SBDN President End of year Message

Many of you will know that I was honoured to become the President and Chief Dental Nursing Officer for the Society of British Dental Nurses in November 2022. It was an enormous pleasure and honour to take up the reins, following on from Fiona Ellwood. Like Fiona I have over 30years experience in the field and have worked in many different dental settings, including in the military. You can read more about me if you go to my bio on the website.

I am honoured to take up this role supported by the new Chair Nicola McIntosh and the new Executive Secretary Nicola Sherlock and the new Northern Ireland and Wales representatives. The team have a number of projects that are on-going and I hope to continue with these, taking them to the next level. I am tasked with feeding back to the GDC consultation in relation to the so called ‘safe practitioner’ as my first piece of work.

I am keen to further mobilise the special interest groups and to work collaboratively with other professional groups both within dentistry and with allied professionals. I am driven to steer and guide ‘up and coming’ opportunities for dental nurses and to foster an education and training system that captures and utilises the fantastic skills of the dental nurse. I look forward to meeting members at the dental shows and at our regional events and listening to what it is you want to see. As has been said before ‘ nothing about us, without us’, this is not just about having a seat at the table, it is about who is listened to.

So for now, on behalf of the Society, I wish you all a very Happy New Year and a successful 2023.