What do you want from your BNMS membership? 

Since becoming BNMS President, I have been giving a lot of thought to what it means to be a BNMS member. Our society belongs to all of us, and it is my sincere hope that my being President has really emphasised that for each of you, whatever your role. All our voices should be heard and every one of us is important. As you all know, I love the BNMS and have been a member for ages, but I have been thinking a lot recently about how we make it even better for everyone. There are three main areas I’d like to highlight for us to think about:
1. Representation
BNMS is a charity run by a central Council. We have three hard working salaried members of staff, who I’m sure you will agree, are a huge asset to us (and irreplaceable in my opinion). The rest of Council is then made up of a number of Trustees and co-opted members, with ratios which roughly reflect the number of members working in the different areas. By the way, I’d like to say here that I’m not keen on the term ‘craft group’ – what does that even mean? I just think we’re all members of the various different groups. So here goes: we have three medical practitioners, at least two clinical scientists, at least one radiopharmacist, at least two RTNG representatives, including one nurse, and one trainee, with the latter currently being reviewed to make sure they represent all trainees, not just medical trainees as is currently the case. 
We are all volunteers who do it because we care passionately about Nuclear Medicine generally and what BNMS represents specifically. There are a number of subgroups reporting into Council: we have a group for Radiographers, Technologists and Nurses (the RTNG Group), there is the BNMS Radiopharmaceutical Sciences Group, which is headed by a member of the UK Radiopharmacy Group committee who is able to appraise Council of matters relating to Radiopharmacy. We also have a Royal College of Radiologists radionuclide adviser, a British Nuclear Cardiology Society representative and a patient representative. More recently, we have established our Research and Molecular Radiotherapy Consortium Groups which report into the main Council. 
There is no specific doctors, radiologists or physicians, or clinical scientists Group, but this was discussed with the Council when I first took over and it was felt there was sufficient representation of and networking by those members who fall into these categories already within Council. 
So question 1: Are you happy with your representation within the BNMS Council and do you think it is effective? If not, how could it be improved? 
2. Communication and Engagement
Communication with members who fall into each of the different groups varies – there are meetings and newsletters, for example, but it would be helpful to know if you have ideas on how this could be improved upon without putting too much on people who are volunteering their time. 
Something I really want us to look at together is how we have better 2-way communication. I think the BNMS Council does pretty well with communicating outwards – the newsletter and website are pretty good - but I am concerned that Council could be perceived as ‘central government’ where I’d perhaps like to see a bit more ‘local council’. 
I hadn’t realised before I took over as President that BNMS do have regional representatives. I recently met with them, and they are all very approachable and helpful. However, many of them are quite senior with a lot on their plate. I do also suspect a degree of arm twisting may have taken place. However it happened, they are clearly doing it to help the BNMS, but most don’t have the capacity to do much more than pass communication on to local members. It was very useful to talk to them as I do feel this could potentially be another way of having better involvement with our members. 
Maybe rather than looking at local connections of the various different groups, we look at supporting local or regional Nuclear Medicine networks. This might seem ambitious, but there are already links and networks out there, albeit quite variable depending on where you are. So maybe that is something we could build on. Maybe if you would like to be more involved with BNMS, this would be a good place to start? So, if you’d like to get involved at a more regional level, then let me know. It’s just an idea at the moment which needs to be worked out, so I’d really appreciate your thoughts, ideas and most of all, help. 
So question 2: How do you think we can improve our communication, both outwards from Council and 2-way?
3. Member Benefits
This is something else I feel strongly about. What are we all getting out of being a BNMS member? The cheaper conference rates are a definite bonus, and we do get increased membership around conference season. But often our organisation pays for this, so what more can we do to benefit people individually? 
Members all get their NMC, which is great. We are looking at options for this going digital to be more environmentally friendly, but it is complex, and people will have different preferences for this. But however it is delivered, this is a benefit. But often there is someone in the department who has a spare NMC lying around, so is this enough? I’m not sure. 
The BNMS lobbies on our behalf on many things. We engaged extensively to try and minimise the impact Brexit could have had on our services. We develop useful guidance on an ongoing basis and give other specific advice as needed, for example, during Covid. We are currently working with IPEM to encourage Government to look at Technologist registration to recognise the important work being done by Technologists across the country, and the potential risks that go with it. 
That seems like quite a lot to me, but yet, could there be more? I think so. 
So more recently, we introduced a members event the evening before the start of our annual Spring conference. This was something we did for the first time this year in Belfast, and it went really well. We had a great talk by Professor Joe O’Sullivan in a really nice place called The Dark Horse Restaurant, followed by a buffet and a drink for everyone. Non members could attend, but there was a charge and they had to be accompanied by a member. I did worry that people may not want to spend their Sunday evening listening to a talk, but it was absolutely brilliant, and everyone enjoyed the chance to catch up with people before the start of the meeting proper. We are intending to do the same the evening before the start of the Glasgow conference, so please come along if you can. 
Our latest idea for member benefits came from a thought I had about putting on some free live webinars for members. These are going to take place monthly from November onwards and will cover different aspects of research. When I put the idea out there, I had no idea that what was going to come back would be so brilliant! Honestly, the people who are giving their time to share their expertise with you are all so renowned and downright clever, not to mention all lovely, you are in for an absolute treat. Once I saw the titles of the talks and who was going to be speaking, I decided this couldn’t just be a members benefit – they are too good not to share more widely. But although non-members can all join the live events, what we are doing for our members is making them available afterwards in the members area to view at your leisure (although it you want to ask questions you’ll need to join them live). However you view them, I hope you enjoy them – I know I’m going to. The titles and speakers can be seen below - I’ll be hosting them all so look forward to welcoming you.
So third and final question: Can you suggest any other member benefits? 
I hope you feel you are getting good value for your membership – I pay by monthly direct debit, and it adds up to less than the price of a takeaway, or a decent box of chocolates. Definitely worth it (and so are the chocolates!) We may not be able to do everything you suggest, but we can certainly have a think about it and let you know. 

Please send your responses and ideas to me at President@bnms.org.uk preferably by the end of October so we can review these at our next Council meeting, but you can reach me anytime with queries or suggestions at President@bnms.org.uk.
And while we’re asking questions, I’d be really grateful if someone from your department could complete the BNMS survey. I know it’s difficult to find time, but the information we get from it is really vital for understanding, and hopefully developing, our services. Until next time. Jilly
Monthly Research Webinars:
• 12th November Prof Gary Cook Professor of Molecular Imaging King's College London Navigating the Regulatory Requirements to Imaging Research
• 10th December Dr Maggie Cooper PET Chemistry Operations manager for the Positron Emitting Radiopharmaceutical Laboratory (PERL) at King's College London The challenges of producing RP for research trials
• 14th January Prof Jane Sosabowski Professor of Radionuclide Imaging and Therapy, Barts Cancer Institute Implementation of new radionuclides in clinical trials in the UK
• 11th February Dr Ian Newington Assistant Director, Innovations,  NIHR Coordinating Centre NIHR Funding for Clinical Trials and Studies in MRT
• 11th March Dr Juliana Maynard PET Director and Head of Translational Imaging Working Strategically across research councils to ensure collaboration at a national level
• 8th April Dr Jennifer Young Postdoctoral Researcher at King's College London The journey of radiopharmaceuticals from clinical trials to NHS commissioning.
• 13th May Prof Jon Wadsley Consultant Clinical Oncologist, Sheffield Teaching Hospitals Experience of leading a multi-centre MRT trial

Ms Jilly Croasdale

BNMS President