BAPEN News

 

Opportunity to Join the BAPEN Leadership Team as BAPEN President Elect

BAPEN is seeking candidates for the post of President Elect. This is an honorary post working alongside the current President, Dr Trevor Smith, with a normal tenure of one year leading on to a three-year term as the BAPEN President.

The President Elect will attend BAPEN Executive, Council and Trustee meetings and will chair these groups once elected as President, as well as becoming a Charity Trustee (BAPEN is registered as a Charitable Incorporated Organisation [CIO]). During the COVID response BAPEN have moved to fully virtual meetings, and in the longer term expect to maintain a mix of virtual and face to face meetings with short monthly virtual and thrice yearly in person executive meetings and thrice yearly Council meetings. Currently the Board of Trustees meet virtually every other month, but this will move to quarterly.

The BAPEN President is responsible for leading our organisation and networking with our partners as well as developing new directions and influence, and the time as President Elect can be used to develop links with the BAPEN community and develop a strategy for their time as President. The usual 1-year tenure can be adapted to suit candidates following discussion if a longer period of time to develop into the role, together with informal mentorship, is required and it is hoped that this will help open up opportunities to a wider diversity of candidates. During Trevor’s term as President BAPEN has made great advances, and with the recent development of a Board of Trustees, UK Malnutrition Awareness Week, the upcoming relaunch of the BAPEN Strategy, and development of a set of BAPEN values it is an exciting time to be leading BAPEN.

Enquiries are welcomed and can be made to the current BAPEN President Dr Trevor Smith trevorsmith@nhs.net or the BAPEN Secretary Dr Dan Rogers: secretary@bapen.org.uk

Applications in the form of a current CV and personal statement explaining your suitability for the role and vision for your time as President should be submitted to: secretary@bapen.org.uk by 5pm on Friday 16th of September 2022. All applications will be considered by BAPEN Council with the aim to publicly announce the successful candidate at the BAPEN Conference in November 2022.

Update from BAPEN Council Meeting held in June 2022

BAPEN Executive updates:

• BAPEN’s work on formalising their Values and wider strategy work is progressing well and we are aiming to launch at Conference in November
• BAPEN Conference 2022 has a great programme planned, and the Programmes Committee are looking forward to welcoming delegates in November. A guidance document for image copyright for conference will be circulated so that speakers and presenters have this information available to them
• Treasurer Dr Sheldon Cooper provided an update on financial governance, including the work being carried out to secure the security of the charity in the long-term, so that we can develop the various workstreams we have planned
• The advert for President elect is out, and we are very supportive of applicants from all professional groups. BAPEN is committed to providing any necessary onboarding and mentoring to help any individual who is appointed, and the current President, Dr Trevor Smith, is happy to have informal discussions with any colleagues who are interested
• Our President expressed gratitude for all the support that the Core Groups provide to BAPEN, and an exploratory conversation was had around strengthening the relationships through partnership working
• IF Registry: a formal contract is now in place that supports the work of the registry and reporting is mandated from the commissioned centre.

BAPEN Highlights from Core Groups, Standing Committees, Specialist Interest Groups (SIGs) & Four Nations

• BAPEN Medical highlighted their pre-conference training day which is planned for November and will be on the theme of starvation
• BPNG provided an update on their monthly webinars which have launched and are welcoming good engagement. Please note that registration is free and open to anyone via the BPNG website
• BSPGHAN held their first face-to-face meeting, with good attendance figures. The group is also planning for complex IF and nutrition meeting with the final programme to be circulated shortly, as well as monthly zoom educational meetings. These meetings are open to non-BSPGHAN members as well, but they do need to register for each event. More information to follow on the BSPGHAN website
• The NNNG attended the RCN Congress jointly with BAPEN. This was a big event, and there was a lot of interest generated at the stand as well as closer relationships formed with the RCN and RCNi. This interest was primarily around screening and guidelines which was promising. NNNG’s Conference to be happening in July as a hybrid event, with a mix of evening webinars with a day of face-to-face sessions – find out more here
• BANS have been working closely with PENG on the current challenges in enteral feeding supply and are gathering data to understand the extent and support needed. The IF registry is live, and commissioned IF centres in England are contracted to submit data. We also encourage centres outside England, across all four nations of the UK, to submit data, and the Paediatric registry is also live
• MAG provided an update on a new publication on ‘MUST’, which is open access and available to download here. MAG is also busy preparing for UKMAW 2022 (10th-16th October) and expressed their keenness for support of council and membership in the data collection for this week via the screening portal. MAG is especially hoping for reporting from all four nations to build a representative picture of the national state of malnutrition and nutritional care provision
• NG SIG updated that there have been no further meetings with NHSE regarding the reclassification of NG safety never event status. Lots of work about novel technology to guide NG safety
• BIFA is running symposia at conference and the group’s development of guidelines and position statements is ongoing. This is expanding to podcasts for the most popular guideline topics
• There is a plan to expand the Independent Advisory Committee (IAC) to allow additional workstreams, such as a mentor programme. Further information will be provided on this in due course
• Regional updates were shared, outlining the movement towards more regional activity, including a face-to-face meeting in Scotland in September, where engagement with trainee members will be focused on. BAPEN Wales is working with Welsh Government commissioners to look at IF services within Wales.

Membership Officer report and updates

BAPEN’s membership numbers appear stable, after a dip during the peak of the Covid pandemic. Work is underway with the Core Groups on processes of free membership. BAPEN’s new EDI policy means we are now collecting EDI data on willing members. In the short time since launch, 25% of our members have already completed this data. We are very grateful to members for this and encourage everyone to complete their data. Through ensuring accurate and effective representation and support throughout BAPEN we will be better able to work towards improving patient outcomes and professional support.

Education Officer report and updates

A series of six BIFA podcasts are in development, in addition to conference posters in an electronic flipchart format.

Social Media update and plans

BAPEN’s social media continues to perform well and keeps members and wider followers up to date with organisation developments, on top of information relevant in the nutrition space. Key highlights over the past couple of months included supporting the Inequalities in Health Alliance’s social media activity around the communication of the RCP’s YouGov cost of living data, the promotion of abstract submissions for Conference, and the support of Carers Week and Dietitians Week. The press office activity has also been busy, with a highlight being the 30th birthday feature article developed for In Touch, commemorating BAPEN’s three decades of developments and achievements.

Final note from BAPEN…

It is a busy time in BAPEN, but we are all very much looking forward to conference in November which has an excellent educational programme. We are also excited to be launching and sharing with you our strategy and values AND it will be great to be able to meet and talk to members in person.

 

 

 

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