NOTICE BOARD


Nominations open for eighth annual BMJ Awards NOMINATIONS are now invited for The BMJ Awards 2016 – once again with headline sponsorship from MDDUS. Now in their eighth year, the awards are firmly established in the annual medical calendar. Entrants can fill in a nomination form on the awards website and judging will take place in advance of a gala ceremony at the Park Plaza Hotel on Westminster Bridge Road, London, on 5 May, when the winners will be announced. This year will see the introduction of patients in the judging process – with each panel including at least one patient in keeping with The BMJ’s Patient Partnership initiative launched last year. New categories this year will include Cancer Care Team of the year and Prevention Team of the year. BMJ editor in chief, Fiona Godlee, said, “Every year we are amazed at the quality


and breadth of the entries we receive. They reflect the professionalism, commitment, creativity and hard work that characterise so much of the day-to-day provision of healthcare in the UK. In these tough and turbulent times for the NHS it has never been more important to showcase the best of British medicine.” “We hope the BMJ Awards will reward excellence, encourage learning and inspire innovation at all levels in the health service.”


review and practice-based research as forms of audit. Dentists can also view the status of their NES-approved and certified audit activity via Portal. (Audits approved by health boards will not be listed.) A total of eight pre-approved audits are still available for dentists to join via the Portal site’s “Dental Audit” tab within the iBooklet section. These will remain on the site until January 31, 2016. The audit requirements vary for dentists who joined the list for the first time after August 1, 2013. More information can be found on the NES website but dentists with specific questions are being advised to contact their health board for further information.


patient gifts Doctors are urged to exercise caution when offered gifts from patients or pharmaceutical companies. The government recently announced the


Doctors should extend ‘sunshine rule’ to include


introduction of the “sunshine rule”, meaning that doctors and other NHS staff will have to declare gifts, payments or hospitality received from pharmaceutical companies. From next year it will be mandatory for NHS staff to keep a


the video in the Risk Management section at mddus.com. ● NHS SCOTLAND SCHEME TO REDUCE DENTAL COSTS A new initiative run by NHS Scotland aims to reduce costs for practices. Up to 400 practices will be able to


AUTUMN 2015


register of hospitality and gifts. Any member of staff who fails to declare such information will face sanctions and disciplinary action under the Bribery Act 2010.


MDDUS medical adviser Dr Naeem


Nazem believes transparency and caution are also required when it comes to accepting gifts from patients. “The new government measures are in


relation to gifts from pharmaceutical representatives and medical device


sign up to the DenPro collaborative procurement scheme ahead of its launch in January 2016. Practices who join the scheme will be given access to an ordering system offering general dental consumables such as instruments,


makers. However, we would urge all doctors to adopt the spirit of the legislation and also keep a register of gifts from patients,” says Dr Nazem. “In the interests of being open and


honest and to avoid any perception of bias, all practices should already have a policy on accepting gifts. As part of that policy, there should be a gift register which can be made available to the clinical commissioning group (or health board in Scotland) at their request.”


impression materials and cements at a reduced price. Look out for more details on the NHS National Services Scotland website. ● MDDUS STUDENT FACEBOOK COMPETITION Calling all medical and dental students – “like” our


MDDUS Student Facebook page and you will be entered into our FREE prize draw to win £50 of iTunes vouchers. You can find our page at www.facebook.com/ mddus.student or search Facebook for ‘mddus student’.


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