Education is one of our main focuses for spring. The BACN Education & Training Committee is committed to delivering and developing a number of exciting projects. The committee has recently held it's second meeting online with a number of initiatives in progress. These include regional study groups, which to date, have run in the northwest and been a huge success, covering topics such as managing a deteriorating patient in clinic, an overview of facial palsy, as well as facial anatomy, among others. A key focus for the committee will be to continue to support newer aesthetic nurses with a variety of educational opportunities. The feedback has been very encouraging with plans to extend the study groups to each BACN region, focusing on identified topics of interest. Work is also being completed on training for BACN members on prescribing within private practice and regulatory frameworks with further updates to be released in due course. The BACN continuously strives to facilitate opportunities for learning and continued professional development for our members. One example is the BACN bursary, which is available upon successful application to financially assist completion of the V300 Nurse Independent Prescribing qualification. Further details and application are available on www.bacn.org.uk. The BACN keenly supports and encourages nurses in their transition to full-time specialist aesthetic roles.
During our recent BACN Management Committee meeting, we were joined online by our representatives in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland who shared updates about the challenging and significant issues which they are facing in regard to aspects of regulation. Our nurse colleagues in NI in particular, currently face challenges with regard to holding prescribed stock and medications. In part, this complex issue is due to a devolved government in Belfast, however, positive change and progress is taking place. Similarly, our BACN nurse representatives in Scotland have demonstrated hard work, determination and tenacity with regard to successfully lobbying Healthcare Improvement Scotland (the inspectorate of independent healthcare services across Scotland), to reconsider their stance on the use of bacteriostatic saline in reconstituting botulinum toxin and other clinical practices within the parameters of the Summary of Product Characteristics (SPC). Our BACN/HIS committee representative, Jackie Partridge, along with BACN Regional Leader for Scotland, Linda Strachan, have invested significant time and effort in challenging HIS regarding their original decision to stop the dilution of toxins with bacteriostatic saline in HIS registered clinics. HIS have revised its position and stated;
“Taking into account the representation [from BACN] and known scenarios where a product is not used in accordance with the SPC and the use more widely of unlicenced medication, the HIS Multidisciplinary Clinical and Professional Group [have] revised our position and have approached this issue from a standpoint of good medicines governance, rather than requiring strict adherence to the specification set out in the SPC. Going forward, HIS will address the matter of the use of bacteriostatic saline to reconstitute botulinum toxin as the use of an unlicenced medicine and in the context of the overall medicine governance within an independent healthcare service”.
This is an outstanding development, and we give thanks to Jackie and Linda for this excellent outcome, which is a testament to the dedication and commitment of our Scottish representatives.
BACN remain at the forefront of driving the medical approach through safe standards of care, collaboratively working with statutory and government bodies. We will continue to be closely involved in the next stage of the Government consultation. The important topic of patient safety is always at the front of our minds, and on this note, we hope to celebrate success for BACN in March at the prestigious annual Aesthetic Awards in London. We were fortunate to be shortlisted as finalists in Best Initiative/Strategic Project in the Aesthetics category for our response to the government consultation on the proposed licensing of non-surgical cosmetic procedures in England, which we submitted in October 2023. This was an exceptional piece of work rooted in patient safety with strong supporting evidence, firmly advocating the medical approach to the patient care pathway. Medical professionals across the sector, as well as patients, were encouraged to use the content and evidence from our collective work to support their own response to the consultation.
Our 3rd annual Spring Symposium is taking place on the 19th of April at The King's Fund in London. We have upgraded to a larger venue in light of the increased demand for this exciting event. The agenda is live on our website (details above) and covers a breadth of topics with a regenerative focus, including PRP, NAD+ in regenerative medicine, exosomes, CQC experience shared by clinic business owners, as well as complications. Ha-Derma are this year's headline sponsor and we thank them for their support with our event. Anna Baker has been leading and authoring an extensive update of the existing BACN Career Nurse Competency Framework. The revised work has undergone thorough peer review, and will also include new modalities. A comprehensive overview and update will be presented at the Spring Symposium. The key focus throughout the event is education, sharing and championing best practice, and patient safety. An exciting time for us all at BACN as we focus on our many strategic areas and embrace another busy year ahead!