ABDO held its annual consultation meeting online on Sunday 30 October. The annual event brings together board and staff members to report on the organisation’s recent activities, whilst giving members the chance to put forward any questions they might have.
After a welcome from the general secretary, Tony Garrett, ABDO president Daryl Newsome gave a report of the Association’s activities for 2021.
Daryl said: “The purpose of the ABDO members consultation day is to give the ABDO board of directors the opportunity to report the previous year’s activities to the membership. Our summery report of 2021 was presented by myself as ABDO president. The event went well, with six reports from senior staff before our Q&A r session. Overall, I felt the day was successful and fulfilled its purpose.”
Mr Pavanakumar, ABDO chief finance officer (CFO), delivered the financial statement of accounts of the Association for the year 2021, which was followed by questions.
The ABDO Benevolent Fund annual meeting was held immediately after ABDO’s annual meeting. Its chair, Jo Holmes, gave a report on activities, then Mr Pavanakumar gave a financial report for 2021. Retiring trustees, David Kirk and Maureen Taylor, were thanked for their service. and the ABDO board nomination of Mike Cody and Jill Umpleby as new trustees was ratified. Heather Hows was re-elected. There were then questions to the chair of the Benevolent Fund and CFO.
Alistair Bridge, ABDO head of strategy, gave an update on the General Optical Council’s (GOC) ongoing review of the Opticians Act. This was followed by an update on the GOC Education Strategic Review and DO apprenticeships by Miranda Richardson, ABDO head of education and examinations. Alex Webster, ABDO head of CPD, then discussed progress with the GOC CPD scheme transition during 2021/22 and outlined the Association’s CPD plans for 2023.
Debbie McGill, ABDO head of policy and public affairs, spoke on progress in the devolved nations, while Antonia Chitty, ABDO head of communications and IT, spoke about ABDO communications activities and the Association’s ongoing sustainability campaign.
The event concluded with a look at the year ahead with Alistair Bridge and Nick Walsh, ABDO head of corporate development. Questions from members followed, and covered topics ranging from career development to menopause.
View a recording of the event here.