VISIONS OF AN EXPANDING SOCIETY

Audiology Worldnews (AWN): BSHAA’s final regional gathering is being held in London, and it’s a big anniversary celebration for the organisation. What is BSHAA aiming for today? 

 

Michael Marchant -President BSHAA (MM): Primarily, connection with our membership, to increase that sense of pride with our membership, We have come an incredibly long way together, you know: 70 years. The society was in existence even before the Hearing Aid Act. Since our inception in 1954, we’ve had the Hearing Aid Act [Hearing Aid Council Act 1968] we’ve had the Hearing Aid Council […] before things transferred over to the HCPC (Health and Care Professions Council). Throughout the Society, hearing aid audiologists have played a pivotal role, and I think it’s important that we all come together to reflect on that, and honour that really, and also pay thanks to the people that have volunteered their time over the years.

 

AWN: Recently, under your predecessor Rob Donnan’s presidency, BSHAA has had a big shake-up. Key figures on the board have gone. What was the point of divergence between those people and the current executive?

 

MM: I think the point of divergence there really was to bring in some new energy, some new thoughts, to really expand horizons a little bit more.

 

AWN: Recent board elections show an expansion of the board. What exactly is happening?

 

MM: So, the board will grow from eight to ten at the end of October when the election finishes. But also we’ve been able to reach out and set up more working groups. So that’s attracting volunteers in, and each of our board directors heads up a work stream that’s then supported by a group of six or seven volunteers, which means that they’re able to work on project work and bring things to fruition much more quickly.

 

AWN: Under BSHAA’s former President Rob Donnan, the duration of the Presidency was extended from two to three years. But Rob moved to become Director of Membership before his term was up. What happened there?

 

MM: When Rob was elected, the presidency term was two years. It was extended to three years and at that point, Rob was given the choice: did he want to stay for the full three years or stick to an initial two years that he stood for election for? At that time, Rob was launching some new businesses. I think Rob is now, just a few weeks ago, on clinic number 12, so he’s incredibly busy, and had to take a step back, focus more on the membership.

 

AWN: In 2023, BSHAA appointed a Chief Visionary Officer, Dr. Graham Pullan. He is no longer with BSHAA. What happened to the vision?

 

MM: There was a difference in vision. I think Graham was somebody that very much liked the idea of a College of Audiology, but perhaps sought to do things independently, rather than with the involvement of others, and it’s just not feasible to do that. He was in favour of a college but I think he had a vision that, you know, this could be done singlehandedly, as in BSHAA would do it. In order for a College to be successful, it has to be involved with the board. It needs the buy-in from everybody.

 

AWN: The professional panorama in the UK is very fragmented, with different associations competing for members and volunteers, complicating recruitment. Traditionally, the BSHAA and the British Academy of Audiology (BAA) have been the biggest groups. Is that still the landscape?

 

MM: Traditionally, BAA have looked after the NHS membership. Obviously we are the society for hearing aid dispensers, which has always been the private sector. I think we’re now starting to seeing more of a crossover. You know, NHS is under pressure and perhaps using more the private sector, certainly from some of the High Street providers such as Specsavers, Scrivens,… but also we’re now seeing many audiologists from NHS perhaps start to do a bit more private work as well, whether that’s, you know, kind of weekend clinics and such like, so there’s definitely more crossover.

 

AWN: With so much work to be done by working groups in different bodies, do you think a College of Audiology would make things easier and move the profession forward? And could a College be set up any time soon?

 

MM: You’re quite right, it is a lot of work, and when that work is being done by volunteers it’s always difficult to find volunteers willing and wanting to step forward to carry out that work for us. So I think the more closely we can collaborate, the more things that we can work on together, the more we can achieve. The College of Audiology has always been a buzzword, hasn’t it? Yeah, it’s something everybody has always said: We need the college. We want the college.

 

AWN: Is the College of Audiology still just a buzzword?

 

MM: No, I’m starting to see some real sentiment now across organisations. It’s a huge project. Will it happen overnight? No. Will it happen over two to three years? No. Will it happen over five or six years? Possibly…possibly.