posted 20 September 2024

Neurology Update Meeting, Friday 11 October 2024

The 23rd Annual Neurology Update Meeting, under the directorship of Dr. Ferghal McVerry, will take place on Friday 11 October 2024 at The Canal Court Hotel in Newry, Co. Down.

Guest Speaker

The Guest speaker at the meeting will be Professor Simon Rinaldi, Clinical Director, Oxford Autoimmune Neurology Diagnostic Laboratory.
Prof. Rinaldi’s specialty area is Inflammatory Neuropathy.

The Canal Court Hotel in Newry, Co. Down

Invitation

This is a neurology education day which will be of interest to neurologists, general physicians and general practitioners. The meeting will be highly relevant for specialists and generalists who manage neurological illness, presenting the latest developments in diagnosis and treatment in a practical “What you need to know” format with short talks with clinical insights for management of neurological patients.
Dr Ferghal McVerry is a Consultant Neurologist at Altnagelvin Hospital, which provides general neurology services and supports subspecialty outpatient clinics and ward liaison services in Northern Ireland.
His areas of interest are Acute Neurology, Cerebrovascular Diseases and Stroke Imaging.
Dates to Note
13 September: Deadline for Early bird Registration for Meeting
20 September: Deadline for Registration for Meeting
27 September: Deadline for reservation of overnight accommodation at the Canal Court Hotel, Newry, Co. Down at agreed discounted rate
11 October: Neurology Update Meeting 2024

Programme

The Neurology Update Meeting will be a live, in-person event for attendees. There will not be an option to join the live meeting online.

	Programme
9.00	Registration
9.30	Welcome & Introduction	Dr. Ferghal McVerry, Altnagelvin Hospital
Session I	Chairperson: Dr Ferghal McVerry
9.40 - 10.15	The Complex Parkinson's Disease Patient: When to Consider Advanced Therapies	Dr Laura Best The Royal Victoria Hospital, Belfast
10.15 - 10.50	Peripheral Nerve Vasculitis: Update and Future Directions.	Dr Junie Koay, National Hospital of Neurology and Neurosurgery, Queen Square, London
10.50 - 11.25	Dementia Update – Diagnosis and Management	Dr. Antoinette O'Connor, Tallaght University Hospital
11.25 - 11.35	Questions and Discussion
11.35 - 12.10	Tea/Coffee
Session II	Chairperson: Dr John McConville
12.10 - 12.55	Bridging the Gap: Dissecting the Autoimmune Nodopathies	Professor Simon Rinaldi, John Radcliffe Hospital Oxford
12.55 - 13.00	Questions and Discussion
13.00 - 14.00	Lunch
Session III	Chairperson: Dr Seamus Kearney
14.00 - 14.35	Neurosurgical Update: Microvascular Decompressions	Mr Jonathan Poots The Royal Victoria Hospital, Belfast
14.35 - 15.10	Managing Uncertainty in Seizure Disorders	Dr John Craig, The Royal Victoria Hospital, Belfast
15.10 - 15.45	Cancer and Neurology in the District General Hospital	Dr Aisling Carr, National Hospital of Neurology and Neurosurgery, Queen Square, London
15.45 - 16.00	Questions and Discussion
16.00	Closing Remarks	Dr Ferghal McVerry

Speakers

Prof. Simon Rinaldi was a medical undergraduate and postgraduate general medical trainee in Manchester. He moved to the University of Glasgow in 2007 to undertake a PhD looking into the neuroimmunology of inflammatory peripheral nerve disease, supervised by Professor Hugh Willison. Following 2 years of clinical neurology training in the East of Scotland, he was appointed as an NIHR Clinical Lecturer in Neurology at the University of Oxford in March 2012. During his lectureship he developed models of immune mediated axonal injury and demyelination using human induced pluripotent stem cells. He has now been awarded an MRC Clinician Scientist Fellowship to identify the specific antibodies responsible for the acute and chronic inflammatory neuropathies and to delineate their pathogenic mechanisms.

Dr Aisling Carr is a Consultant Neurologist at University College London Hospitals. Her specialist clinical and research interests are in the inflammatory neuropathies, particularly CIDP, vasculitis and paraproteinaemic neuropathies and neurological complications of checkpoint inhibitor chemotherapy. Her outpatient practice as part of the Peripheral Nerve Service in the MRC Centre for Neuromuscular Disease at the National Hospital covers all inflammatory neuropathies, with multidisciplinary support from neurophysiologists, physiotherapists and clinical nurse specialists.

Dr Antoinette O’Connor is a Consultant Neurologist at Tallaght University Hospital, Dublin. She is a graduate of UCC medical school who completed a PhD at University College London. Her research has focused on investigating accessible biomarkers of Alzheimer’s disease, with a particular focus on early disease detection. She has completed a clinical fellowship in neurodegenerative diseases

Dr. John Craig is a Consultant Neurologist, with a sub-specialty interest in epilepsy, based at The Royal Victoria Hospital, Belfast. He is also visiting neurologist to Daisy Hill Hospital, Newry. His principal research interest is in the management of epilepsy in pregnancy, in particular the effects of anti-seizure medications on foetal outcomes. He is co-founder and principal investigator of the UK Epilepsy and Pregnancy Register and sits on the Central Programme Commission of EURAP – An International Epilepsy and Pregnancy Register.

Dr Junie Koay is a Consultant Neurologist at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, London and Honorary Senior Clinical Research Fellow at the UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology. She completed her undergraduate and postgraduate training in London with a PhD in Autonomic Biomarkers at UCL, and a post-CCT Fellowship at the Queen Square Centre for Neuromuscular Diseases. Her research and clinical interests include inflammatory and autonomic neuropathies.

Dr Jonathan Poots is a Consultant Neurological Surgeon at The Royal Victoria Hospital Belfast.His area of speciality is microsurgery and neuroanatomy.

Dr Laura Best, is a Consultant Neurologist at The Royal Victoria Hospital Belfast. Her field of speciality is advanced treatments for Parkinson’s Disease.
Registration

Registration for the Neurology Update Meeting 2024 is invited from medical and allied health professionals. Registration is now open, here.
Standard Fees

Registration Fees

IICN Members
Consultants or equivalent: €120 / approx. £102
Registrars and other trainees: €60 / approx. £51

Non Members
Consultant: €195 / approx £166
Registrars, NCHDs, Nurses and HSCPs: €85 / approx. £72

Retired / medical student / guest / sponsor
No charge
Continuing Medical Education

The Royal College of Physicians, Edinburgh have accredited the programme of this meeting with 6 CPD credits in the External CPD category.
Delegates must sign the attendance record at the meeting.
Certificates will be issued to delegates in the week following the meeting.

Venue and Accommodation

The Canal Court Hotel is a leading 4 Star Hotel in County Down and is located at the heart of Newry City sitting on the banks of Ireland’s oldest man-made waterway, the Newry Canal. The hotel is located 1 hour 20 minutes from Dublin and 50 minutes from Belfast on the A1/M1 motorway. There is also a reliable train service (with a free shuttle service to the city) and the bus station is a 4 minute walk from the hotel.

The Canal Court is an excellent base from which to explore the city and the surrounding countryside; in fact Newry City is the Gateway to the Mourne Mountains should you wish to extend your stay after the meeting. Other attractions include Slieve Gullion Forest Park – Visit Mourne Mountains and for GOT fans Game of Thrones Studio Tour

Travel and Directions.

The full address is: The Canal Court Hotel, Merchants Quay, Newry, Co. Down, Northern Ireland. BT35 8HF

Travelling by Train

There is an excellent train service from both Dublin and Belfast to Newry with a free bus shuttle from the train station to the bus station which is a 4 minute walk to the hotel.

Newry Train Times from Dublin and Belfast

Dublin to Newry
Depart Dublin Connolly	06.50	Arrive Newry	08.08
Depart Newry	16.53	Arrive Dublin Connolly	18.13
Depart Newry	18.53	Arrive Dublin Connolly	20.13
Belfast to Newry
Depart Belfast Grand Central	08.00	Arrive Newry	08.53
Depart Newry	16.08	Arrive Belfast Grand Central	17.00
Depart Newry	18.08	Arrive Belfast Grand Central	19.00

See the full train timetable here

Travelling by bus

Newry bus station is literally a 4 min walk from the hotel

Dublin Bus Aras Dep 6:45 Arr 8.:35

Belfast Europa Dep 7:00 Arr 8:05 OR Dep 8:00 Arr 9:05

Derry Foyleside Dep 4:54 Arr 8:55

Travelling by car
The hotel provides free car parking, with room for 120 cars. There is additional parking at NCP behind McAvoy’s Clothes Shop, Monaghan Street.

Accommodation
A limited number of rooms for overnight accommodation may be reserved directly with the hotel at the preferential rates as below

NUM 2024 Accommodation Rates

Date	Single B&B Rate	Double B&B Rate
Thursday 10 October	£85	£139
Friday 11 October	£99	£185
Saturday 12 October	£99	£185

To reserve your room at The Canal Court Hotel | 4 Star Hotel in Newry, Northern Ireland please email the hotel at manager@canalcourthotel.com or telephone +44 (0) 28 3025 1234 and reference “IICN Conference” to secure the accommodation rate.

The IICN greatly appreciates the support of our sponsors and encourages delegates to visit their exhibition stands at the meeting

Lundbeck	Clonmel Healthcare
Novartis Ireland	Roche Products
AbbVie	Angelini Pharma
Alnylam	Teva Pharmaceuticals
Neuraxpharm	Biogen Ireland
Nutricia	Merck Pharmaceuticals
Viatris	Pfizer
Fannin

Evaluation
We would be most grateful if you could complete this feedback form for us after attending the meeting.

Please indicate your speciality:

… and your position:

How satisfied are you with…

…the quality of the overall event?:
Very satisfiedSatisfiedNeutralDissatisfied
…the range of scientific content?:
Very satisfiedSatisfiedNeutralDissatisfied

Meeting Organisation

Please rate the following meeting characteristics in terms of their value to you
(5 = Extremely valuable to 1 = Not at all valuable)
Notification and Registration:
54321
Day / Month of Meeting:
54321
Audio Quality:
54321
Video Quality:
54321
Event schedule and information:
54321

Meeting Content and CME

1. How do you rate the relevance of this meeting to your educational needs?
No part relevantLittle of relevanceFairly relevantMostly of relevanceHighly relevant

2. How do you rate the overall quality of the education offered by this meeting?
PoorMediocreSatisfactoryGoodExcellent

3. How do you rate the effectiveness of the Meeting for CME purposes?
IneffectivePartly effectiveQuite effectiveDefinitely effectiveVery effective

4. Which sessions were most informative/useful?

5. Which areas were not covered that you would like to see included?

6. Can you suggest any changes to the programme format that would enhance the meeting?

7. Do you wish to be notified regarding future meetings?
YesNo

If yes please confirm your email here:

8. Any additional comments which you would care to make would be appreciated.

Your name (optional)