2023 … finally over. Many opportunities for education … and reasons to smile

The last quarter of the year is always incredibly busy for Alison and me. We often have new staff members starting in our departments, and it is also the season of the Northern Universities Consortium introductory courses. Alison and I have given the photography and the twin block introductory courses to all registrars from Sheffield, Manchester, Leeds, Liverpool, Birmingham and Newcastle for the past 30 years. Since COVID-19, the courses have been held over Zoom, and for the past few years the invitation has been extended to all the London registrars, as well as to those from Cork. This time round, for the twin block course, we were also joined by Swedish postgraduates, and by a group of orthodontists from North Kurdistan.

I hope that the information provided on both of our courses is well received, and that the recipients are able to put all the information received into practical use when they return to the clinics the following Monday morning. Certainly, the feedback is extremely complimentary; however, I do wonder if this is to ensure that they receive their CPD certificates in a timely manner. We certainly take on board all the constructive criticism given in the hope that we can continually improve the courses. I hope that we can go back to ‘face to face’ training next year, because it is far more enjoyable both for the presenters and the delegates if they can practice the practical skills learned within minutes of receiving the information. I ran a small ‘face to face’ photography course in the department 2 weeks ago with my colleague, Catherine Brierley, and it went down extremely well.