ROYAL COLLEGE OF RADIOLOGISTS BREAST GROUP
MINUTES OF ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
The British Empire and Commonwealth Museum, Bristol
Monday 5 November 2007
Chair: Dr Erika Denton
Approximately 110 members in attendance
1. Apologies.
None received.
2. Minutes of 2005 meeting
Accepted as a correct record.
3. Matters arising – not on agenda
None.
4. Officers
Professor Fiona Gilbert from Aberdeen was successful in the ballot for Vice-Chairman to succeed Mike Michell who will now take over the role of Chairman from Erika Denton. Gary Rubin from Brighton was successful in the ballot for meetings secretary and will take over from Janet Litherland.
5. Treasurer’s report
There are currently 504 members. The group has a financial balance of £29,049.77 as of 5 November 2007 with £5-6,000 due this month in subscriptions. The treasurer stated that owing to difficulties in collecting subscriptions by cheque, only renewals by direct debit will now be accepted.
6. Subscription fees
These will be held at the current level of £15.00 per annum for the time being.1.
7. UKRC 2008
(Mon 2 - Wed 4 June 2008) The Breast session will be on the Wednesday. The importance of maintaining radiologist involvement was stressed by Matthew Wallis and Erika Denton. Members were encouraged to submit ideas for sessions to the UKRC organising committee. A member asked whether the UKRC and RCR meetings can be reunited. Erika Denton advised members to write to the Dean of the RCR, Gill Markham if they support this.
8. BIG Professorship
Iain Lyburn was thanked for his work over the last year as BIG Professor. The recent postal strike has delayed the interviews for next year’s BIG Professor which will be held in the week beginning 12 November 2007. There are two applicants.
9. Hodgkin’s surveillance
Matthew Wallis described the process of submitting forms to the Cancer Screening Evaluation Unit. These are available on the RCR Breast Group website. The need for auditing the Hodgkin’s surveillance work was stressed. An issue has been raised regarding consent for audit but MW stated that these women should have been counselled that their investigations would be audited. A member commented that he had not received details of the audit and was advised to look at the website.
10. Breast imaging reporting guidelines & exemplar reports
Erika Denton reported that the RCR had requested examples of breast imaging reports from the RCR Breast Group for a document on reporting standards which is currently in preparation. Progress within the college appears slow. The submitted exemplar reports will be made available on the RCR Breast group website. In addition a document describing a proposed standardisation of the 1-5 scoring system for breast imaging was mentioned. When the draft has been finalised this will be emailed out and placed on the website for consultation with members.
11. Proposal for Breast Audit and Research executive member
Erika Denton stated that links were to be made with the NCRI and Cancer Research UK in an attempt to improve the RCR Breast Group research infrastructure. This will then be reviewed and possibly funding sought for research support.
12. Breast radiology training curriculum
Erika Denton stated that this has been rewritten to comply with PMETB requirements. This includes removing the stipulation for a certain minimum number of examinations and procedures to have been performed by trainees. The original draft document which includes these numbers will be uploaded to the RCRBG website. A member requested that notification of changes to the website should be emailed to the members. Anthony Maxwell made a plea for members to notify him of changes in their email addresses. Chris Flowers stated that he would look into reinstating the automatic email notification system of web page changes
13. Cancer Reform Strategy
Publication of this has been delayed until December.
14. Breast ultrasound by Breast Care Nurses
It has come to the attention of the Executive that an advert for an ultrasound course for Breast Care Nurses involved in breast cancer follow-up has recently been circulated by Breakthrough Breast Cancer. The membership were advised that the executive were dealing with this. It is felt to be inappropriate for Breast Care Nurses to be involved in breast ultrasound unless they have expertise in other areas of breast imaging, with the exception of the use of ultrasound to guide seroma aspiration. Mike Michell is to draft a letter to Jeremy Hughes of Breakthrough Breast Cancer to this effect.
15. Screening extension
There was a long discussion regarding the recent announcement by the Prime Minister that the NHS Breast Screening Programme will be extended to include invitations to women from 47 to 73 years of age. The level of infra-structure and support which will be made available is unclear at present. A member commented that there was no evidence for a survival benefit from screening women over 70 or below 50. The proposal for a randomised introduction of the screening extension was discussed but it was felt there would be difficulties with this in view of the decision to implement the programme which has already been made. The group will be circulated with further information when this becomes available.
16. Clinical Excellence Awards
The closing date for submission of applications to the college was 5 November. The current system was described by Erika Denton. Whilst the RCR Breast Group is unable to submit citations directly to the ACCEA, it can write to the college about appropriate individuals to support the college’s citation process. It is recommended therefore that applications for CEAs from group members be submitted to the RCRBG in addition to the RCR.
17. Website
Chris Flowers advised that the front page of the website had recently been redesigned such that it now contains links to all current items of news. It was noted that Chris will shortly be departing to work in San Francisco and that he has volunteered to carry on as webmaster for the time being. A call was again made for potential successors who could if necessary be given training for this.
18. Critical incidents
Sue Barter stated that 23 reports had been received in the 2006/7 year. She described three high risk cases in whom side confusion had arisen at breast MR due to the default prone patient position selection having been changed during machine servicing. Members were advised to be vigilant about this. Other reported critical incidents included equipment failure, specimen identification errors, problems with film filing and loading, side confusion and clerical communication. A brief report will be loaded on the website. Sue Barter was thanked for her continuing work by the chairman.
19. Honorary membership
Debra Ikeda was proposed by Erika Denton. This was agreed by a majority on a show of hands.
20. RCRBG bursary / Pump priming grants
Two members received a bursary this year to attend the Tabar course. A further £1500 will be available next year to be awarded to up to two members. Applications are invited, and members are encouraged to promote the bursary to any interested SpRs.
Erika Denton also mentioned the RCR Pump Priming Grant for research, worth £5000. She noted that the previous stipulation that applicants should have less than 5 years of consultant experience had been removed.
The 2009 Rohan Williams Travelling Professorship was also described and applications are encouraged. This involves a lecture visit to New Zealand and Australia and is available to UK diagnostic radiologists every 8 years, jointly funded by the respective colleges. Details are contained in a recent RCR flyer and on the RCR website.
21. Annual Scientific Meeting 2008
Janet Litherland apologised for the slightly less than ideal venue for the current meeting which was due to closure of the venue which had originally been booked. The 2008 meeting will be held at the Church House Conference Centre, Westminster, London on Monday 3 and Tuesday 4 November.
22. Any other business
a) Matthew Wallis, who becomes president of EUSOBI in 2008, described the radiology fellowship organised by the European Society of Radiology for trainees from ‘New Europe’. Three breast training fellowships have been set up. One fellow is currently working in Cambridge, the other two in Italy. A call will go out shortly for sites to host further fellows, these being year 4 or 5 trainees. Centres will be expected to teach breast imaging for up to 3 months. MW also described the school of breast imaging which has been set up by EUSOBI. This consists of a series of training sessions held over a long weekend in Europe, and members were invited to let Matthew know if they were interested in taking part in teaching on these.
b) Mike Michell thanked Janet Litherland and Erika Denton for their sterling efforts in support of the RCR Breast Group, and bouquets of flowers were presented.
23. Date of next meeting
Monday 3 November 2008 in London.