11 July 2023

Introducing the Janet Goodwin Educational Grant

The Oral Health Foundation, in collaboration with the British Association of Dental Nurses, are very excited to introduce the Janet Goodwin Educational Grant. 

This is a financial award to assist your dental nurses in achieving their full potential and becoming a further asset to your practice, from those getting their dental nursing diploma through to those upskilling via post-qualification education to extend their day-to-day duties.

So, if you have any trainee dental nurses who is funding their own dental nursing diploma examinations themselves, they can apply for a bursary to help them cover course and examination fees. 

They can apply for funding of up to £500.

Or maybe all of your nurses are already qualified and registered with the General Dental Council, never underestimate the value of ‘upskilling’.  Many dental nurses and would love to further their dental careers and with these extra qualifications, they will become a much more valuable member of your dental team.   Post-qualification courses and education will aways increase job satisfaction, aid your practices’ staff retention level, and add value to the overall patient experience.

Working with a dental nurse that is qualified to carry out extra duties, will also help you to work in a more effective way, you can delegate more of your simpler treatments and save your valuable treatment time.

Why not encourage your nurses to have a look at extended duties courses, such as:

• Oral health education
• Dental radiography
• Dental implant nursing
• Orthodontic dental nursing
• Dental sedation nursing
• Fluoride varnish application
• Special care dental nursing
• Impression taking

Maybe one of the reasons that your dental nurses have not explored further education could be the associated costs. If they were awarded one of these grants, this would help lessen the financial burden. 

This grant is in honour of the late Janet Goodwin. If you did not know Janet Goodwin, or never had the pleasure of meeting her, please take a few moments to read our piece (on page xx) explaining how and why this educational grant would be so important to her.

We want this grant to be a lasting legacy for successful dental nurses, allowing them to further their dental journey.

As a bonus, the successful applicants will each receive a signed copy of Tits Up – a wonderful and insightful book by a great friend of Janet’s, and ex-employee of the NEBDN, Carol Patterson. The book documents Carol’s own breast cancer journey – the disease that ultimately took Janet Goodwin’s life.

Visit www.dentalhealth.org/janetgoodwingrant to find out more about the grant, the criteria, and to complete the application form.

Applications close on 17 August 2023.