Successful conference

27 October 2015
Volume 31 · Issue 6

England’s new chief dental officer Sara Hurley gave the opening address in one of her first speeches since taking up her post at the British Association of Oral Surgeon’s annual conference in Manchester last month.

Sara’s presentation, entitled ‘Update of Oral Surgery Commissioning in England’, outlined what the new NHS England commissioning guidelines would mean for oral surgeons and their patients.

The guidelines have been welcomed by members of the BAOS who hope they will result in better parity of care and patient safety across the country. They are hopeful the guidelines will allow commissioners to focus on more than the cost of services and as a result patients will be seen more quickly and receive a greater consistency of care – ending what some in healthcare refer to as a ‘postcode lottery’.

A total of 375 delegates attended the successful conference held at Manchester Town Hall from September 23-25. This was the Association’s 12th annual conference and organisers welcomed a wide range of delegates from trainees starting their careers to consultants.

Subjects covered by the speakers ranged from legal considerations, patient safety and the need for surgical care following conflict or natural disasters, to papers on medical specialities including the treatment of bariatric patients, interventional radiology in salivary gland disease and an update on the latest guidance for oral surgery in diabetic patients.

The conference also included a nurses’ study day, papers about careers in oral surgery and a careers clinic where delegates could receive one to one advice from established oral surgeons.

With 80 posters being submitted and 30 open papers presented, the BAOS conference was a hive of activity to the delight of outgoing honorary president Pippa Blacklock.

“There is a real buzz about the BAOS at the moment and that was reflected in this conference,” said Pippa. “In my two year presidency I have been determined that we remain first and foremost a positive organisation that represents all members from our young trainees to specialists.  Our membership continues to grow and we have lots of exciting plans including patient information pages on our website so we become the go to place for patient information.

“Of course there are challenges like the need for more training posts in oral surgery.  The 42 that are currently available will not allow us to meet future healthcare needs. We also have to hope that the new commissioning guidelines are intelligently implemented – this should not be seen as a way of saving money but ensuring better parity of quality patient care across the country.”

As the conference came to a close, Pippa handed over to her successor Professor Tara Renton whose presidency will last for the next two years. 

Delegates also attended a black tie social event at the Monastery in Manchester at which the academic prize winners for audits, open papers and posters received their awards from the president.