Hello PPMA Member and friends

As we are the end of another difficult year, I just want to briefly reflect on the challenges and achievements for our profession over the course of 2022. Since the start of the pandemic, we seem to have been saying that the last year has been like no other, and here we are again…

Who could have predicted the global events and resulting impact on the economy, cost of living, and the knock on multitude of impacts on our workforce. We’ve talked a lot throughout the year via blogs, articles and webinars about the plethora of challenges that we’ve been facing, and more importantly, how to set about overcoming them. It’s when things are really difficult that the power of our networks really comes to the fore, and we’ve shared a lot of innovative ideas, best practice, as well as just sharing the problems! We should be proud of what we’ve achieved and the way in which we’ve got stuck in to a whole new set of challenges.

As an association, I’ve wanted us to have a broad set of priorities rather than a narrow theme, as this recognises the breadth of our membership, which continues to go from strength to strength. Our talent programmes have also flourished during 2022, and the annual conference at the end of April 2023 (26th to 28th in Birmingham) will give us a chance to celebrate a wide range of individual and collective achievements.

Happy New Year, and here’s to a positive (and busy!) 2023!

Gordon McFarlane, PPMA President