History
ANWICU was established in the mid 1990s following a meeting of like minds at the Netherwood Hotel in Grange over Sands. In previous years through the efforts of people like Dennis Edwards and Barry Doran there had been attempts to start regular meetings. The impetus to get things going at the meeting in Grange over Sands was due to a new commitment of the individual clinicians involved to establish regular clinical meetings, and also because there was a clear need to have a political lobby group. This group was vociferous in pointing out the shortfalls in funding and support for critical care to the old Regional Health Authority. Prominent members at this time were Peter Duncan, Peter Nightingale, Gary Brear and Ian Macartney. The key issue of transfers was a major lever and finally the Government took notice of the messages being given by the Intensive Care Society, ANWICU and other such groups around the country and opened up a serious dialogue with the profession which resulted in the publication of Critical to Success in 1998 and then Comprehensive Critical Care in 2000.
Many of the political issues have now been defused and are handled by the Networks. This has left the organisation with the need to rethink its position in the new millennium. Under the stewardship of members such as Jonathan Goodall, Ian Donaldson, Tony Thomas to name but a few, the society has tried to evolve to meet new challenges. The core of our activities remains an active meetings’ programme and through these meetings we have created a network of contacts and friendships offering mutual support. We have also taken some tentative steps into providing an educational and research angle, more recently formalised as the kNOWLEDGe group.
The organisation is open to anyone with an interest in critical care working in the old Northwestern Deanery. This website represents a means by which members can communicate and post information to other members. Future meetings, events and news will be posted through this site.
Many of the political issues have now been defused and are handled by the Networks. This has left the organisation with the need to rethink its position in the new millennium. Under the stewardship of members such as Jonathan Goodall, Ian Donaldson, Tony Thomas to name but a few, the society has tried to evolve to meet new challenges. The core of our activities remains an active meetings’ programme and through these meetings we have created a network of contacts and friendships offering mutual support. We have also taken some tentative steps into providing an educational and research angle, more recently formalised as the kNOWLEDGe group.
The organisation is open to anyone with an interest in critical care working in the old Northwestern Deanery. This website represents a means by which members can communicate and post information to other members. Future meetings, events and news will be posted through this site.
