Published on: 20 October 2022

Are you a permanent employee of South Tyneside and Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust?

Would you like to travel so you can learn new skills and get more experience?

Are you interested in a chance to grow your knowledge, then share it with our Trust? 

We’re pleased to let you know that cash grants are now available from the Heyman Travelling Scholarships Fund. This is from the Community Foundation, Tyne & Wear and Northumberland. 

The fund is available thanks to generous legacy gifts made by Sir Horace and Lady Heyman in the 1990s. The Heymans were a local couple. They admired the quality of healthcare in South Tyneside. So they left major gifts to help establish the scholarships. 

Over 20 members of our team have benefitted from the fund in the last 20 years. We will continue to benefit from this fund well into the future. This is because of the Foundations endowment model. It means the scholarships fund will last forever.  

If you apply and are successful, you will be able to visit hospitals and universities abroad. You can also attend training courses and conferences or use the fund for a combination of both. The grants can used for the costs of travel, accommodation, course fees and any other expenses.

Previous recipients of the grants include:
•    A community nurse practitioner. They attended a Nursing Conference and spent time visiting a Care Home in Cape Town, South Africa. 
•    A midwife. They attended the Midwifery Today conference in Germany.
•    A specialist physiotherapist. They undertook a rehabilitation course in Atlanta, Georgia.

Colleagues have also been successful in visiting places including:
•    Massachusetts General Hospital
•    The National Cancer Centre in Tokyo
•    The European Society for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition in France
•    The Redesigning Healthcare Summit in Sydney

Since the fund started, the average grant has been around £2000. But, some grants have been made up to £9000! So for this round of funding, we want to encourage applicants to think big!

The next round of grants are being made in December 2022. The deadline for this is Wednesday, 30 November 2022. If you would like to apply, please contact: Kathleen.Griffin@nhs.net. Please make sure you provide the following information in your application:
•    What, where and when you would like to visit using your grant
•    How this would benefit you and how it would benefit the Trust, our patients and/or our local community
•    How you would share what you learn once you’re back from your trip
•    An outline of costs. This should include travel to, from, and within your selected country. As well as accommodation plus any course fees.

We will then ask you to come and discuss your application with the panel on the morning of Friday, 16 December 2022. The panel will then discuss each application in detail. They will then let applicants know if they have been successful, shortly after. 

If you would like to have an informal chat, or have any questions about the opportunity, please get in touch. You can contact Kath Griffin on the email address above, or by phone on ext 42049.

Please note. We would not expect any visits supported by the fund to take place before April 2023 at the earliest. Unfortunately, in line with the terms of the legacy the grants are not available for use by medical staff.

Sharon McDowell - USA

When did you take part in the scholarship?
8 - 18th October 2022

Where did you go/what did you do?

Attended Amercian Nurses Credentialling Centre (ANCC) Pathway to Excellence (PtE) conference in Philadelphia, USA. Also visited Mullica Hill Hospital, Inspira Healthcare, New Jersey.

Tell us one key thing you learned whilst using your grant?

The nursing family is very much international with shared challenges, hopes for the future and a desire to improve outcomes for patients through investing in, valuing and giving nurses a voice. 

How did what you learn, benefit your career/the Trust when your returned?

I've only just returned but the conference has given me greater understanding of the PtE programme, which will contribute to my lead role in the Trust working towards accreditation with the ANCC for PtE. I have had the opportunity to network and meet my UK colleagues who were attending, we have a very supportive network of PtE leads. Attending the conference and hospital visit gave me some inspirational ideas for supporting our staff in forming shared decision-making councils, engaging staff and also confirmation that I have a good understanding of the requirements of my role, I'm on the right path so to speak and in a good position to advise and lead STSFT. 

What would you say to anyone considering applying?

Consider carefully what your 'passion' is and how this may be enhanced by visiting another service. Demonstrate in your application and in your interview how your chosen subject will fulfil any or all of the following: enhance patient care/outcomes, improve staff well-being/personal development/will meet the Trusts values/standards/vision. Be enthusiastic!

  • Consider where you will achieve your objectives in selecting your area to visit whether it be in UK or international. 
  • Consider if better for more than you to apply and what benefits it would have if there were more than yourself.
  • Obtain reasonably accurate costings for travels/accommodation etc.
  • Explain how you will share on your return, take lots of notes and photographs

Dean Metz - USA

I applied for the Heyman Scholarship in 2018 to participate in the 2019 cohort of the Certification of Competence in Vestibular Assessment and Treatment at Emory University in Atlanta Georgia. a 6 day intensive residential course. 

The course was a combination of knowledge and practice with lectures from 08:00 until 17:00 then followed by clinical/laboratory practice and testing. 

The key thing that I learned was that not only could I bring these skills back to help the people of Shields manage and recover from dizziness, but I could teach others to do it as well. I could embed these skills in the culture. 

Since returning I have created new freestanding Vestibular/Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo (BPPV) clinics. By treating people's dizziness, we are able to reduce their risk of fall and injury. I've started NERVIG (North East Regional Vestibular Interest Group) as a way for physios, audiologists, and ENT specialists to network and share practice and experience across NHS and private practice. I am the current chair of ACPIVR (Association of Chartered Physiotherapists in Vestibular Rehabilitation), a national organization of over 1000 members dedicated to the education and practice of vestibular rehabilitation. I am now teaching the vestibular modules for the Sunderland School of Medicine and have trained 15 physios across both sites to perform this work independently. By working collaboratively with my audiology colleague, we have significantly changed the World Falls Guidance issued this month to include dizziness and vestibular matters which were not there on the initial draft.

We changed global guidance!!!!
I have created a full day training course and presented it in Dublin, Belfast, Glasgow, and will give the final course this year in Wales next week. This course is the one used for the physios here at our Trust. I recently spoke on the topic at the British Academy of Audiology conference in Manchester this year. It is rare for a physio to be asked to speak at their conference! 

What I would say to anyone interested in applying is this: Apply to learn something that you are passionate about and needs fulfilling here in Shields. Learn about Horace Heyman and that the purpose of the scholarship is to ensure that local residents are able to benefit from world-wide expertise. 

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