News

The British Association of Prosthetists and Orthotists (BAPO) is delighted to launch its mentoring scheme which is an exclusive, fully funded service offered to our members.

Members can use this service at any career stage to gain personalised guidance on a range of topics. Like all allied health profession (AHP) roles, prosthetists and orthotists, and our support workforce, face challenges. We believe anyone from the very start of their career to experienced staff can benefit from the support and guidance a suitable mentor can provide.

The BAPO team believes mentoring provides:

• Valuable experiences to the mentees, who are able to call on the experience and knowledge of other members of the prosthetic and orthotic (P&O) profession, and colleagues external to P&O, to help their career development.
• Valuable leadership and management skills to mentors, from accessing our mentor training resources, to gaining experience in helping others progress in their career.

Mentoring relationships facilitate personal and professional development through support, challenge and review. Mentoring is about encouraging mentees to take responsibility for their own progression and challenging them to find their own answers.

If this is something you’re interested in learning more about, follow these steps to sign up:

• Register by clicking on this link or the button below. Once registered you can access our introductory videos and guidance to help you get the most out of the mentoring relationship. 
• Decide the areas you would like to work on in a mentoring relationship – the support you are looking for as a mentee, or the areas where you would be willing to support others as a mentor.
• Then when you are ready, click the link and create your mentee or mentor profile. You can go back and edit it anytime you like and there are tools in the system to help mentees refine their goals.

What happens next?

• The dedicated profile matching system will help mentees identify potential matches, based on their profile and what they would like to work on.
• If you have found someone who looks like a good match, introduce yourself and have an initial conversation You’ll both be able to decide whether you want to work together before you commit. Don’t worry if you don’t find a match right away – there are new mentors and mentees signing up all the time.
• Once you have a match and have agreed to work together, the platform will help you keep moving forward with prompts and advice.
• At the end of your mentoring relationship, it will help you look at what you’ve achieved together – and decide what you would like to do next.

We’d love to hear from you once you’ve signed up as we’re keen to understand how the prosthetics and orthotics profession will benefit from this BAPO-member exclusive opportunity.

For more information contact: Enquiries@bapo.com

Health Education England elearning for healthcare (HEE elfh) has worked with the Office for Health Improvement & Disparities to refresh the content in the Physical Health and Activity programme.

Physical activity is one of can be one of the most important tools in the healthcare professional’s toolkit for condition management. It can lead to improved clinical outcomes in over 30 different chronic diseases, including type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, heart disease, stroke, diabetes and several cancers type 2 diabetes, and be as effective as medication in many instances: hypertension, stroke, and mild-to-moderate depression, to name just a few. 

This updated elearning course prepares GPs, nurses and other healthcare professionals to champion the benefits of physical activity with their patients and help prevent and manage a number of health conditions.

The eleven elearning modules identify the benefits of physical activity and explore the ways in which it can be applied to prevent and manage a number of health conditions. The course familiarises the learner with how physical activity can benefit a number of different population groups including, children, pregnant women and older people as well as considering musculoskeletal health, the CMO guidelines and how to use motivational techniques to encourage behaviour change in patients. 

An Introduction to Physical Health and Activity is also available in the elearning programme.