Dancing the light fantastic Diwali, the Hindi festival of light, was a bright beacon in the dark days of December. The celebration, organised by consultants Nidhi Tripathi, Dharini Chitre and Asha Eleti, attracted nearly 200 guests of all ages, who were entertained to a graceful display of the classical south Indian Bharatnatyam dance, dedicated to the god Shiva, by Imperial College medical student Indula Bopitiya, daughter of consultant Indula Bopitiya. In another vein, consultant anaesthetist Mike Woodham and Jasmin Aldridge, medical HR officer, showed a hidden side to themselves by throwing themselves wholeheartedly onto the dance floor to take the champagne awards for best dancers of the night. Nidhi (pictured) said: ”We all marvelled at how well they moved to the Bollywood tunes.
“It was great fun and such a successful evening that we have been asked to make it an annual event.” Mike said: “I am not sure how I won – I guess just doing embarrassing dad dancing won the day! There were some very good dancers, but the men all seemed to disappear at the time of the competition.”
Jasmin added: “The evening really brought everyone together. It didn’t matter about your background or job title – everyone just had a good time.”
And another celebration… David said: “We put a lot of effort into community engagement and will continue to work with all faiths to improve the overall care that we provide.”
…Membership manager David Fairweather was invited by Rabbi Bar to the lighting of the Hanukkah menorah at the Cliffs Pavilion and the celebration afterwards at Southend & Westcliff Hebrew Congregation.
Ready to go the DISTance Stopping patients with dementia being admitted unnecessarily is the prime aim of our dementia intensive support team (DIST). But nurse practitioner Lucy Hollings, clinical lead Raminder Sarna and support workers Many Edinboro and Amanda Norris (l to r in photograph) have a dual role – they will also be using their expertise and experience to allow those patients ready for discharge to leave hospital more quickly. Funded by South Essex Partnership Trust (SEPT), the team’s introduction is being driven by the National Dementia Strategy with the aim of improving care
for the everincreasing number of patients with dementia, Consultant physician and dementia lead, Dr Ioannis Liakas, said: “The team divides its time between seeing patients in hospital and in their own homes to ensure they have the appropriate help – perhaps from the mental health team or the memory clinic. They visit patients intensively for up to six weeks following discharge from hospital to prevent readmission.”
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The team mainly works in A&E and the AMU, but can go to any part of the hospital where needed. Dr Liakas said: “We would urge clinicians to refer appropriate patients to the team”.