Dental Health - British Society of Dental Hygiene & Therapy

society newsdelegates to mingle with all thoseattending - our sponsors, exhibitors,guests, speakers, and VIP’s, withrefreshments and Beatles- themedbackground entertainment.I do hope you like the changes we’vemade – all requested by you on thedelegate feedback forms.The International Federation ofDental Hygiene…BSDHT will continue its membershipof the International Federation ofDental Hygiene (IFDH) where JulieRosse and I have represented theSociety at the IFDH House of Delegates(HoD), inputting into decision makingprocesses within the Federation.We have provided reports anddata to IFDH on behalf of the UnitedKingdom and next year Julie Rosseas President and the newly electedPresident –Elect will representBSDHT at the HoD Meeting at theInternational Symposium of DentalHygiene in Cape Town, South Africa.If you’re interested in going to theSymposium then go to our website -you can find information there abouthow to book.I’ve also begun to investigatewhether membership to the EuropeanFederation of Dental Hygiene (EFDH)might benefit BSDHT and UKprofessionals, and have opened up adialogue with EFDH. The ExecutiveTeam feel that it’s crucial that we are intouch with the profession on a globallevel - so much can be learned from ourinternational colleagues. I’m convincedthat sharing of information, education,research and news is crucial to ourgrowth.Professional representation…As always the Society has continued torepresent members within the dentalprofession and in the wider arena,and has communicated the viewsof members to many organisationsincluding the Office of Fair Trading,Department of Health, General DentalCouncil, Professional Indemnifiers andthe Stakeholder Group of the All PartyParliamentary Group for Dentistry.Those of you that have followed myreports over the last year will be awareof our work with the OFT and GDCover Direct Access. You will by now beaware that the GDC has agreed thatthe Task and Finish Group’s proposalshould go to full public consultation.The proposal is that registered dentalcare professionals should have theoption to provide direct to patientsany care, assessment, treatment orprocedure that is within their scope ofpractice and for which they are trainedand competent.This consultation is now live atwww.gdc-uk.org and will run untilthe end of December. The BSDHThas received an invitation to respondbut I cannot stress how important itis that, as a registrant, you respondpersonally - this is potentially one ofthe biggest changes to the way we willbe permitted to work, and could signala new way in which our patients canchoose to access dental care. I urge youall to contribute your views.We also continue to contributeour views to the GDC on a varietyof topics and most recently I haveattended meetings with them to reviewthe proposals on CPD and also toexpress our views on the proposals forrevalidation.I have also attended Parliamentaryevents on many occasions to ensurethat our views on oral health, dentalcare and the profession are heard byParliamentarians and that we arerepresented in debates around theoral health and delivery of care to ourpopulation.Supporting education, and theDental Hygienists and Therapistsof the future…Improving our visibility to dentalhygiene and therapy students and theirTraining Schools has been a primaryobjective this year. Julie Rosse, in herrole as Regional Group Co-ordinator,has visited many Training Schools tomeet with students.In addition I’ve had meetings withboth the Schools’ Directors and TutorsGroup to look at ways in which we canbetter support both the Schools andtheir students.We now offer a graduation prizeof a complimentary one year BSDHTmembership at every school to astudent of the school’s choice. Thisprize has been very kindly supportedby one of our member benefit partners,Lloyd and Whyte.My thanks…Finally I would like to thank everyonewho has assisted me in leading theSociety over the past two years, themajority of whom are hard-workingvolunteers who have either freelyoffered their assistance or beennominated by other members. Theircommitment and dedication - throughtheir work as members of our Regional,Publications, Council and ExecutiveGroups - is truly inspirational.My very sincere thanks also go tothe Adams Partnership, in particularSue Adams for the quality services andinput she provides in the day to dayrunning of the Society.I must mention the Executive Teamof Julie Rosse, Carole Brennan, HeatherLewis, Jill Rushforth, Diane Hunter,Michaela ONeill and Deborah Sheatherall of whom have worked so hard andcontributed so much over the last twoyears which has been invaluable inhelping to spread the workload of theExecutive. Another huge ‘thank you’goes to BSDHT Company Secretary,Mike Wheeler who has not only offeredhis free time to fulfil his role but also,when required, has acted as a trustedmentor and advisor to many of theExecutive Team. I am humbled to haveworked with such an amazing team -so incredibly motivated, passionate andprofessional.I look forward to watching BSDHTgrow further under the Presidencyof Julie Rosse and to the excitingpossibilities we are ready to embrace inthe profession. Julie and I have workedtogether very closely over the past fewyears and I’m sure she will bring somuch to our organisation as your nextPresident.Finally my thanks go to you allfor inspiring me to represent you – Iwas compelled to speak out for sucha dedicated group of health careprofessionals.Sally SimpsonPresidentVolume 51 No 6 of 6 November 2012 Dental Health 23