Primary Care Society for Gastroenterology Minutes of AGM

Event Details

Date: November 6, 2015 – January 5, 2016
Venue: Royal College of General Practitioners

Primary Care Society for Gastroenterology

Minutes of AGM held on 6^th November 2015

RCGP, Euston Square, London

Present: Dr Jamie Dalrymple (JD) – Chairman

Dr John Galloway (JG)– Treasurer

Dr Helen Griffiths (HG) – Secretary

Quorum representation from PCSG committee, society members and Orbital Satellite PR.

Apologies:

Tany Sheth

Steven Fox

Minutes of last meeting: Were agreed.

Matters Arising: There were no matters arising

PCSG constitution: HG advised of a breach in the constitution and apologised for the same. JD announced his decision to stand down as chair earlier in the year. At the committee meeting in June 2015 Richard Stevens was proposed as his successor and agreed by the committee, with formal handover to take place at the AGM. However, members were not notified of the proposal three weeks before the AGM as per the constitution to enable any member to propose an alternative. Those present were asked to accept a proposal that the nomination for Richard Stevens would stand as an interim appointment with full election at next years AGM. This was approved by those present. Any nominations for an alternative chairperson need to be made in writing to the secretariat. Individuals must have been a member of the society for not less than 5 years and have served on the committee or one of its sub committees.

HG announced that a sub group will be reviewing and revising the constitution in the coming 12 months.

Officers Reports:

6.1 Chairpersons report (JD)

My final report as Chair of the PCSG covers the period from 2007 to the present time; a retrospective view of the last 8 years in the fortunes of the society.

Over this time the society has gone from strength to strength and it is fair to say that the starting point was fairly low; the society was on its uppers as a result of the economic downturn. We had lost a number of sponsors and halcyon days of unrestricted sponsorship had gone. Our membership was at an all time low and it looked like the PCSG would follow in the footsteps of a number of primary care societies that had folded.

However, with the support of the committee and the membership, underpinned by the brilliant Pauline Kent and Kirsty Moulsley, the society recovered and we overcame these obstacles. Today we have a society with over 1000 members and a much more secure financial base. As a result we are able to remain the voice of primary care gastroenterology and we continue to influence and shape the future of the care of people with gastrointestinal disorders in the community.

Over this time, the role of our society has changed with the re-birth and publication of our in-house journal ‘the Digest’. This journal, under the editorship of Richard Stevens and Charlotte Phillips has become a ‘must read’ publication in general practice as well as the wider gastroenterological landscape. This journal compliments our new relationship with doctors.net and together they have brought the society into the consciousness of over 50,000 doctors. An aspiration we would have never contemplated 8 years ago.

It is with a great deal of pride that I look at our society. It is success is due to the hard work of the committee and members and sterling efforts of Pauline and her team.

6.2 Treasurers Report (JG)

Since this time last year the PCSG has published the Digest in paper form, and digitally via Zmags. We have sponsored our endoscopy members to attend Endolive rather than host the Endoscopy symposium. We have had a session at the DDW and finally our ASM.

The income to the society has been £129,253 from educational grants.

The running costs without meetings, including the cost of producing the Digest, Officers honoraria, Accountancy, bookkeeping, Satellite PR costs, website maintenance is £134000.

Meetings costs exceed £20000 per year.

The outgoings have considerably exceeded income to date and last year I estimated that the society required £200,000 to run. As a consequence the PCSG float is now down to £80,000.

However we are expecting, before the end of the year a further £45-50,000 which should cover all our outgoings for this year. We will need to control our budget next year in line with educational grants to maintain solvency.

In line with this Pauline Kent has prepared a budget for the society for 2016. Expected income is £160,000 and this should exceed the expected spend for the year leaving us with a float of £95,000 by year-end 2016.

6.3 Secretaries report (HG)

HG reported another year of successful meetings over the last 12 months and representation as a society at other meetings including the Best Practice conference at the NEC in October and the UEGW and WONCA, increasing the profile and membership of the society and attracting new sponsors. HG thanked Satellite PR for the enormous amount of work they have put in to achieve this.

The committee has met twice this year ahead of DDF and ASM meeting helping to keep down costs and the officers have had regular teleconferences with Satellite PR.

This years meetings:

Endolive meeting, 12^th and 13^th March 2015, Birmingham

Instead of hosting a separate meeting this year the society decided to sponsor places at the live endoscopy meeting at the ICC Birmingham. 18 places were sponsored. As a first event the meeting was well attended and evaluated. A smaller session will be incorporated into this years BSG meeting with a further separate live endoscopy meeting already in the planning stage for March 2017.

DDF, Meeting June 2015

BSG was a joint meeting this year with DDF, held at the Excel centre in London and was well attended. Looking at transitional care.

ASM, 6^th November 2015

This meeting at the RCGP in Euston Square is the last of our annual meetings and an important part of the societies calendar.

If you wish to become more involved in the society though committee work, helping with our sponsors or contributing to our education meetings please contact either Satellite PR or the secretary for further information.