BAPEN News

 

BAPEN’s Annual Member's Pulse Check

Dr Charlotte Rutter, BAPEN Honorary Secretary

BAPEN has held an Annual Member's Pulse Check since 2022, with the aim to give assurance that we are being successful in implementing the aims of our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Policy. The Pulse Check also gives the opportunity to ask additional questions in order to demonstrate to members the benefit of completing the Pulse Check and changes that take place as a result of the feedback received.

The Pulse Check only represents a 7% response rate from our members, so we are unable to draw firm conclusions, but we should be encouraged that the majority of members have answered positively to each question related to our EDI policy (BAPEN EDI Policy). BAPEN published a response in November 2023 to an article in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition titled ‘Sex disparities in parenteral and enteral nutrition societies’ leadership worldwide: a 20 year retrospective analysis’. Our paper provided further analysis of the gender diversity amongst the leadership team of BAPEN, our latest Conference and our BAPEN awards Gender Diversity in Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition Society Leadership Teams

The additional questions related to the barriers to members becoming involved in Committee work or applying for Executive positions can be distilled into three main themes:

1. Lack of time/concern about the amount of time needed and any costs that may be incurred
2. Lack of support by managers and teams to take time out
3. Perceived lack of experience or necessary skill set to participate.

To address these BAPEN are doing the following:

1. Setting up a ‘Coaching and Mentorship Programme’
2. Where appropriate expanding roles to include Co-Chairs for Committees and Specialist Interest Groups (SiGs) and Associate Officers for Executive positions (e.g. Communications, Programmes, NG SiG and BETA)
3. Clear job descriptions to define roles and highlights that all costs related to attendance at BAPEN F2F meetings in these roles will be reimbursed BAPEN Expense Entitlement Policy
4. Send letters of thanks to the CEO's of Executive and Council officers, and Chairs of Committees or SiGs.

See this year’s results here: BAPEN Annual Pulse Check 2025

If you have any questions or comments please contact me via the Secretariat at: bapen@bapen.org.uk

 

 

Don’t Miss a Membership Renewal Date – Sign up to make payment via Direct Debit!

NEW or existing Members that do not already have a direct debit mandate in place, you can sign up via the secure link to make all future payments automatic.

If you have any questions or queries, please contact the BAPEN Office.

Click here to set up a Direct Debit for BAPEN Membership.

 

Submit an Improving Nutritional Care Grant Application

Do you have a quality improvement project or a research idea that you would like to pursue but need some funding?

BAPEN is delighted to announce that we will be awarding grants for 2025 of up to a total of £60,000.

There are funds to be distributed to a number of different projects up to values of £5k, £10k and £15k. If you feel your project is larger you may wish to apply for a scoping grant in the first instance followed by further grants in future years.

You must be a BAPEN member to apply and following the completion of your project we would ask you to present your findings at the BAPEN Annual Conference.

The closing date for applications is Monday 30 June 2025, at 5pm, and successful applicants will be advised once the judging process has been completed and officially announced at our annual Conference in Wales on the 11 & 12 November 2025.

Click here to read the guidance document and apply!

 

 

Update from the Data Governance Group

This year, BAPEN has established a Data Governance Group this to ensure that the organisation has a proper inventory of all its datasets and is GDPR compliant.

To that end, BAPEN is asking all of its members if they have any historical datasets, which may be owned or part-owned by BAPEN, to please inform the BAPEN office. This is to ensure we have an understanding of what BAPEN data our members possess, so that we can be GDPR compliant.

On a separate note, the Data Governance Group is also looking to recommend a data repository software (such as Redcap), which could be used for future BAPEN research and survey data, so that all such data is held in the same place.

Click here to email the BAPEN office if you have any recommendations for data repository software, or would like to inform BAPEN about any historical datasets.

 

---

 

BAPEN British Enteral Therapy Alliance Specialist Interest Group

Following on from the appointment of the BAPEN British Enteral Therapy Alliance (BETA) co-chairs, we are pleased to announce the intention to form the new BAPEN BETA Specialist Interest Group.

BETA is a multiprofessional special interest group within BAPEN interested in all aspects of Enteral Nutrition. It consists of healthcare professionals involved or interested in all types of enteral nutrition in both adults and children. The current NG special interest group (NG SIG) remains with a primary focus on the delivery of safe NG tube feeding and will be part of BETA.

BETA will be a multidisciplinary group for professionals that together aim to:

• To provide a multi-professional forum enabling communication between those health professionals in the UK who provide enteral nutrition (EN) to adults and children.
• To foster excellence in the provision of EN in the UK through communication, education, research and audit.

To assist BAPEN and other external organisations where appropriate in any matters relating to EN. BETA is a new committee within BAPEN, and we welcome applications from any member with an interest in enteral nutrition. Support is available for those new to committee positions.

Eligibility to apply: A registered healthcare professional and member of one of BAPEN’s core professional groups, with current BAPEN membership.

Application process: To apply for this position, please send a short CV along with a letter of interest to the BAPEN office by email bapen@bapen.org.uk. The letter of interest should detail your suitability for the role and your initial thoughts on areas for action within BAPEN itself and the wider sector of nutrition care. These ideas should fill no more than a single side of A4. Deadline for applications: 30th June 2025.

More details: You can find more information on BETA below and enquiries can be made to the co-chairs Sarah Durnan and Laura Nicholson via the BAPEN office bapen@bapen.org.uk.

 

 

Return to top