Dear Member, I do hope you enjoyed the lovely Summer we had, already seems like a distant memory! It was a short newsletter last month but there is a lot cooking, as always. Here goes, hang on in there….. ● ● ● ● ●
Membership Survey Conference Code of Conduct Essential Projects Regional Groups
Membership Survey Every year we post a membership survey. This enables us to gather information to help us ensure we continue to meet the needs of membership based on who we all are and how we practice. It also provides essential data with which to fight our corner on the political stage. We are the largest body in this field of practice and therefore this survey provides an important evidence base to pack a credible punch. There are over 500 members; so far 230 have taken the few minutes to complete this survey. We don’t ask much, please follow the link, if you haven’t already done so, and be counted! http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/8RYGYW6
BACN Conference 4th and 5th October A huge amount of work and money goes into providing an annual event for membership. Apart from invaluable and quality CPD this event is a unique celebration and platform for nurses in Aesthetics . It’s continued appearance in the Aesthetics calendar depends upon your support to attract sponsorship which raises funds to help keep membership subscriptions down. It would be an absolutely mind-blowing experience if you ALL attended, flying the flag! It has the potential to be bigger than any other event, for all the right reasons. This year’s Conference is only 2 weeks away - please make your bookings as soon as possible and have the full BACN experience! Absolutely NOT one to miss! Go to http://www.cosmeticnurses.org/conference/ to book your place now!
Essential Projects Our role, and the scope of expectations upon us, has evolved and grown exponentially in the last 12 months. We just got over the prescribing issues, when we were hit with European Standards and, hot on its tail, the Keogh Review. We know we need to present a strong framework for education as the consultation process continues and we now have a better idea of how NMC Revalidation might look and the challenges nurses in aesthetics may face. No breathing time to catch up with ourselves! We recognise that to sustain and future proof the BACN we must have more members engaged and form more committees. The Educational Committee and The Standards and Governance Committee have been established and we look forward to seeing the fruits of their work. We have been repeatedly ‘shouting out’ over the past four years. Volunteers have come forward but for reasons we are not sure of, have fallen by the wayside. Communication is key! Competency Framework We are delighted to announce that The BACN Career and Competency Framework for Nurses in Aesthetic Medicine has received accreditation from The RCN and will now be prepared for publication. Members will have first sight of the document; look out for notification when it is posted on the website.
We would like to have a Public Education Committee to design a ‘Bill of Rights’ or ‘Patient Charter’ and also FAQ and patient information on the treatments we provide. All will be published on the front end of the website. As yet, we have a couple of volunteers, but we need more! The BACN has many hands and many great nurses who could make a valuable contribution. Don’t be shy! Jan Geary asked for BACN Guidelines on microsclerotherapy. I bullied her into doing them herself and rallied some help from The British Association of Sclerotherapists. She has risen to the challenge and turned it around in just over a week. Well done Jan! Coventry Congratulations to all those nurses who have signed up for the foundation module at Coventry University, and well done for persuading them that only Nurses, Doctors and Dentists will meet entry requirements. Coventry has confirmed this to be the case until clear standards are agreed from Government. There has been some confusion over BACN involvement on this course and how important our endorsement of it is. The course has met rigorous standards required by the Coventry University Board to achieve the 20 academic credits it has been awarded. The BACN have not had sufficient sight or influence to be in a position to give it any kind of accreditation, nor are we in a position to accredit any courses at this point in time. We hope that our educational committee will develop standards and a framework for doing so, but we are not there yet! In the meantime, rest assured, academic credits will have all the credibility you need when you achieve them by successfully passing this University Course. We are confident the course will be successful, because it will be informed and evolve according to your needs.
Current Projects/Teams: Prescribing Guidelines (2012)
Andrew Rankin Helena Collier Lorna Bowes Frances Turner Traill Kate Harding Rachel Goddard
Procedure Protocol for toxins (2012)
Kay Greveson Paula Shurrock Libby Stewart Sue Ibrahim
Career and Competency Framework (2013)
Suzanne Armstrong Michelle Irving Lou Sommereux Sharon Bennett Sharon Dobbs Emma Davies Liz Bardolph Adrian Baker
Microsclerotherapy procedure Guidelines (2013) In Collaboration with The British Association of Sclerotherapists.
Jan Geary Emma Davies BAS/ Phillip Coleridge Smith, Mike Watkins, Steve Tristram
Keogh Consultation (2013-)
Emma Davies Constance Campion Awaad Sharon Bennett BACN Board members
CEN/BSI Standards (2013-)
Sharon Bennett Suzanne Armstrong
Work in progress or about to begin Managing Complications in Aesthetics Consensus Document in collaboration.
Working Group Martyn King Sharon King Emma Davies Stephen Bassett
Education Framework
Andrew Rankin Suzanne Armstrong Miranda Phillips
Standards and Governance
Sara Cheeny Jaqueline Lowe Kev Hubbard Debra Barker Louisa Dale Sharron Brown
Big Clinic Syndrome - by Dan Travis There appears to be an epidemic of ‘Big Clinic Syndrome’ with clinic owners in the UK. Nurses that I have spoken with in the last month share a common concern that the larger clinics will take their existing clients. The prophecy has it that if a larger clinic opens near yours they will be able to offer significantly lower prices on treatments because they don’t have to incorporate the increasing costs of licensing and insurance. In other words, the smaller clinics will have to close because they will lose their clients to the bigger clinics who can offer cheaper treatments. This understandable concern has been propagated by business analysts and industry experts alike. The fear has become far more acute this year with a general uncertainty about the aesthetics industry. Where there is uncertainty there is worry and being squeezed by the big clinics seems to fill this role. This concern is not unique to the aesthetics industry it appears in different guises through all the different types of business. “Why do clients leave a clinic and go to another one?” What the business analysts predict is by no means certain. If you are suffering from ‘Big Clinic Syndrome’ then I want to provide an antidote. Here it is: Only 9% of clients who leave a business do so because the price is lower somewhere else OR the product is better somewhere else. The implication here is that only 9% are vulnerable to the Big Clinic squeeze. This puts the Business analyst’s point in perspective. POTENTIAL 9% loss is worrying but is not a mortal threat to your business. Here are the other reasons people leave a business that the business analysts don’t tell you. 1% - Death, 3% Move away, 14% Product or service dissatisfaction, 5% follow a friend or relative’s advice and switch to that friend’s preferred merchant. This makes 32 percent. What about the remaining 68 percent ? Sixty Eight percent switch because of what they perceive as indifference from the merchant or someone in the merchant’s organisation. In other words, they felt unappreciated, unimportant, taken for granted. I call this ‘neglect and it has nothing to do with the standard of your service (which must already be high or you would not be doing what you are doing). To correct this problem of ‘neglect’ you need to identify your top 20%, your ‘lapsed’ clients (Gone-Aways) and those in between. You need to put them in a database and begin sending them emails, texts and nice things in the post. Understanding this principle and then knowing how to address it will have a huge impact on your clinic. I really cannot stress enough how important it is. Nailing down this principle and acting upon it immediately will be THE NUMBER ONE REASON YOUR CLINIC SUCCEEDS. At www.marketingclinic.org I have prepared a whole product for you that is dedicated to client retention and clinic profit building. It is very much an ‘evidence based’ product and has been tested from November 2012 on different types of nurse led clinics. (A word of warning, I only have x 3 of these products available post testing this September).
Marketing Clinic SEPTEMBER Quiz Question £250 of “Marketing Makeover” for your Business for the Winner - Click Here to answer your question - July Winner Hannah Orchard - Henley-upon-Thames
Regional Groups Following meetings with group leaders and taking into account feedback from members we have developed more formal processes to support leaders making their role less onerous. We have centralized the organisation of sponsored workshops and will be working more closely and directly with sponsors to avoid duplication of effort and exploitation for purely marketing purposes. This will also help to raise funds, and to ensure educational content is on offer to all rather than a selected few. We have asked leaders to submit four diary dates for the year ahead so members can plan ahead and have a better chance of attending. Dates will be posted on the website and Facebook and in newsflashes as soon as we receive them. Come on leaders! There is a code of conduct for Regional leaders so their responsibilities are clear. We encourage members to submit agenda items to leaders so any concerns or wishes can be discussed openly with the group members, votes taken and you thereby get the group you want and deserve. Regional Groups can be a fantastic resource for peer group learning and support and will play a very important part in revalidation, so don’t neglect or disengage from your group. Lou Sommereux acts as Regional group Coordinator and provides support and advice when required and Kris soldiers on to help it all run smoothly. Don’t forget you can always get in touch with us, if your leader is unobtainable! Please make sure you have selected your preferred region on the website so that you don’t slip through the communication net. Take a look at The Regional Group Section of the website for workshops on offer, feel free to discuss wish lists with your groups and get in touch with Kris so she can see if she can make it happen! Code of Conduct About this time last year, in response to member discussions and feedback, we wrote a code of conduct for membership. It was included in our online AGM and members voted to agree it and have it as part of our terms of membership. The Standards and Governance Committee will be reviewing this document (available on the website in the ‘About Us’ section). It has come to our attention that a number of our members are breaching this code by promoting ‘Botox Parties’ and advertising Botox. Please be very clear these practices are not acceptable to the BACN membership and those members will be contacted and asked to change practice in line with our code or cease membership. With changes in Regulation to come we cannot be shown to fall short and remain credible and respected. We all want the BACN logo to mean something we can all be proud of. So, the message is: Engage! and we’ll just get better and better. Go book your conference place now! See you there. Kind Regards,
Emma Davies BACN Chair