Division of Neuropsychology December 2024 newsletter

Hello to all DoN Members,

Attending the DoN Conference in Edinburgh this year was a major professional highlight for me and the culmination of two years preparatory work by our conference committee, a range of DoN volunteers and BPS staff. 

We had a fantastic venue and a programme packed with impressive speakers. It was great to see so many people attending with the benefit of our bursary scheme, many of who would otherwise not have received any funding to attend. A full review of the conference will appear in the spring issue of The Neuropsychologist, so do look out for this! 

We need to seize opportunities to enhance diversity in our profession, and it was great to see this happening at our conference. I hope that many of you can see afresh the benefits of being closely involved with the work of the Division of Neuropsychology. We have a number of forthcoming roles to support the work of our strategic objectives around professional standards, policy development, and general enhancements of our service to you as members. Do look out for the adverts in the New Year. 

Working with the DoN might seem like a difficult space for some to break into. However, I hope that opportunities to attend meetings open to all members will encourage some of you to join us and, through this, find a way to support a workstream that you care about. Please do contact me directly if you want to attend any of our meetings. We will host a fully open DoN executive meeting early next year. All are welcome. 

We look forward to 2025 and will shortly be engaging in planning a networking event with a full conference to follow in 2026. We continue with a very active rolling programme of professional development opportunities that is now well established. 

We're also planning significant developments to enhance the governance around our specialist register on the protection of the public in relation to the delivery of neuropsychological services. For me, this is a time to pause briefly and to thank all of those who have worked so hard in 2024 to support benefits for our profession. I wish you a very happy Christmas and I look forward to 2025. 

With best wishes to all, 

Ingram Wright 

Chair, Division of Neuropsychology

Three new DoN documents published 

The Policy Unit has recently launched three new documents relevant to many members – a briefing paper on Functional Neurological Disorder, and two sets of guidelines on commissioning and governance of neuropsychology services respectively. 

These documents represent the culmination of a great deal of time and co-ordinated efforts of dedicated DoN volunteers, and we are grateful to them for this. All three are openly available via BPS Explore via the following links:

• Functional Neurological Disorder: Neuropsychological and psychological management in children and adults: Read the guidelines. 
• Guidelines for commissioning NHS neuropsychological services: Read here. 

• Guidelines on leadership, workforce and governance of clinical neuropsychology services: Read here.

  Call for Papers for Issue 19 of The Neuropsychologist 

  The next issue of The Neuropsychologist will be published in April and the deadline for submissions is 20 January 2025. If you have a manuscript to contribute, please read the instructions for authors, and email your submission to [email protected]. 

  We occasionally experience difficulties with this email address, so if you could copy in the Chief Editor [email protected] that would likely be helpful! 

  All back issues are available to DoN members free of charge and can be accessed via BPS Explore. 

  Report from UK Stroke Forum Conference, Liverpool 

  A recent conference workshop, 'Meeting the challenges of commissioning neuropsychology in stroke services' took place on Tuesday 3 December. Steve Green from UKPSN chaired the 75-minute session which was attended by over 250 delegates from across the UK. 

  The expert panel comprised Phil Yates, Mark Griffiths, and Cat Ford. The aim of the workshop was to share ideas that support the development of a neuropsychological workforce linked to stroke services. A further aim was to get a sense from the audience of their needs and issues regarding these challenges. About 90 per cent of the audience were non-psychologists. 

  The interactive polling carried out in the session indicated that the majority wanted more psychology in the workforce but were unsure how to achieve this. Recruitment was a significant challenge for many, where money was available for senior posts, but the challenge had been to recruit. 

  Phil Yates overviewed the new DoN commissioning documents published by the BPS this month. These were presented at the conference and related to an NHS-E Stroke Catalyst funded project in Devon that currently supports future workforce commissioning in areas where no services currently exist. Mark Griffiths presented the work he has carried out for the BPS informing how psychology and neuropsychology is profiled and represented in the National Stroke Plan. 

  New regional / ICS commissioning structures and how stroke psychology can be best represented in this context were presented Cat Ford gave an overview of the clinical psychology workforce from the perspective of DClinPsych programmes and the increase in funded training places. 

  Suggestions were provided for how local courses can support clinical links and placements in stroke services, the development of business cases and the needs-based research to help identify local need. 

  Steve concluded that the workshop indicated that we saw this as a start to further collaborative work around commissioning stroke psychology services. We received a lot of positive feedback via the polling media for the workshop and Cat Ford will be leading a more detailed write up of the workshop for The Neuropsychologist in the New Year. 

  Research participation request 

  Clinical neuropsychologists and clinical psychologists working in adult neuro settings needed for report writing research Researchers at University College London (UCL) are running a study seeking to understand the factors which contribute to good neuropsychological report writing. 

  The online survey is anonymous and takes 10 minutes to complete. Respondents may enter a free prize draw to win one of three cash prizes of £50. There is also an opportunity to take part in an online interview (20 - 30 minutes), and interviewees will be given £10 for this additional participation. Participants will be given early access to findings of the study, which may then help inform best practice. 

  The study is being run at UCL by Professor Narinder Kapur, consultant neuropsychologist and Leah Luxon, trainee clinical psychologist, and has the appropriate ethical approval (Ethics ID 28117/001). 

  For more information and to participate in the online survey please complete a short form. 

  To register your interest for the online interview please use this form.