The Operating Theatre journal April 2021

AfPP has helped my career grow exponentially in terms of my knowledge,
my skills and my practice.
Nick, ODP and AfPP Member
Join
today from
£5
*
At the Association for Perioperative Practice (AfPP)
we’re passionate about supporting you and your career.
Membership of AfPP can help you develop your professional
skills, keep your knowledge up to date and acquire CPD hours.
You can access the latest thinking on perioperative practice,
network with other practitioners, and attend our regional study
days and annual conference at a reduced member rate. We’re always
on hand to provide you with specialist clinical support and advice.
10 reasons to join AfPP
Online Education
Webinars
Networking
The Journal of Perioperative Practice
Access to EBSCO Health
Annual Conference
Professional Advice Service
Wellbeing and Mental Health Support
Medical Professional Liability Insurance
Legal Cover and a 24-hour Advice Helpline
*£5 per month refers to Student
Membership. £8.75pm Registered,
£7.25 pm Non-registered.
Join today www.afpp.org.uk or call 01423 881 300
@SaferSurgeryUK
The Association for Perioperative Practice is a registered charity number 1118444 and a company limited by guarantee,
registered in England number 6035633. AfPP Ltd is a wholly owned subsidiary company, registered in England number
3102102. AfPP, Daisy Ayris House, 42 Freemans Way, Harrogate HG3 1DH T: 01423 881300 F: 01423 880997 W: afpp.org.uk
Sustainable and fit-for-purpose OMFS training, BAOMS President pledges
MembershipAdvert_Half.indd 1 02/02/2021 15:02
British Association of Oral and Maxillofacial (BAOMS) Surgeons 2021 President Austen Smith is using his
Presidential Year to push for a more sustainable, shorter, fit-for-purpose and affordable training pathway for
an OMFS career.
“My aim is to reduce duplication and condense the acquisition of skills into a UK-wide, accessible and
consistent route to a career in OMFS,” the Sheffield Teaching Hospitals and Barnsley Hospital NHS Foundation
Trust-based OMFS Consultant said.
“Over 23 years of surgical practice in Sheffield and Barnsley I have come to appreciate how critical a good
training is in a challenging field of surgical care. I want to see straightforward, nationally applied and
sustainable training for those who are interested in and commit to this magical specialty,” he explained.
He remembers how much of a major life commitment, costly in tuition fees and time OMFS training was for
him: “I can remember being near-broke in the latter stages of my second degree and will always be grateful
to my local authority Kirklees for a student grant that at the time saved me – and also the bank of mum and
dad as with many students currently.”
Austen Smith says that historical barriers to improvements in the length of OMFS training have resulted in
expensive and overlong duplication of young clinicians’ education. He believes that some of the barriers to
change will now be removed because EU legislation will no longer affect medical and dental courses.
“BAOMS will encourage training bodies to see the sense and value in new proposals to streamline the overall
pathway from new graduate to OMFS consultant,” he said.
Austen T Smith, Consultant Oral &
Maxillofacial Surgeon, Sheffield &
Barnsley Hospitals
He is also committed to protect the interests of Fellows in Training, the BAOMS Associate Membership for junior OMFS trainees: “Junior colleagues
hold key roles in hospital OMFS departments across the UK. They are at an early stage in their careers, and a real change and improvement in the
training trajectory could make a real difference to them.”
Austen Smith plans to open what he has called a Heritage Hall that would recognise and celebrate the contribution all OMFS colleagues to
the specialty after their death: “This is not about the pre-eminent, well-published or those who’ve held high position, as it is so often. This is
about how we and families and friends record the contribution, life and achievements of clinicians working at every level who have given to the
development of OMFS in the UK,” he explained.
This initiative, and another to ensure the BAOMS website is rapidly updated with relevant news videos, is made possible with discretionary funds
available to BAOMS Presidents.
Austen Smith’s clinical work focuses primarily on head and neck cancer, reconstructive, maxillofacial trauma, laser and dentoalveolar surgery.
This is complemented by a wide range of specialty interests that include teaching and training and recruiting the next generation of surgeons.
“I don’t believe those committing to this critical NHS specialty should have to spend disproportionately in investing in their training. I want to see
a leaner, more efficient shape to OMFS training consistently applied across the UK, and that is what I have committed to initiate during my BAOMS
Presidency,” Austen Smith concluded.
6 THE OPERATING THEATRE JOURNAL www.otjonline.com