The President's Page
Gareth Smith President of BAA BLOG FEB 2012
Well, here we are two months into the Boards year, and not a minute has been wasted by the Directors. Time has been well spent galvanising the teams of volunteers that work on our behalf, recruiting new members to work within the teams, and saying fond farewells to others who decided to concentrate on other projects but have dedicated so much time and effort on behalf of BAA members.
New board members have thrown themselves into the roles, and already plans are emerging to deliver the BAA’s strategic goals. As these plans are formalised we will ensure they are shared with the members. To help with communication, and to reduce costs we would urge all members to ensure the BAA admin team has your up-to-date e-mail address. Once the next section of the new BAA website is launched these simple updates can be done on-line. Look out for your new log-in details over the next few months.
There are a few key developments in audiology over the last few months we need to draw special attention to.
The Improving Quality in Physiological Science (IQIPS) has now been launched for England. This programme will provide service accreditation and is vital for services hoping to tender under the AQP programme. Services can register now for information at http://
www.rcplondon.ac.uk/projects/IQIPS .
In light of the
Modernising Scientific Careers (MSC), Practitioner Training Programme (PTP) and Scientist Training Programme (STP), there is currently much discussion around registration for both groups. Registration points effects all four countries, and clearly these registration changes may affect the existing workforce. BAA is working with it registration partners, RCCP and ACS, to look at the current registration requirements and the amendments which maybe required to accommodate the MSC output whilst maintaining high standards.
For adult rehabilitation services, Action on Hearing Loss (AoHL) has recently launched it’s ‘locate and rate’ service. This online tool has a similar feel to ‘Trip advisor’, where patients can rate the quality of the services they attend. For the tool to be truly useful to potential patients it will require lots of existing patient’s reviews and a robust editing system from AoHL. We look forward to seeing how this initiative unfolds.
BAA Members can now keep up-to-date with developments is a variety of ways thanks to our communication team. The regular magazine will continue but under a new team, Hear Here is a great source of information, members can subscribe to our facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn accounts for the latest news, views and discussions and of course the new-look BAA website which will have it ‘members only’ area launched imminently.
As the Board prepares for its next meeting at the end of January, I’m sure we will have much more to update you on after that.
Presidents Blog December 2011
Our new President is Gareth Smith with Adam Beckman as Vice President and Ruth Thomsen as immediate past president. This team will hopefully guide the professional body through what looks like another turbulent year.
The Adult Hearing AQP Implementation pack (for commissioners) is now in its final stages and final comments have been submitted. The commissioning support guide has been circulated to various stakeholders for feedback. A few areas have found out if they have been chosen as an AQP service. Others are still waiting. BAA has requested details of outcome from Department of Health as soon as they can be shared.
Sad farewells to old board members: Amanda Barton, Phil Holt, Maire Doran and Amanda Casey, whilst we welcome Vinaya Manchiaiah, Amr El Refaie and Laura Booth onto board.