News
IBMS Congress 2009
James Lowell, Ishbel Gall, Sam Goss and myself represented the AAPT at the IBMS Congress held at the ICC in Birmingham between 28-30th September 2009.
James Lowell, Ishbel Gall, Sam Goss and myself represented the AAPT at the IBMS Congress held at the ICC in Birmingham between 28-30th September 2009.
In the first instance Christian Burt is to be congratulated in securing a superb location for our stand.
We had a steady flow of enquiries throughout the two days although the final afternoon session was fairly quite. Enquiries tended to fall into one of three categories:
- Training and education – several Biomedical Scientist colleagues who act as departmental training officers with responsibilities for the mortuary wanted to know more about APT training and development and were keen to explore what AAPT could offer.
- Management of the mortuary – those with managerial responsibility were very interested in the role of AAPT and issues around the future regulation of APTs.
- Human Tissues Authority – several enquiries focused on forthcoming HTA inspections and we were able to provide them with useful advice.
It was very encouraging that all who spoke to us were going away to see if their APTs were members. Others did say that they would encourage their APT staff to join.
What was encouraging was the fact that no-one approached us from the “I have problem APTs” stance.
As well as responding the enquiries on the stand congress also provided an ideal opportunity for networking that was put to good use. Conversations were had with the MSC Team regarding the progress of our new qualification and it was agreed to have the recently conducted APT review updated to reflect our progress to date.
As VRC Chair it was particularly convenient to have the Health Professions Council (HPC) stand right next to ours. I now have more contacts for help and advice when it is required.
I was particularly pleased to learn from one individual that a large group had gone out for a meal the previous evening and that one of the topics they discussed was the fact that APTs have a professional body and that they all agreed that this was “fantastic” (their choice of word not mine).
Overall I think this has been a really positive event for AAPT and I would like to congratulate the AAPT representatives on the sterling work in positively promoting both the Association but most of all our profession.
Terry Johnson
Chair, Education & Training Committee
AAPT