18 May 2011
Jersey will host over 100 delegates at an important annual summit this week as the Council of Deans of Health, from the UK and the islands, come to Jersey for their yearly meeting and look at the challenges facing the professional workforce for healthcare.
The Council of Deans of Health is the representative voice of UK university health faculties providing education and research for healthcare professionals, and has 85 member universities throughout the UK.
The council plays a leadership role in improving health outcomes through its integral role in developing an expert health professional workforce and uses its collective expertise to inform innovative educational practice and translational research.
The 109 people attending the summit in Jersey, which will be held at the Hotel de France on Wednesday and Thursday, include Professor Dickon Weir Hughes, head of the Nursing and Midwifery Council, who visited the Island earlier this year, and Professor Jim Buchan, who is based at the school of health sciences at Queen Margaret University in Edinburgh, and is an Associate Fellow of the Kings Fund. Both will speak at the summit, as well as the Health and Social Services Department's CEO, Julie Garbutt. Mrs Garbutt will give an overview of health and social services in Jersey.
This is the first time the UK Council of Deans has come to Jersey. Chair of the Council of Deans Sue Bernhauser, from the University of Huddersfield, will welcome the delegates, who will then be involved in question and answer sessions with the visiting speakers. During the session, Prof Weir Hughes will be interviewed by Prof James Buchan.
The key-note dinner speaker for the event is Professor Michael Farthing, vice-chancellor of Sussex University who will speak on the topic of ‘Will we still need doctors in 2040?’
Chief Nurse Rose Naylor said "It is an honour to welcome the delegates here, and we are delighted that Jersey has been chosen as a venue for this important summit."
Sue Bernhauser, Chair of the Council of Deans, said "We are delighted to be holding our annual summit here with our associate members in Jersey. Health professional education both globally and in the UK is going through a period of turbulence and this is an important opportunity to develop thinking on some of the major issues we face."
gov.je