceconsultations/current_nice_consultations.jsp and comments should be sent to [email protected] . The closing date for receipt of comments is Tuesday 3 March 2009. The Institute has also undertaken a review of the ‘Specification for Manufacturer/Sponsor Submission of Evidence’. This specification relates to the single technology appraisal (STA) process and is the template used by the manufacturers or sponsors of the technology being appraised to submit their evidence to the appraisal. The new, draft template opened for consultation on Wednesday 3 December 2008. The NICE would like to receive comments from anyone who has an interest in the Technology Appraisal Programme. The template can be found on the NICE website at http://www.nice.org.uk/getinvolved/currentniceconsultations/current_nice_consultations.jsp and comments should be sent to [email protected]. The closing date for receipt of comments is Tuesday 3 March 2009. 7 BCS Conference, 1 – 3 June 2009 – BANCC Programme Update Further details of other joint sessions planned with BSH and BACR will follow in our Spring (April) edition of the newsletter. In the meantime, here is an update on what we have planned with BCIS. Joint BANCC/BCIS session Session Speaker Introduction Ms Jenny Tagney Managing cardiac patients in the community – does sub-specialism render GPs redundant Ms Jayne Mudd How new ways of working contribute to the management of cardiac patients – multi-skilling of the cath lab workforce Dr Robert Henderson New ways of working with acute coronary syndrome patients requiring intervention – specialist nurses Ms Sarah Callaghan Managing cardiac patients – different service models to suit the local situation. Is this equitable? Professor Alan Maynard Launch of the Sudden Cardiac Death pathology database In most middle-aged and older adults, sudden cardiac death is caused by coronary artery disease. In contrast, sudden cardiac death in individuals aged less than 35 years is frequently caused by inherited disorders of cardiac muscle (cardiomyopathy) and cardiac rhythm (ion channelopathies). The genetic nature of many of these diseases means that the relatives of young sudden cardiac death victims are at risk. Chapter 8 of the Department of Health’s National Service Framework for CHD, launched in 2005 and covering arrhythmias and sudden cardiac death, emphasises the importance of family assessment when a sudden cardiac death occurs in a young person. One of the first steps in establishing a diagnosis is expert review of the sudden death victim’s heart. The recently established UK Cardiac Pathology Network (UKCPN) aims to develop a network of pathologists to provide local coroners with an expert cardiac pathology service, and promote best pathological practice in sudden death cases. For further information, please go to: http://nds.coi.gov.uk/Content/Detail.asp?ReleaseID=383547&NewsAreaID=2 8 Miscellaneous Items Atie Immink New Investigator Award 2009 The Atie Immink New Investigator Award aims to recognise the contribution of investigators to understanding, preventing and treating cardiovascular diseases. The successful applicant will receive 4,500 Euros and a plaque presented at the CCNAP General Assembly 2009. If you are a doctorally-prepared registered nurse, read more about how you can apply by going to: http://www.escardio.org/communities/councils/CCNAP/grants/Pages/Atie-Immink-New-Investigator-Award.aspx Application deadline is 14 February 2009. Cardiovascular Specialist Library – Steering Group Jan Keenan, Junior Secretary BANCC has recently joined the Cardiovascular Specialist Library – Steering Group as the representative for BANCC. Introducing the new President of Heart Care Partnership (UK) Heart Care Partnership (UK) was founded in 2003 to provide patient and carer input into the mechanism of the British Cardiovascular Society. The charity represents the needs of patients and carers and is keen to hear from organisations and individuals who would like to join their membership to work together to improve the treatment of heart disease and, where possible, its prevention. Ken Timmis MBE JP LCIE, the new President as of October 2008, is a retired Banker, a Church Treasurer, a Boys’ Brigade District Treasurer and Honorary Battalion President and is Chairman of the Wolverhampton Coronary Aftercare Support Group, which has recently gained the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service 2008, the highest accolade available to a Group of its kind and equivalent to an MBE. Ken was a banker for 35 years until he suffered a heart attack in 1990 and was determined to repay the debt he owed to the doctors and nurses who saved his life. He received his MBE from the Queen in the year 2000 in recognition of his services to the Coronary Care Unit at New Cross Hospital, Wolverhampton, where he was a cardiac patient. For more information on joining the HCP (UK) membership please contact:Lulu Ho [email protected], Tel: 020 7692 5414. Individuals, as well as groups, are welcome to join. David H. Geldard David H Geldard, Immediate Past President, Heart Care Partnership (UK) and President, Trans Pennine Cycling Club has been awarded an MBE in the New Year Honours List, for voluntary services to People with Coronary Heart Diseases. In addition to the appropriate recognition for David’s great personal contribution, it also helps to highlight the importance of the concept and practice of patient representation. Our best wishes to David and wife Ivy for their day at the Palace! 9 Forthcoming events/courses Association for Nurse Prescribing: Antibiotic/Antimicrobial Prescribing "Bugs & Drugs", 6 February 2009, Ambassador Hotel, London For further information, please go to http://www.bcs.com/pages/about.asp?PageID=336 Chronic Heart Failure and Hypertension: risks, diagnosis and management, 12 - 13 February 2009, Institute of Physics, London For further information, please go to http://www.bcs.com/pages/about.asp?PageID=336 Arrhythmia Symposium 2009, "Get The Rhythm" - Understanding Cardiac Rhythm Management, 18 March 2009, Westpark Conference Centre, Dundee For further information, please go to http://www.bcs.com/pages/about.asp?PageID=336 Arrhythmia Alliance Regional Meeting, 19th March 2009, Midlands - Ettington Park Hotel, Stratford upon Avon For further information, email [email protected] or visit www.heartrhythmcharity.org.uk to register. Annual Meeting 2009 - Society for Cardiothoraric Surgery, 22 - 24 March 2009, Bournemouth Conference Centre For further information, please go to http://www.bcs.com/pages/about.asp?PageID=336 Arrhythmia Alliance Regional Meeting, 25th March 2009, London - Novotel London West, Hammersmith For further information, email [email protected] or visit www.heartrhythmcharity.org.uk to register. Vascular checks – Vascular management, 25 - 26 March 2009, Imperial College London This is a new module for the Masters in Preventive Cardiology programme, which can be taken as part of the MSc or as a standalone module. For further information, please go to http://www.bcs.com/pages/about.asp?PageID=336 2nd International Nursing and Midwifery Conference, 6 - 7 April 2009, National University of Ireland, Galway For further information, please go to http://www.bcs.com/pages/about.asp?PageID=336 Arrhythmia Alliance Regional Meeting, 15th April 2009, South West - Hilton Bristol For further information, email [email protected] or visit www.heartrhythmcharity.org.uk to register. 9th Annual Spring Meeting on Cardiovascular Nursing, 24 – 25 April 2009, Dublin, Ireland For further information, please go to http://www.bcs.com/pages/about.asp?PageID=336 or the ESC website http://www.escardio.org/congresses/cardio-nursing conference/Pages/welcome.aspx Arrhythmia Alliance Regional Meeting, 29th April 2009, North West - Manchester For further information, email [email protected] or visit www.heartrhythmcharity.org.uk to register. 10 Device Therapy in Heart Failure – a joint RCP/BCS Conference, 30 April 2009, Royal College of Physicians, London For further information, please go to http://www.bcs.com/pages/about.asp?PageID=336 or the RCP website http://www.rcplondon.ac.uk/event/details.aspx?e=1386 British Cardiovascular Society Annual Conference and Exhibition (ACE) 2009, 1 - 3 June 2009, ExCEL London For further information, please go to http://www.bcs.com/pages/conference.asp Arrhythmia Alliance Regional Meeting, 11th June 2009, Scotland - Edinburgh For further information, email [email protected] or visit www.heartrhythmcharity.org.uk to register. Arrhythmia Alliance Regional Meeting, 12th June 2009, North - Leeds For further information, email [email protected] or visit www.heartrhythmcharity.org.uk to register. Delivering Evidence-Based Primary And Secondary Cardiovascular Disease Prevention Programmes, 18 – 20 June 2009, Imperial College London For further information, please go to http://www.bcs.com/pages/conference.asp World Federation of Critical Care Nurses Congress 2009, 28 August - 1 September 2009, Florence, Italy For further information, please go to http://www.bcs.com/pages/about.asp?PageID=336 Arrhythmia Alliance Regional Meeting, 10th September 2009, Wales - Barceló Cardiff Angel For further information, email [email protected] or visit www.heartrhythmcharity.org.uk to register. Heart Rhythm Congress 2009, 18 – 21 October 2009, Hilton Birmingham Metropole For further information, please go to the HRC website http://www.heartrhythmcongress.com/hrc-2009/hrc-2009.html Arrhythmia Alliance Regional Meeting, South - Hampshire -Date to be confirmed. For further information, email [email protected] or visit www.heartrhythmcharity.org.uk to register. Arrhythmia Alliance Regional Meeting, Ireland – Belfast. Date to be confirmed. For further information, email [email protected] or visit www.heartrhythmcharity.org.uk to register. 11 Website Links Internal website links: British Cardiovascular Society (BCS) http://www.bcs.com/pages/default.asp British Association for Nursing in Cardiovascular Care (BANCC) http://www.bcs.com/pages/page_affiliate.asp?PageID=315&NewsCatID=853 ========================================================================== External website links: British Heart Foundation http://www.bhf.org.uk/ Department of Health http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/index.htm NHS http://www.nhs.uk/Pages/homepage.aspx Royal College of Nursing Cardiovascular Nurses’ Network http://www2.rcn.org.uk/cvnetwork National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence http://www.nice.org.uk/ Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency http://www.mhra.gov.uk/Aboutus/index.htm Heart Online http://heart.bmj.com/ British Journal of Cardiac Nursing http://www.cardiac-nursing.co.uk/ European Journal of Cardiovascular Nursing http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/622273/description?navopenmenu=-2 British Journal of Primary Care Nursing http://www.bjpcn.com/ European Society of Cardiology http://www.escardio.org/ Council on Cardiovascular Nursing and Allied Professions http://www.escardio.org/communities/councils/CCNAP/Pages/welcome.aspx Arrhythmia Alliance http://heartrhythmcharity.org.uk/ Cardio & Vascular Coalition http://www.bhf.org.uk/cvc/ Cardiac Risk In The Young http://www.c-r-y.org.uk/index.htm National Library for Health http://www.library.nhs.uk/Default.aspx - Cardiovascular Diseases Specialist Library http://www.library.nhs.uk/cardiovascular/ - Stroke Specialist Library http://www.library.nhs.uk/stroke/ - Vascular Specialist Library http://www.library.nhs.uk/vascular/ Her at Heart http://www.heratheart.org.uk/index.php Society for Cardiothoracic Surgery in Great Britain and Ireland – Nurses Page http://www.scts.org/sections/nurses/index.html Coronary Prevention Group http://www.healthnet.org.uk/ Disclaimer: The British Association for Nursing in Cardiovascular Care (BANCC) is not responsible for the contents or reliability of any of the above external website links, and do not necessarily endorse the views expressed within them. We can not guarantee that these links will work all of the time and have no control over the availability of any linked sites. A link listing should not be taken as an endorsement of any kind, but is provided to help you find additional information quickly and easily. If you notice that any of the above weblinks (internal or external) are broken, it would be helpful to inform BANCC at [email protected] and we will make further enquiries. 12 BANCC NEWSLETTER Got an idea? Doing something innovative? New ideas or initiatives? Areas of good practice? SHARE YOUR VIEWS WITH YOUR COLLEAGUES This is your newsletter and needs your contributions. We welcome features from our readers Please email your news to [email protected] Or write to: Azeem Ahmad, Affiliates Coordinator, BANCC, c/o British Cardiovascular Society, 9 Fitzroy Square, London, W1T 5HW Direct Tel: 020 7692 5415 General Tel: 020 7383 3887 ….and finally! If you know of a colleague who would like to join BANCC, please contact Azeem Ahmad now at: [email protected], and he will provide them with details and outline the payment options. Or alternatively, please point them in the direction of the BANCC website: http://www.bcs.com/pages/page_affiliate.asp?PageID=315&NewsCatID=853 Just a reminder, if your contact details have changed (esp. email as most communications from BANCC are carried out electronically), it is important to inform BANCC as soon as possible, so we can amend your records on our central membership database, to ensure that you still receive communications from us. 13