The Admissions and Referrals Team have just finished a really busy time of the year – Exhibition Season. September to November is a hectic time for our team – we share going to a wide variety of seminars, professional networking events, and conferences booked all round the country.

We really enjoy this time of year – we get to attend some smaller intimate events where we really learn a lot about advances in rehabiliation in our field, as well as share good practice (like at the Approved Provider Event held by Headway at their Nottingham Headquarters). The bigger events and conferences offer us the opportunity to share what we do with a larger audience, as well as get to hear some magnificent specialist speakers (like the Kemsley conference, hosted by St Andrews Healthcare in Birmingham where 300+ delegates attended).

These events take a lot of planning from our perspective – especially when we are exhibiting. Sometimes it involves the team having an overnight trip as the exhibitor stands often have to be set up early in the morning before everyone arrives. Someone from the Admissions and Referrals team will accompany one of our Homes Managers, and we may even take one of our seniors (like Julie Pacey from Boughton Green Rd) and our Clinical Psychologist Dr Lorraine Childs. We call them our “hit team” – because we then have a representative on the stand that cover every angle from admission, needs assessment and rehabilitation and of course we always therefore have a technical or profession specialist on hand who is able to answer any specific questions that people may have when they visit our stand.

One of the biggest benefits of attending all of the events that we do is that we get to meet a wide range of people who have an interest or a stake in care for people with brain injuries and learning disabilities. They might work for the NHS, Social Care or be in a private or voluntary organisation.

It has to also be said that sometimes there is also a really personal element to those events where they have managed to engage a speaker who has been touched by brain injury or learning difficulties in a very real way and they get to share their story with us.

If you think there is an event we should know about – please drop us a comment below, give our admissions and referrals team a call on 01604 791 266 or Tweet us on @RPC_residcare