BDTA Midwinter Meeting 2007

The BDTA held its annual Midwinter Meeting on 6 December 2007, returning to the magnificent Edwardian styled One Great George Street, London, the home of the Institute of Civil Engineers.

One hundred delegates, primarily from BDTA member companies, attended the event which commenced with business sessions, followed by lunch and networking.

One of the most significant develop-ments in dentistry at the present time is the emergence of the NHS Supply Chain. Working in close harmony with the Department of Health, Supply Chain has been tasked with saving the NHS £1 billion over 10 years by capitalising on efficient supply and distribution of products to the medical profession. Given the importance of this issue, representatives from NHS Supply Chain, Roger West and Nick Hutton, outlined their short term plans and answered questions posed by delegates. Both representatives pledged their commitment to meeting with the BDTA to discuss future plans in more detail. Whilst it was revealed that dental professionals still have a choice of where to buy, their aim is to decrease the number of suppliers in the industry and steer NHS dental professionals towards certain types of treatment using the products they will be supplying at a lower cost. This clearly poses a worrying threat to the clinician’s freedom of choice.

Continuing with the business session and linking seamlessly with the previous topic was Charlie Dawson, founder of The Foundation, talking about managing change and organisational growth. The importance of business—customer contact and customer research was highlighted as one of the most important aspects of business development.

Simon Gambold, BDTA President, concluded the morning with an update on BDTA achievements in 2007 and the Council’s plans for the coming two years. He continued with the theme of the need for change and proposed exciting initiatives which would be implemented by the BDTA under his Presidency. Lobbying, representation and raising standards amongst the membership would be a major part of the BDTA strategy. Certificates were presented to students from Associated Dental Products who had successfully passed their BDTA Certificate: Introduction to Dentistry examination, Peter Rees was thanked for his work as President and Norman Freedman was acknowledged as the winner of the BDTA Outstanding Contribution to the Dental Industry Award.

The BDTA was delighted that Peter Ward, BDA Chief Executive and Susie Sanderson, BDA Chairman were both able to attend the event, demonstrating the commitment of the two Associations to continue working together. Dennis Carroll, President of the BDHF, the immediate past BDTA President, Peter Rees and the new DLA Chairman, Gordon Watters were also at the meeting.

Simon Gambold commented, ‘I was delighted to see so many members of the industry at our annual event and have an opportunity to communicate the Council’s plans for the Association. I believe there are some interesting challenges and opportunities facing our industry and as the Trade Association, representing dental manufacturers and suppliers of products and services to the dental team, we need to develop our strategy accordingly.’