Out and About
Monday 17th June 2013. 10 – 1.00. About 3 times a year the Tutors who teach Dental Nurses in the area are invited by the kind courtesy of the Dental School Director Helen Falcon to a meeting chaired by Hazel Coey DCP Development Tutor – Health Education Thames Valley. We discussed a great number of matters to do with the teaching of DNs Nationally and also in the area. Problems were aired and discussed and all the Tutors present felt that the meeting was very useful. Joan Hatchard and Sophie Schneider attended as always.
Thursday/Friday 20th/21st June 2013. Joan Hatchard travelled up to Fleetwood in Lancashire to attend a Council Meeting of the British Association of Dental Nurses in her capacity as BADN Finance Officer. These meetings are held about 3 times a year so that problems facing DNs in the UK and the business of the BADN can be discussed. The BADN is the UK’s only recognised professional association for DNs. All DNs may join BADN whether or not they are qualified, no matter where they work and regardless of age gender or race. When qualified and registered with the GDC, Professional Indemnity Insurance is required & the BADN have organised an excellent package. Membership of the BADN also gives a large number and large variety of £benefits. Google BADN for more information.
Monday 30th October 2013. 10 – 1.00 Another interesting meeting at Oxford with some of the other Dental Nurse Course Tutors. Matters discussed were the NEBDN Records of Experience which are about to become available online and the NEBDN Online Witness Training Programme which has just gone live.
Friday 11th October 2013. The annual Annual General Meeting of the National Examining Board for Dental Nurses held in Manchester, at the Manchester Conference Centre was attended by only by Sophie Schneider as Joan Hatchard is busy with her second grandchild, Lily! A large number of issues were discussed, including the new online Record of Experience. It was useful to be able to exchange views with other experienced examiners.
Friday 18th – Saturday 19th October 2013. Joan Hatchard and Sophie Schneider attended the annual British Association of Dental Nurses Conference held in the NEC Birmingham. The Thursday evening before the conference, a group of delegates and Council Members went to Jimmy Spices in Solihull – an eat-as-much-as-you-like restaurant catering for all tastes. We all enjoyed the food very much. A super choice! Wonderful evening! The following day, Friday, Fiona Ellwood took up the role of President of the BADN. This started off the conference with a swing. A lot of delegates attended. A very large number of speakers gave powerful lectures, of which the following stood out: Forensic Dentistry, Mouth Care in Oral Cancer Patients, and a hugely entertaining Medical Emergencies lecture during which the lecturer took on the role of a hypoglycaemic patient with hilarious results! Also covered were Child Trafficking, Tooth Whitening, and Mouth Cancer. Joan was pleased to see that the Forensic Lecturer included her in his lecture – she has helped him on numberous occasions in his work, being the “dry hands” recording charting, observations and clinical notes, taking photographs and offering other practical help. He is a expert Forensic Dentist who is called in by the Coroner in the South of England to identify human remains using dental records and radiographs. On Friday and Saturday the buffet lunches provided by the BADN were delicious with a huge variety of delicacies, and the NEC Dentistry Exhibition was, as always, varied and interesting. Everyone was very pleased to welcome Fiona to her 2 years in office as BADN President. She has a vast professional experience as a dental nurse and a dental nurse tutor [look her up on the BADN Website] and has served on BADN Council for a number of years. She has just completed a BA [Hons] Education degree and is about to start her Master’s degree. It was also anounced that Jane Delgarno, another serving member of Council has completed her Batchelor Degree in Primary Dental Care and Nocola Docherty the retiring BADN President has completed her Batchelor Degree in Teaching. Congratulations to Fiona, Jane and Nocola! Altogether a stimulating and very successful conference. All the delegates said that they are looking forward to next year’s event and we CERTAINLY are!
Friday 18th October 2013 at the BADN Conference: We are particularly proud to anounce that Joan Hatchard has been given the following award “Outstanding Contribution to Dental Nursing 2013”. This award was presented to Joan by Nichola Docherty the retiring President at the Conference opening ceremony. Congratulations Joan!
Monday 27th January 2014. Another fruitful meeting of Dental Nurse Course Tutors organised and chaired by Hazel Coey. We discussed the GDC PCD guidelines and the new FGDP Criteria for Dental Radiography book which is important to all who teach Dental Radiography to DCPs. Also, there is a new textbook for Dental Radiography for DCPs by Whaites.
Friday 7th February 2014 at the Royal Miltiary Academy, Sandhurst. A large meeting was organised inviting employers and interested parties in the area as a great deal of support is being offered the large number of military personnel who are being made redundant in the next few months. These are highly trained, motivated and hard working people. Every effort is being made by the military authorities to help them find appropriate careers. Joan Hatchard and Sophie Schneider were invited as persons in the area with extensive knowledge about dental nursing and the dental profession. We gave the following advice with regard to the qualified dental nurses about to leave – to join the BADN where they can organise appropriate Professional Indemnity, find information about jobs and careers both on the website and the Journal and where they can access help and support from the staff at headquarters and also Council members. Dentists and hygienists can get a large amount of information from their professional organisations and also their local Deaneries. Adverts are also placed on the Internet. We also pointed out, that the managerial skills of military personnel may be found to be very interesting to large dental organisations such as Dental Bodies Corporate and organisations such as the NHS.
Monday 12th May 2014. The mid-year meeting of Dental Nurse Course Tutors was held in Oxford and again, organised and chaired by Hazel Coey. Many topics were gone over including the new NEBDN online Record of Experience which is proving a challenge to all – Tutors, Witnesses and students! Most Tutors said that the Witnesses were finding the online RoE Training relatively easy, once they had read the Guidance Notes!
Thursday/Friday 26-27th June. Joan Hatchard attended the British Association of Dental Nurses Council Meeting in Fleetwood Headquarters. the meeting covered everything to do with the running of the only organisation dedicated to UK Dental Nurses [both members and non-members]. [More information on the BADN website.] Joan serves as the Finance Officer and her position is important as she oversees the finances of the BADN most of which come from Membership Fees. Joan is very keen to make sure that member’s fees are kept as low as practicable and that members receive as many £benefits as possible – already members claim a huge variety of £discounts on products and services simply by quoting their BADN membership and so save themselves a large amount of money! The meeting was attended by all the Council members who all have a different input – more of their extensive activities, experience, extensive DN qualifications, other qualifications and awards on the BADN website. A question that Tutors are often asked is whether trainee DNs can join the BADN. Yes! Another question that is often asked, is whether trainee DNs have to wait to be qualified and registered with the GDC before they can join. No!! The last question is asked by trainees who would like to become involved in the running of the BADN “How can I become involved?” Easy. Get in touch with BADN headquarters to start the ball rolling!
2nd August 2014. Joan Hatchard spent a week at WINGS the International Guides and Scouts camp in Windsor Great Forest. She is a qualified archery instructor and she was one of the people in charge of archery there. She and her associates gave 3000 scouts and guides the opportunity to shoot arrows. This meant long days and intensive “through-put”.
9th August 2014. Another camp! She helped at the Hampshire Scout Jamboree in Dorset, and again gave Scouts and Cubs the opportunity to feel the excitement of shooting arrows and hitting the target!
Monday 29th October 2014. Another meeting of the Dental Nurse Course Tutors held at Oxford and organised and chaired by Hazel Coey. Only Sophie Schneider attended, as Joan Hatchard was unwell. The meeting was very interesting, with the Tutors discussing the successes and problems associated with the various Courses which we teach. The IT complications with the NEBDN online Record of Experience which students and Tutors are facing were discussed. These will be resolved shortly, we hope.
Friday 10th October – Saturday 11th October 2014. Joan Hatchard and Sophie Schneider attended the annual British Association of Dental Nurses Conference held at the Hilton Hotel, Blackpool. The Conference kicked off in fine style with the opening speech by the BADN President Fiona Ellwood. She spoke about the various changes that have occurred within the profession and the change in the role of the DN, and also about the various benefits which the BADN offers members. The conference then swung into action offering 7 hours of Verifiable CPD. The speakers were all very well informed, and very interesting. The choice of topics included: Sharps Injury OR The Role of the DN in the Oral Healthcare Team; Autism OR A Guide to Understanding Sexuality and Gender [understanding and responding to the needs of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender people, essential requirements for organisations providing health services].
During Friday night, we enjoyed an Informal Conference Dinner at “12” which offers fine dining in relaxed less formal surroundings. It is located under the historic Marsh Mill Windmill and offers superb cooking using regionally sourced produce. Everyone had a very good time and the food, as always, was excellent.
Saturday’s first speaker was Evlynn Gilvarry the Chief Executive and Registrar of the GDC. She was an excellent speaker and obviously very well informed about the recent changes in the Profession. A lot of questions were asked, which she she spent a lot of time answering in full. The next lectures offered choice: Dementia Friends Awareness OR Improving Oral Health in England; Cognitive Behaviour Therapy Or How DNs can volunteer their time with Dental Charities; Drug Misuse, Mental Illness, Wellbeing OR How the DN can help deaf or hard of hearing patients; Professional Indemnity – to give you the knowledge to make sure you carry indemnity so as not to fall foul of the GDC or claimant lawyers OR Forensic Dentistry. The Conference ended with the Closing Ceremony at which the BADN President Fiona Ellwood spoke. She mentioned all the Conference delegates who had recently been awarded post-registration qualifications. These qualifications included: NHS Academy Leadership Mentoring, Stop Smoking Practitioner, Verifiers Level 4 Certificate, LCGI, OHE and one delegate has been offered a place at University to study Business Management.
Of interest, in the Conference for us, as teachers of Dental Nurses were 2 additional qualifications which were mentioned by lecturers which DN can aspire to: the Alzheimer’s Organisation offers a day course leading to “Dementia Friend” which gives a basic training to people to be able to understand how to offer support to people with dementia. The lecturer in CBT mentioned that “Beyond Registration Funding” [NHS funding] can be acquired by DNs to study to become CBT practitioners. We look forward to next year’s Conference!
Friday 17th October 2015. Joan Hatchard and Sophie Schneider attended the Annual Conference and Annual General Meeting of the National Examining Board for Dental Nurses. This was held in a huge conference centre very close to Euston Station – “30, Euston Square”. It is a beautifully restored Victorian building offering state of the art conference/hotel facilities The speakers were very interesting, the theme of the Conference being DN Education in the Future. The NEBDN have a large number of plans to create further career opportunities for DNs in the UK, by offering further qualifications.