Medical education
Napp has a strong commitment to furthering the understanding of chronic pain and its treatment and we support medical education in this field through a range of activities, including symposia, support for professional bodies, such as the Chronic Pain Policy Coalition (click here), and websites for continuing medical education (click here).
At the end of 2008, we signed an agreement with Cardiff Medical School to support their postgraduate course in pain management. As well as financial support, we are working in partnership with staff at the medical school so that they can use the skills and knowledge we have at Napp to help them to enhance the content and delivery of the course. We will also be sponsoring healthcare professionals to undertake the MSc qualification. The Cardiff course is very well respected amongst the health profession and we were delighted to be able to support its ongoing development.
For the last 4 years, we have run our own national awards scheme, the Achievement in Pain Practice Awards, to recognise individuals, organisations and initiatives that have contributed to improving patient care and the management of pain. The most recent winners, Pain Concern, a charity based in East Lothian, won the award for their idea to develop a series of regular radio programmes to be broadcast over the internet, aimed at chronic pain sufferers, to enable the sharing of experiences and discussion of relevant issues.
The Napp Educational Foundation
The Napp Educational Foundation is an independent registered charity (registered charity no. 1110548), which was set up in 2005 and is supported by an annual grant from the Napp Pharmaceutical Group. The Foundation runs educational courses for nurses, including the district nurse training course in palliative care, which was originally set up in 1983 by Dr Ronnie Fisher and Dr Tim Hunt, with the support of Napp. The district nurse course is the longest running course in palliative care and has been responsible for the training of almost 2,500 district nurses so far, benefitting over 35,000 patients and their family members. As well as updating nurses on the latest treatments and thinking in palliative care, the course provides a unique opportunity for nurses to meet and exchange ideas.
Napp Science and Engineering Ambassadors
We launched the Napp Science and Engineering Ambassador scheme in 2005 to support local schools with teaching science and engineering. The scheme has been developed in conjunction with STEM TEAM Cambridgeshire, a government-backed organisation that is part of the nationwide STEMNET initiative, which aims to ensure that more young people in the UK make the choice to study science, technology, engineering and maths-related careers, and that future generations are informed about the science and technology that surrounds them. Anyone at Napp can become an ambassador, providing they have the passion and energy needed to bring science alive within schools. We provide our ambassadors with up to five days paid leave each year to support our local schools and we have had fantastic feedback from the schools that we have worked with.
We currently have 30 ambassadors who undertake a range of activities, including science days within schools, career fairs and setting up science clubs. We also run a week long event, timed to coincide with National Science Week, during which we invite local primary schools to bring a class of children to Napp for the day. During their time here, they take part in a range of science activities that are linked to our Production and Quality testing processes, and they tour our production facility to see science in action (see the picture on the right). During 2009, the Napp ambassadors were involved in 31 events involving 4,543 young people aged 4 to 18 years from 30 local schools and colleges.
If you would like more information about the Napp ambassador scheme, please email the co-ordinator ambassador@napp.co.uk.
Support for local charities
Over recent years, many departments in Napp have opted to break from the more traditional team-building activities in favour of supporting a local organisation. Teams from across the company have undertaken a diverse range of activities, including helping the National Trust at Anglesey Abbey, painting and decorating at local hospices, and creating pathways at an animal sanctuary.
We also have a particular link with Arthur Rank Hospice and have helped them to raise money in a variety of ways.
Environment
We are committed to reducing our impact on the environment. Napp has two internal groups focused on reducing our consumption of natural resources; our Energy Group looks at making our premises as energy efficient as possible and improving our Carbon Footprint. Our dedicated Waste Impact Group is responsible for waste management and recycling and we aim to reuse and recycle wherever possible. Examples of items we currently recycle at our head office include paper, cardboard, food waste, computers and mobile phones.
We are a member of the Cambridge Travel to Work Partnership and encourage the use of lower CO2 company cars and alternative methods of travel to work through initiatives such as an employee Cycle2Work scheme. We also have a group of 'Green' representatives based in different departments within our company who champion environmental issues across our business.