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MINUTES OF COUNCIL MEETINGS
Minutes of the Council Meeting 15th October 2004
1. Members present: Mr Frank Collins President Prof Richard Lewis Secretary Dr Christine O’Brien Treasurer Dr Charles Pantin Jean Crutchley Apologies: Sr Ann-Marie Whiting
2. Minutes of previous meeting The minutes of the AGM Friday 19th March 2004 were held as a correct record. 3. Matters arising All matters arising were discussed under separate headings below. 4. Research Group It was reiterated by Charles Pantin that the Research Group requires a fresh start, preferably with new blood in the group. The cash support for the group was likely to still be forthcoming on request from Bayer. It is possible that two fresh aspects could result in progress of this group, firstly to include audit under the remit, and secondly to appoint a paid part time person who could act to carry initiatives forward. Action: Charles Pantin to write a piece for the website on what the Research Group has achieved in the past (to include publications directly relatled to the research initiatives) and to outline what the Research Group has to offer new members (including non-medical). Also to look into the feasibility of provision of a paid support worker for the Research Audit Group. 5. MTS Constitution Richard Lewis outlined how the current constitution written in 1984 is anachronistic taking into consideration the expanded membership of the Society, and in particular the expansion of the nursing membership. It was agreed that RL should draft a revised Constitution for consideration by the Committee prior to putting the Constitution to the full membership at the next AGM. This should include a section on the role of the Treasurer which was 1. to ensure collection of subscriptions, 2. to prepare and arrange for audit of the Society’s accounts, to pay bills, and advice meetings of the Society concerning the current financial situation. The make up of the committee was discussed. It was felt that the current 3 nurses on the committee, whilst good because it reflects the increased nurse membership, is infact too many and that the membership should include the following if possible (even if the total number exceeds 10); a surgical representative, an SpR (preferably starting in their 2nd year), a health care scientist, the Webmaster, and a “younger” consultant. Although not written in the previous constitution it was felt that in general members should serve for a period of three years. The name of the President Elect was considered, and it was agreed that Professor Sherwood Burge should be approached. Action: Richard Lewis to draft a revised constitution. 6. Raising awareness and recruitment of members Richard Lewis outlined the need for the Society to be a useful resource for the rapidly increasing numbers of doctors, including the 50 + SpRs, nurses, physios, healthcare scientists, and allied healthcare professionals. There are clearly a number of current databases which can be accessed to enable information and invitations to join the MTS to be extended to these groups. As part of this initiative RAL prepared an A4 sheet to introduce benefits of membership, encourage membership, and enable non-members to update their addresses job titles and in particular, their email addresses. The aim is to create a large database of members and non-members who can be mailed in good time about the various meetings of the Society. The level of subscriptions were discussed in case these were considered to be a bar to expansion of the membership. Christine O’Brien explained that the current subscriptions provided the necessary funds to subsidise nurse study days (on NIV), and to provide the two travel bursaries. It was felt that if finances were constrained then study days should be a priority on finances. It was decided that the fees should remain at £10 pa for non-doctors, and should increase to be a flat rate of £25 for all doctors to reflect the increased salaries of SpRs in recent years. The definition of a “member” of the MTS was discussed. (ie who should be able to claim reduced fees for MTS meetings. It was felt that a “member” was a person who had paid the appropriate fee for that year. Therefore a list of “members” should be made available to those in receipt of cheques for forthcoming meetings. Action: RAL to complete preparation of the A4 information sheet, in order to mail to all the membership and other contacts to enable the construction of an accurate and extensive database, and to encourage new membership. This is to include new information provided by Lynn Betteridge following the Stoke meeting of the MTS, and the database of the West Midlands SpRs. RAL to check with Alison Pooler how long she is due to serve on the Council. Jean Crutchley to send details of the database of the West Midlands Respiratory Interest Group, and Trevor Watts and Keith Butterfield to be approached to provide details of the database of healthcare scientists and allied health professionals. Christine O’Brien to provide RAL with an appropriate direct debt forms to attach to the A4 information sheets. 7. Nursing issues Jean Crutchley explained that the West Midlands Respiratory Interest Group had requested that a separate afternoon programme should be provided for the nurses and other interested members. This had worked well at today’s Stoke meeting. It was felt that the Plenary sessions should be of broad interest, and this was to be clarified in the “Instructions for running an MTS meeting”. There had been a highly successful Study Day for the West Midlands Respiratory Interest Group in April 2004 at the Stafford County Showground. It was planned for this group to meet 4 times a year, twice at the MTS 6 monthly meetings, and twice separately. Action: RAL to revise the instructions to include the need for broad based plenary sessions, and also to provide tea and coffee on arrival at the MTS meeting. Jean Crutchley is going to work with the organisers of the next Spring 2005 Queen Elizabeth / Selly Oak meeting concerning the parallel session to include Nurse Prescribing. JC to send RAL a copy of the April 04 Showground programme. 8. PAM issues In the absence of Trevor Watts these were not discussed, except to read and note the contents of the letter from Keith Butterfield. 9. Doctors issues These issues have been included in other sections of these minutes. 10. Future meetings Dr Jonathan Sheldon and Dr Paul Beckett had accepted an invitation to run the Autumn 2005 meeting, and this was accepted by the Council. RAL outlined the need to plan meetings further into the future to enable hosts to have plenty of time to think about and plan their meetings. The following hosts were to be invited.
Spring 2005 Queen Elizabeth / Selly Oak, Bill Tunnicliffe agreed. Autumn 2005 Burton on Trent: Jonathan Sheldon and Paul Beckett Spring 2006 Shrewsbury. Dr Warren Perks and colleagues Autumn 2006 Heartlands. Dr Bev Bannerjee Spring 2007 Coventry. Dr Paul Dhillon Autumn 2007 Good Hope. Dr Tim Fletcher
The Spring 2005 meeting will include the MTS travel bursary presentations. These could be posters for nurses (possibly with a very brief bullet points for the session: 2 minutes), 6 could be shortlisted out of those submitted. Doctors should be required to undertake verbal presentations (strictly timed 10 mins leaving 5 mins for discussion. No overrun, using Powerpoint. 4 talks should be shortlisted out of those submitted for the bursary. 11. Finances Dr O’Brien reported that reserves were health at £13,077. The Spring 2004 meeting had resulted in a deficit of £727. Action CO’B to check up on actual costs of the NIV study day. 12. Any other business JC discussed the possibility of running various audit projects across the W.Midlands. Action JC to prepare a paper of audit. 13. Date of next meeting 27 January 2005 at Jonathan’s Restaurant at 7pm meeting then meal.
Minutes of the Council Meeting 27th Jan 2005 1. Members present: Christine O’Brien Ann-Marie Whiting Jean Critchley Richard Lewis
2. Apologies Frank Collins Charles Pantin Trefor Watts Santi Vathenan
3. Minutes of previous meeting The Minutes of the previous meeting on 15th October were held as a correct record
4. Matters arising These were considered under the headings below, and much of the discussion centred around the revision of the Constitution.
5. Research Group This subject was not discussed in the absence of Dr Charles Pantin
6. MTS Constitution The attached constitution was written by the Hon. Secretary taking into consideration the viewpoints of the Council members at the previous meeting. It was accepted for presentation to the AGM on April 15th 2005 with very minor amendments.
7. Raising awareness and recruitment leaflet The new recruitment leaflet was submitted by the Hon Secretary and discussed by the members. Minor amendments were made, and the leaflet will be printed and distributed to the members individually, and be available at the next meeting of the MTS. The plan is to use the leaflet attached for three purposes, firstly to update the record of the current membership, secondly to use the leaflet to ensure that members have a simple means to update their information in the future, and thirdly to use to encourage new members to join the Society.
8. Website issues
It was felt that the MTS website would be a vital resource for the Society in the future for communication to the membership about meetings etc, and also for communication to the Council from members about change of address, email, etc. It could be a place for downloading information and presentations from previous meetings of the Society as well as membership forms, direct debit forms etc. The webmaster, Dr Santi Vathenan was invited to attend but was indisposed. He kindly sent a message outlining his feelings about the website which are summarised as follows:- a. The website needs to be continually updated at least once a month with minutes of meetings, information about future meetings, council meeting dates etc. b. The site needs to be interactive. The site should be a means of communication for the members, there may be an SpR section to include SpR training and timetables, and all members could choose email as a preferred method of communication c. An MTS email group could be set up as a means of communication between members d. It should be possible to include all abstracts submitted to the meeting for the various prizes and highlights of the winning presentations.
Dr Vathenan kindly expressed his willingness to continue as webmaster for the timebeing, but would be happy to hand over the responsibility if someone was keen to take over. He agreed with the council members that the webmaster should be a routine member of the council. This will be included in the new draft constitution.
9. Financial isssues
The hon treasurer said that the current financial position was that the Spring meeting Wolverhampton reported a deficit of £727 but subsequent payments of £900 from Glaxo and £1000 from Astra Zeneca have turned the financial outcome into a profit of £1,173! Overall balance on that date was £14,956.34
10. Future meetings
The next meeting of the Society was being run by Drs Gompertz and Dr Bill Tunnicliffe on 15th April 2005, and the following meeting in the Autumn by Dr Jonathan Sheldon and Dr Paul Beckett in Shrewsbury. The Spring meeting in 2006 will be run by Dr Warren Perks and colleagues in Shrewsbury.
11. Date of next meeting
The next meeting will be held after the Autumn meeting of the MTS in Burton |
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Thoracic Society
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