Nordic training conferences for bariatric moving and handling management

This article will look at the process, development and reasoning behind a series of low-cost conferences for bariatric moving and handling management. The intention of the combined workshop and seminar approach is to introduce care staff from a wide variety of disciplines to the concept of handling the plus-sized person. It is not the intention to identify particular measures for specific clients, nor is the intention to promote one method over another. The resulting Continuing Professional Development (CPD) for the attendee equates to 6 hours tuition.

The course was devised and designed by Gavin Wright. Gavin, an emergency medical technician, holds a moving and handling instructors diploma issued by the combined awarding body of Oxford, Cambridge and the Royal Society of Arts (OCR). Responding to a gap in the market for instructor level training he, along with three other members of his family who were also from clinical backgrounds (child care, general nursing and mental health—two of whom were also clinical educators), formed a company specifically designed to tackle this shortfall. This company, latterly known as TLC Worldwide (TLC), in 1997 became the first to offer a five day moving and handling instructor's course through the Royal College of Nursing's Continuing Education Programme.