ROYAL COLLEGE OF RADIOLOGISTS BREAST GROUP
MINUTES OF THE ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
DEVONSHIRE PARK CENTRE, EASTBOURNE, 5th November 2001
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Apologies: None received. The meeting was attended by approximately 101 delegates
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Minutes of last AGM: Held on 5th November 2001. These were accepted as a true record
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Matters arising: RCR Breast Group Website is now functioning. Dr Chris Flowers was thanked for all the hard work he has put in to making this a success.
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Constitution: Discussion was held regarding the position of associate membership. There have been a number of requests from radiographers undertaking the extended role, who wish to become associate members. At present our constitution as laid down by RCR does not allow for non-medically qualified personnel to be associate members. It was agreed that radiographers are welcome to register and attend the annual scientific meeting and that as the workforce changes the issue may have to be revisited. However it was pointed out that the college have strong views on this. The point was also made from many in the audience that Symposium Mammographicum provides a good multidisciplinary format for those working in the symptomatic and screening service, and it would be a pity to alter the unique format of the Breast Group meeting to make it more acceptable to the whole workforce.
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Honorary Membership: Dr Sylvie Heywang-Kobrunner, Dr Barbara Thomas and Prof Dan Kopans were proposed as Honorary Members and accepted by the Group.
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Discount for Membership: There had been a query from a retired member regarding eligibility for the discounted fee for the Scientific Meeting. It was reiterated that retired and honorary members do not pay an annual fee and that the constitution does not allow for a discounted fee.
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Bursary: Dr Barter reported that there had been no applications so far and asked members to consider applying for this year’s bursary. The prize for the best poster and oral presentations will be awarded at the end of the scientific meeting. Funds available for Training and Education were discussed by Dr Given-Wilson. Strong support was given to the idea of a visiting professor or lecturer giving master classes at several locations nationwide, and for a reduction in the registration fee for the Annual Scientific meeting for SpRs in training. It was not thought appropriate to offer such a reduction to radiographers in training.
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Pump Priming Grants: The membership was reminded of the availability of this grant
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Guidelines and Protocols: The 5th Edition of Making the Best Use Of a Department of Radiology has been extensively updated with regard to Breast Imaging and is now much more evidence-based. Stuart Field is working on our guidelines being incorporated into the EUSOBI guidelines.
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Treasurers Report: There are currently 425 Members, 6 more than last year. The Membership fund is very healthy. A plea was again made for payment of the annual fee by direct debit to avoid the usual chaos that ensues as people try to register for the reduced rate of the ASM, not realising their membership has elapsed. The Annual SM has a separate account and should just break even this year
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ASM 2002: It was announced that this will be held at Southport on 6th and 7th November 2002. The results of the survey regarding location and funding were presented with the vast majority being against a meeting abroad except perhaps Dublin, mainly due to funding and time constraints. Somewhere in the Midlands e.g. Birmingham or Coventry was suggested by several people as a convenient location for the meeting.
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Officers: It was announced that the result of the ballot for Vice Chairman had been won by Dr Peter Britton from Cambridge Breast Unit, Addenbrookes Hospital.One Nomination had been received for meetings secretary, Dr Janet Litherland from Glasgow, and her nomination was duly accepted. Dr Hilary Dobson comes to the end of her term of office as Treasurer in November 2002 and a successor will be sought. Anybody interested in the post is invited to contact Hilary for further information.
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Disclosure of Audit: to be discussed at length in the session allocated tomorrow. JF gave a brief resume of the background and position to date. The policy of disclosure of audit is on hold for the time being. Working parties have been set up to look at aspects of the impact of disclosure of audit.
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Occupational Standards: Dr Wallis gave a brief resume. There will be a full presentation tomorrow.
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PERFORMS: This is still seen as an educational exercise which is being developed and improved. A film-reader who performs badly compared to others is known as an outlier. In the last 2 film sets there were no severe outliers and only a few mild outliers. The process for dealing with outliers is still being discussed by the Big 18 and a document will be available in the near future. A letter will be sent to the radiologist concerned encouraging them to contact Professor Gayle or discuss this with their peers. If they fail to take no action a second stage of the process, which is still being discussed, will be instituted. There has been representation to the College to increase the CME points allowed for completion of PERFORMS.
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AOB: - Cardiff volunteers to host a meeting in the future - reporting of critical incidents. SB is drafting a form
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Date of next meeting: Monday 4th November 2002 at Southport