BAA MAGAZINE SUMMER 2017 DRAFT 4

PRESIDENT
MICHELLE BOOTH
President, British Academy of Audiology
President’s Word
Dear Member,
Welcome to the summer edition of
the BAA Magazine. Over the past
few weeks, we have enjoyed some
lovely weather – long may it continue,
as I’m sure many of you will be
looking to well-deserved breaks over
the next few months.
This is my 3rd President’s words,
which means there is only one more
to go before I hand over the baton to
Sue Falkingham at our Conference
in Bournemouth in November. The
time has flown by and despite the
role being far busier than I imagined,
I have enjoyed every minute of it so
far. It is a difficult role to do whilst
trying to maintain the focus on
the ‘day job’ and try to keep some
element of work/life balance. As an
Audiologist working in the NHS, there
are constant pressures and as I write
this, in the back of my mind I am
thinking about our IQIPS accreditation
review which takes place in June.
I wholeheartedly support the
accreditation process and can see
the many benefits it has made to our
service at Sherwood Forest Hospitals
NHS Foundation Trust, but my advice
would be don’t underestimate the
amount of work involved in, not only
achieving accreditation, but also
maintaining it!
Over the past few months I have
been very grateful of the decision
by the BAA Board to take on Wendy
Farrington-Chadd as a Consultant
CEO. Wendy has been a great source
of support and advice and is busy
devoting her time to key areas where
BAA want to make a difference.
Wendy is currently collating the
data collected from the workforce
survey done in the autumn of 2016
and is also working on the recently
collected data from the membership
survey sent out to all members last
month. She will present the data to
the BAA Board meeting in July and
we can then create an action plan to
take forward, which we will of course
share with you, our membership.
Speaking of the membership survey,
some of the results were a little
disappointing as members expressed
criticism of some of the work that
the BAA Board and its committee
members do. Please try to remember
that we are all volunteers and do
much of this work in our own time.
We have, over the past few years,
seen the number of people putting
themselves forward for committees
and especially for board roles
diminish. So for those of you who
think BAA need to do more, perhaps
you could help us by joining one of
our many committees or putting
yourselves forward for a board
role when nominations are invited
towards the end of the summer.
However, despite some negative
feedback and criticism, there was
also constructive feedback from the
survey and we thank those of you
who took the time to complete the
survey and offer your suggestions.
As you will see in this edition of
the magazine, Claire Benton and
the Conference planning team
have been working hard to pull
together an amazing programme
for the BAA Conference this year.
This year’s programme continues
in its streamlined format, with
early morning discussion groups
and workshops. A new edition to
this year’s programme is the back
to basics tutorials designed for all
delegates, whether you want to
update your knowledge or gain new
skills. Our keynote speakers promise
to deliver interesting presentations
on current ‘hot topics’ within our
profession. I hope there is something
there that whets your appetite and I
look forward to seeing many of you in
Bournemouth in November. Keep an
eye out for further updates on what
conference has to offer on our social
media and in the Horizon newsletter
which drops into your inbox every
fortnight. I will also continue to keep
you informed via my Presidential Blog
which you can find on our Facebook
page and on the BAA website.
I do hope you enjoy the interesting
articles in this edition of the magazine
and look forward to keeping you
updated on my activity over the
coming months.
Kindest Regards
Michelle Booth
BAA President
Claire Benton and the Conference planning
team have been working hard to pull
together an amazing programme for the
BAA Conference this year.
BAA MAGAZINE / SUMMER 2017 / 4