The handover of BDTA Presidents took place last month at its annual Midwinter Meeting. Edward Attenborough handed over to the incoming President for 2012-13, Simon Tucker. Simon is a partner and director at Medenta with responsibility for finance, marketing ‘and all matters IT’.

NHS and social care staff who have concerns about patient care can now access a new, free whistleblowing helpline from the 1 January, Health Secretary Andrew Lansley said. The free whistleblowing helpline is funded by the Government and is part of the Government’s drive to tackle poor practice. This is in addition to the introduction of a contractual duty to raise concerns, which will be enshrined in the new NHS Constitution.

Two grants, worth a total of almost £160,000, have been awarded by the Shirley Glasstone Hughes Trust Fund for research projects that will examine the role of dentists' anxieties in clinical decision making and the impact of the choice of linings under amalgam fillings have on outcomes for patients. The winning projects were selected by an international panel of experts, following a comprehensive peer review process of all the applications received.

The General Dental Council (GDC) has informed UK dental schools of an EU requirement that dentists’ studies should total five years and that time spent during a first degree may not count towards the dental training programme. A decision is expected by the end of the year. In the meantime the GDC says those qualifying this summer will be put on the Register.

Forty seven student dentists have graduated from the Peninsula Dental School. They are the first graduating cohort from new dental school. The Dean, Professor Elizabeth Kay, sent her congratulations and said: “I wish them well in their careers and I am confident that, wherever the practise, their patients will benefit from their excellent clinical and interpersonal skills.”