As always, the glittering Aesthetics Awards ceremony did not disappoint. The evening celebration rewarded the best in UK Medical Aesthetics. The BACN proudly took home the DermaFocus Award for Best Initiative/Strategic Project in Aesthetics which is a piece of work submitted by the BACN to the Department of Health and Social Care regarding the licensing of non-surgical cosmetic procedures in England. We strongly believe that this work is important and relevant to our profession. The initiative was led by an expert consensus group and was made available to all members to use. The BACN is grateful to all the contributors including Sharon Bennett, Anna Baker, Sharron Brown, Sharon King, Constance Campion Awwad and Cheryl Barton. The association would also like to thank all the members for their valuable contribution towards this achievement.
Not only did we have the exhilaration of achieving this fantastic award, but we also celebrated the individual achievements and success of some of our own BACN nurses. A massive congratulations to Julie Scott for the Evolus Award for Aesthetic Nurse Practitioner of the Year. Michelle McLean, our Regional Leader for Liverpool and Merseyside took home the Amedica Award for the Best Clinic in the North of England, setting the gold standard for customer service and patient satisfaction. The Fotona Award for the Best Clinic in Midland and Wales was attributed to Sara Cheeney for demonstrating excellence in patient safety. The award for Best Service and Solution Provider was given to another BACN Nurse, Jo Hayward and her lovely team at Aesthetic Nurse Software. A huge congratulations to all of the winners, commended and highly commended. The recognition for excellence in medical aesthetics that is seen through the showcasing of these awards is truly inspirational. It was wonderful to see so many nurses taking to the stage.
The BACN proudly took home the DermaFocus Award for Best Initiative/Strategic Project in Aesthetics which is a piece of work submitted by the BACN to the Department of Health and Social Care regarding the licensing of non-surgical cosmetic procedures in England
The sense of belonging and unity was very strong during this ceremony. This is indeed very reassuring, as we have all experienced the feelings of isolation when starting out a career in medical aesthetics. It is particularly daunting when combined with the challenge of building a business, not to mention the absolute necessity to maintain a safe, effective and ethical care delivery. Within the NHS, we are part of a huge organisation that involves multi-disciplinary teams. Once we step out of that role and into the private sector, the feeling of protection provided by such a big organisation is replaced by some degree of isolation (Holmberg, Carlström and Collier, 2020). The support and guidance provided by the BACN can truly help bridge that gap. The BACN provides strong support not only through its projects and initiatives, but also through the peer support and networking opportunities that is offers. One of these important initiatives it offers is the BACN Code of Conduct authored by Board Member Anna Baker. It is an invaluable resource which is closely aligned to our NMC Code of Conduct, which encompasses the pillars of prioritising people, practice effectively, preserve safety and promote professionalism and trust (NMC, 2015). In addition, our BACN regional leaders do a fantastic job of facilitating learning that is relevant to the needs of our members. We now have over 30 Regional Leaders who cover the UK and Ireland. This group is chaired by Lisa Feliz, supported by Clare Amrani and Linda Mather. We also have a sub-committee working group that meet bi-monthly to ensure that we meet the needs of our members. These actions are fed into the management board.
The BACN Education and Training Committee is yet another recent initiative which will enhance the learning facilities. This very important committee is chaired by Rachel Goddard and meet regularly. The Competency Framework is a major piece of work which is due to be completed this month by Anna Baker and will aim at assisting, guiding and ultimately improving and enhancing the level of practice of our nurses.
The annual Spring Symposium at the Kings Fund London, our second largest national event organised by the BACN has proven to be extremely popular as all tickets have sold out in record time. This truly reflects the general interest in the academic learning platforms. It is indeed refreshing to see such an interest in a BACN meeting in an era where social network media, with all the pseudoscience it brings with it, could potentially pose the risk of becoming a substitute for academic learning. In that respect, a Swedish study published three years ago raised some serious concerns about nurses deviating from academic platforms and opting for YouTube and other non-academic arenas for their learning process. Whilst this study is very small, it does raise concerns that we all suspect (Holmberg, Carlström and Collier, 2020).
The BACN provides strong support, not only through its projects and initiatives, but also through the peer support and networking opportunities that is offers. Our BACN regional leaders do a fantastic job of facilitating learning that is relevant to the needs of our members. We now have over 30 Regional Leaders who cover the UK and Ireland
The BACN Spring Symposium meeting, which is dedicated to more experienced nurses, provided high quality topics presented by leading doctors and nurses in medical aesthetics. The live demonstrations were of outstanding quality. As always, the opportunity to network with colleagues was of a great value.
Clearly, all of this would not be feasible without the incredible work of the headquarters team. They worked tirelessly behind the scenes to make our symposium so successful. The board would like to extend a huge thank you to the Head of Operations Gareth Lewis, BACN Marketing Manager Bec Coleman and BACN Membership Development and Events Of˛icer Abigail Geran.
