HOPE at the CUPS conference

On Saturday 26th February 2022, Andrea Ryan and Dr Sophie Bennett joined the Cambridge University Paediatrics Society’s annual conference. The hybrid conference attracted sixth form students, medical students, and junior doctors from all over the world who attended both in-person and virtually. Morning speakers included Dr Camilla Kingdon, current President of the RCPCH, Mr David Albert, the first paediatric ENT surgeon in the UK, and Dr Guddhi Singh, presenter of BBC Two’s “Trust Me I’m A Doctor”.

Andrea and Sophie gave a fantastic afternoon workshop to both in-person and online attendees, reaching over 40 students and junior doctors. They spoke about the brilliant work HOPE London does for children with epilepsy including the introduction of anti-suffocation pillows. Andrea also spoke about her experiences as a parent of a child with epilepsy and Sophie explained her research The Mental Health Intervention for Children with Epilepsy.

The workshop was received very warmly. Attendees were particularly interested to learn about the non-medical support available to children with epilepsy and how, as future doctors, they could get involved. After the workshop, two junior doctors also said it was really useful to hear the parent perspective as it gave them insight into how best to care for children with epilepsy. They also explained that they had not considered the mental health aspect of children with epilepsy before, and so this would be something they would take forward into their future practice.

Cambridge University Paediatrics Society would like to thank Andrea and Sophie for sharing their time and expertise with us. The workshop was incredibly useful for our future practice and has raised awareness of the brilliant work done by HOPE for Epilepsy London !