Published in a BMJ Journal!

I have received an e-mail from the BMJ group, saying that my article has been published in Frontline Gastroenterology. This is a respected, peer-reviewed medical journal for gastroenterologists and their colleagues.

I am hoping that the paper will draw attention to the success of this service, and the fact that something can be done to help people with IBS effectively, and relatively cheaply. Something which has long-lasting effects.

With this awareness, and information I gave in the paper about how I set up this service, other services may be created on the NHS, and many more patients could benefit.

That is my dream, and I’m going to keep on dreaming it.

Why are we Waiting?!

The changes in the NHS are happening, whether we like it or not. I’m still amazed that a government which was not elected, let alone elected based on its manifesto promises to deal with the NHS in a certain way, has been able to so drastically alter the structure, and therefore the very existence, of our national treasure. But that’s another story.

We are still waiting for the commissioning groups to make decisions. I do not know whether I have a job to return to after maternity leave, so I can’t commit to childcare I won’t be able to afford if unemployed. I have won an award for dedication to patient care in this job. I have presented at a national hypnosis conference held by an organisation whose members are healthcare and academic professionals. I have an article pending in a peer reviewed medical journal. Yet there seems to be a level of disbelief that hypnotherapy has a place amongst ‘proper’ treatments. This is despite what I have achieved outside the research centres where Whorwell and colleagues first proved that hypnotherapy works for IBS. Whorwell has published extensively since his first paper in The Lancet.

So, here we are. In exactly the same position as we were before, when the managers in the PCT were in charge. The government has decided that PCT’s have no place deciding which patient gets what, and which treatments are paid for on the NHS, and have passed those decisions to GPs. And now, the GPs, as far as commissioning patient services is concerned, may well be a rose by any other name.

I don’t think patients much care who makes the decisions. I think they want fair and equal access to evidence-based, effective treatments which they pay for through their taxes.

The fact that the IBS Hypnotherapy service I created and run is cheap, and would save thousands of pounds if doctors followed NICE guidelines to diagnose and manage in the community, and did not send patients to hospital, is just another reason to commission it.

We need to remember why we’re here: to help the patient as best we can.

Fingers crossed that the decision to commission is made.

Hard Work Pays Off!

Today I received the award I won for Gastrointestinal Nursing. I won the ‘patient care’ category; the one I valued the most.

It feels so wonderful to have my hard work and dedication recognised outside the 4 walls of the clinics I work in. Having said that, the smiles of every patient I have been able to help them to help themselves has been such a reward… And I share this achievement with each and every one of them, as without their suffering, there would be no job, no service and no award. I’m so glad to have been able to help them in their success, and that they have played their part in mine.

I still don’t know whether I have a job to return to when my maternity leave ends; but if I don’t, I will have gone out on a high.

Thank you, patients, NHS and the people at Gastrointestinal Nursing, for giving me the proudest moment of my nursing career.

 

Award Winning Service!

Designing, setting up and running the Community IBS Hypnotherapy Service has been so important to me since the day I was interviewed, and was told I got the job.

Patients’ opinions and feedback have kept me fighting to make the temporary service permanent.

Patients needing the service’s help have kept me working on various aspects of the job during my maternity leave with my precious baby.

Amazing patient results from treatment have begun to convince even the biggest doubters and cynics that IBS Hypnotherapy has a rightful place in our NHS.

My IBS Hypnotherapy Correspondence training course has been studied on three continents.

I was nominated for three Gastrointestinal Nursing awards, and shortlisted for the one which matters most to me: Patient Care. There was a champagne reception and lunch in London for the shortlisted candidates. Unfortunately, my little baby developed a fever and flu symptoms during the night before, so I couldn’t attend.

I received an e-mail yesterday, telling me I had won!

I am so proud, and pleased that there’s yet another reason to keep the service going…

http://www.gastrointestinalnursingawards.co.uk/

To Commission or not to Commission…

The commissioners are preparing to make their decision.

My IBS Hypnotherapy Service has been in existence since 2009. It has twice been extended, due to the excellent results patients have got, and the high levels of satisfaction that referrers have experienced.

Now, it’s time for them to decide properly: does the service stay and become permanent, or go; disappearing back into the ether, disappointing a large number of people?

With NHS finances being tighter than ever, it’s impossible to know which way this is going to go.

In the mean time, I am helping other trusts with their ideas about setting up their services. That’s what I do on maternity leave! For all the stories you may read in the press about uncaring, unprofessional staff, there are plenty more staff working so hard in the NHS, going above and beyond their job spec and pay with very little recognition.

The recognition I am after is being allowed to help vulnerable patients using the specialist skills I’ve developed, in exchange for a living wage. Skills which are in short supply.

Wish us luck!

Published in the Primary Care Society Journal

I wrote an article for this journal, and it was accepted for publication by the editor, a doctor, who was very supportive of hypnotherapy as an approach to help people with IBS to overcome their symptoms.

The article appears in October’s edition of the journal, before an article which was written by Professor Nick Read of The IBS Network, formerly known as the Gut Trust. To have an article on hypnotherapy sharing a publication with an article written by an eminent professor shows just how far we’ve come on the road to hypnotherapy being accepted as an appropriate treatment for IBS.

Let’s hope the readers share this refreshing open-minded attitude.

IBS Hypnotherapy Correspondence Course

I’m very excited! As of today, the distance learning course is ready, and approved by The International Certification Board of Clinical Hypnotherapy.

This course will help increase your understanding of what IBS is, and give you tools to support your clients with. All of this work has been used effectively for patients in the only NHS Primary Care IBS hypnotherapy service in England, and possibly further (I haven’t asked!). At the time of writing this course, 96% of my patients have had an improvement in their symptom severity. I see 27 patients every week.

You get background information about what IBS is, how it is diagnosed, and the symptoms that clients get.

You get my assessment form which helps you to ask clients the right questions.

You get 2 MP3s which are CDs that I give to clients: one for use during and one after therapy.

You get ALL the scripts that I have written and use with my patients.

You get the handouts I give to clients.

You get approved practitioner status by completing the assessments (answering quiz questions and case studies).

You CANNOT get this elsewhere, as nobody else has a full working week treating IBS on the NHS in the community! IBS4IBS methods are unique to this service.

Course cost is £125, which includes support being available via e-mail for 3 months after you start the course. Payment accepted by cheque or paypal (Paypal invoice will be e-mailed to you).

Any questions, please ask! Leave a comment on this page, or e-mail helen.bremner@hotmail.com

E-mail me to get started!

P.S. My last post referred to video: in the event of writing the course, I struggled to see how they would be useful, but if I do find something which can be better explained using sound or movie files, I shall happily provide them!