Friday 30 November 2018

FGM support in the travel consultation

News in the Guardian today discussed that the number of girls in England who have experienced or are believed to be at risk of female genital mutilation (FGM) has more than doubled in a year, according to assessments by council social workers.  Analysis of government figures shows that FGM featured in 1,960 social work assessments in 2017-18 – more than twice the 970 cases reported in the previous year.  To see the full details of the article click here

Last week the Faculty of Travel Medicine from the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow launched a new e learning module on FGM to give those practicing in the field of travel health more confidence when addressing this subject.   Written by two travel health specialist nurses, Sarah Lang and Cathy O'Malley, the work includes a great review of FGM and how to do an assessment in your travel consultation in a video by expert and travel health specialist nurse Ann McDonald and there are videos by Cathy O'Malley, helping you to ask questions that may be perceived as awkward and sensitive - giving you the confidence to tackle the situation.  This is not a scenario you can overlook since we have a mandatory required to report FGM and in our situation this would be a girl under the age of 18 being taken away for the purpose of FGM which we can identify in our travel consultations.

The e learning is free to take and provides a certificate of completion as well.  You'll need to register on the College e learning portal, purchase the course (which costs you nothing) then start to do the learning.  There are many resources and tools within it as well to increase your knowledge - its an essential aspect of our education so please take a look HERE and cease the opportunity.  Or you could click on the image below!