By Honorary President Joan Hatchard RDN LCGI FAETC Cert Ed

As BADN's Honorary President 2024, I am delighted to write this column and highlight BADN's activities for the coming year. I was a dental nurse for nearly 40 years, practice manager at a multi-surgery practice, and a dental tutor and examiner - see https://www.badn.org.uk/Biography/Joan-Hatchard.aspx.

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We will of course be at all the major Shows this year - the North of England Dentistry Show in Manchester on 9 March, Dental Showcase at ExCeL London on 22-23 March; the British Dental Conference and Dentistry Show at the NEC on 17-18 May, the Scottish Dental Show at Braehead on 31 May-1 June and the Dentistry Show London at ExCel on 4-5 October. I shall be there with Chief Exec Pam Swain and Jacek Drozdek from the BADN office, with the BADN stand. Come along and chat with us - if you are not a member, we will be having our usual Show offer of £5 off BADN membership at all the Shows.

Of course, if you want to join your professional association before then, you could talk to any of your colleagues who are already members, and join through our Refer A Colleague scheme - both you and the referring colleague will get a £5 credit on your BADN account. And, since the end of 2023, non-clinical colleagues (practice managers and receptionists) can join BADN as Associate Members and take advantage of the benefits of membership! And are eligible to join through the Refer A Colleague scheme. See https://www.badn.org.uk/Member/Refer-a-Colleague.aspx for more details.

Have you downloaded the BADN app yet? It can be downloaded for free from the App Store and Google Apps. Don't forget to sign up for our e-newsletters too - https://www.badn.org.uk/NewPublic/Newsletter-Preferences.aspx.

Something which is a big issue at the moment is the striking off by the GDC of registrants for minor CPD infractions - just failing to log an hour or two of the required ten hours every two subsequent years is leading to erasure from the Register… If you aren't registered, you can't work! BADN has had several meetings with the GDC on this issue and another is scheduled; we are also backing the ‘Saving Grace' campaign, which is a petition calling on the GDC to be more sympathetic and understanding of real life problems which can lead to registrants missing an hour or two of CPD - and also calling for those who do to be allowed to make up the missing hours instead of being struck off. See https://www.badn.org.uk/News/All-I-Want-for-Christmas-is-Fairer-Legislation.aspx for more info on the campaign and how you can sign the petition.

One of the facets of this issue is the fact that many registrants are not fully aware of their CPD requirements, or of the so-called ‘10/2 Rule'; BADN members can access an explanatory article on CPD in the British Dental Nurses' Journal library. They can also download a CPD Activity Log and Personal Development Planner to help keep track of CPD; and the Journal includes up to two hours of CPD per issue.

I look forward to meeting as many of you as possible during my Presidential term of office!