2013 AGM minutes

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• Attendance and apologies
• Minutes of the 2011 AGM
• Dean's Report

• Balance sheet and income and expenditure account

• Declaration of the poll for election to the Board
  
• Dean's Prize presentation
  
• Best Free Paper Award
• Other business

1.  Attendance and apologies

Present:

B Moore (Dean and Chair), E Shipton (Vice Dean), C Arnold, F Beswick, C Brooker, C Chung, P Cox, C De Neef, M Cohen, M Craigie, R Garrick, C Goucke, P Gray, P Hardy, N Harris, C Hayes, W Howard, C Johnstone, D Jones, D Kapur, P Macintyre, G Mendleson, D McCoy, F New, F Noore, C Orlikowski, G Palmer, M Sarma, S Schug, A Somogyi, G Speldewinde, K Thompson, M Vagg, M Viney, P Wrigley, A Zacest

In attendance:

Apologies:

P Briscoe, M Pollack, J Quinter, G Rice, O Williamson

The Dean welcomed Fellows to the Annual General Meeting.

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2.   Minutes of Annual General Meeting of Fellows held on 13 May 2012

There being no amendment, the Dean moved, seconded E Shipton, that the minutes be accepted as an accurate record.

Resolution:                        B Moore / D McCoy

That the Minutes be accepted as an accurate record.

Carried.

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3.   To receive and consider the report by the Dean on behalf of the affairs of the Faculty

The Dean presented an abbreviated version of the Faculty 2012 Annual Report.  The full report year can be accessed at http://www.anzca.edu.au/communications/Annual%20reports/pdfs/ANZCA%20annual%20report%202012%20FINAL.pdf

Substantial progress was made toward developing the new curriculum for implementation in 2015. Phase 1 of the project was completed including the curriculum framework and accompanying program for the training of junior specialist pain medicine physicians. Project information videos were developed and published on the FPM website in advance of webinars and face-to-face regional forums early in 2013 intended to give Fellows and trainees the opportunity to provide feedback.

The Vice-Dean, Professor E A Shipton, noted the debt to Fellows in phase 1 of the project. The Vice-Dean also congratulated Project Steering Group and Project Management Group members for all their hard work in 2012. Stage 2 of the project will commence shortly with the development of small working groups. The Faculty has called on Fellows to volunteer to produce the learning objectives and content of the curriculum.

As part of the re-accreditation of the College’s training and continuing professional development programs, the Faculty provided a comprehensive submission to the Australian Medical Council (AMC) for ongoing accreditation at the end of March 2012. Following consideration of the submission, the AMC undertook consultations at the College offices and accredited training sites as well as undertaking a survey of key stakeholder groups. In December, the Faculty was advised by the AMC that its training program in pain medicine and its continuing professional development program had been granted accreditation to December 31, 2018.

The Dean acknowledged the considerable assistance of the College in helping the Faculty through this process. The Dean acknowledged the work of FPM Director of Professional Affairs (DPA), Professor Milton Cohen, and General Manager (GM),  Ms Helen Morris, in the ongoing reporting to the AMC.

Recognition of pain medicine as a scope of practice in New Zealand by the Medical Council of New Zealand was welcome news after a lengthy application process. The new scope and its associated qualification (Fellowship of the Faculty of Pain Medicine of the Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists – FFPMANZCA) came into effect on December 3. Accreditation was granted for a five-year period. The Dean congratulated the New Zealand Fellows and staff who made this possible.

The new GP Online educational program, a collaboration between FPM, the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) and the Bupa Health Foundation, was successfully delivered in 2012 and launched at both the FPM Spring Meeting in Coolum in September, and at the RACGP GP12 meeting on the Gold Coast in October. Six one hour modules with content were provided by a number of Faculty Fellows at the invitation of the FPM Education Committee. The Faculty shares the intellectual property with the RACGP and will continue to expand and deliver further online education.

A number of initiatives relating to the Faculty’s 2010-2012 Strategic Plan were advanced in 2012 and are detailed in the annual report: In 2012, an updated strategic plan for 2013-2017 was developed in alignment with ANZCA’s planning process and launched at the Faculty’s Spring Meeting in Coolum. Arising from the workshops and consultations, the Faculty’s driving aim for 2013-2017 is “building strength”. Key pillars of the strategy will be to:

·         Build fellowship and the Faculty.

·         Build the curriculum and knowledge.

·         Build advocacy and access.

The Faculty shares the College’s mission “to serve the community by fostering safety and high quality patient care in anaesthesia, perioperative medicine and pain medicine”. The vision for the FPM is “to reduce the burden of pain in society through education, advocacy, training and research”.

It has been an informative process for Board. The Faculty has streamlined many processes to align with the Strategic Plan. The Dean thanked Ms Linda Sorrell and Ms Helen Morris for conducting the successful strategic planning process.

The Faculty contributed to over 20 submissions during 2012. The Dean thanked the FPM DPA, Professor Milton Cohen, for his work in contributing to these submissions over the past year.

The Faculty provided successful regional representation in NSW towards the NSW Pain Management Plan that has allocated $26 million of funding over four years to support the development of new pain management services in regional areas, enhance existing teaching, hospital services and support research into chronic pain.

As part of this plan, $300,000 of annual recurrent funding has been allocated to support the benchmarking of outcomes in chronic pain across NSW via the electronic Persistent Pain Outcomes Collaboration (ePPOC).  A two-year pilot study will commence in NSW in 2013 with this funding.

Dr Charles Brooker (NSW) reported that there were five new training positions in NSW as part of this funding. The Dean congratulated NSW Fellows, including Dr Brooker and Dr Chris Hayes, who lobbied for the funding.

The FPM stream at the Perth ASM and Refresher Course Day were promoted to the media with the highlights being FPM Fellow Dr Bob Large talking about hypnosis and pain management; US based ANZCA ASM Visitor Professor Ruth Landau talking about the role of oxytocins in pain relief; and Fremantle pain specialist Dr Stephanie Davies outlining the success of the STEPS (Self-Training Educative Pain Sessions) program in helping patients selfmanage their pain. These stories alone generated 97 media reports, accessed by an estimated 2.7 million people.

The Faculty also contributed funding and representation to Painaustralia to support the implementation of the National Pain Strategy recommendations. The Faculty expanded the educational podcast library for FPM Fellows and trainees.

The Dean opened up the meeting to questions.

Dr David Jones queried the Federal Government’s commitment to an opioid prescribing registry.  The Dean noted that the Faculty had advocated for this registry for a long time. The Dean reported that the Federal Government and State Governments are trying to agree on appropriate licensing and release of information across the regulating bodies. The DPA confirmed that the ANZCA Policy office was monitoring the situation. Following a query from a Fellow, the DPA agreed that the Australasian Chapter of Addiction Medicine (AChAM) and the Faculty could coordinate a targeted approach in this matter.

The DPA also noted that a meeting with the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee (PBAC) was anticipated in June, once PBAC have had reviewed 12 months of utilization data, available to them by the end of April.

Dr Lindy Roberts, ANZCA President, congratulated Associate Professor Brendan Moore on the Faculty’s accomplishments in his first year as Dean. President Roberts also noted that the ANZCA Media Award was won by a pain medicine story in the weekend Australian. The Dean thanked President Roberts and noted that the assistance from the College, especially President Roberts and ANZCA CEO, Ms Linda Sorrell, was incredibly beneficial to the Faculty.

Dr Geoffrey Speldewinde queried whether the Faculty had considered the use of social media in advocacy and engagement. Ms Linda Sorrell, ANZCA CEO, noted that the communications department had considered the use of social media. During the ASM, twitter feeds and media alerts are being distributed. Social media is used for certain events, but not used widely.

The Dean moved, seconded Dr Diarmuid McCoy, that the Dean’s Report be accepted. The Dean put the motion which was carried.

Resolution:                        D Jones / D McCoy

That the Dean’s report be accepted.

4.   To receive the balance sheet and income and expenditure account

The Governance Report to December 2012 was circulated at the meeting. For the first time in five years, the Faculty had a small operational deficit, which was mostly attributed to an overestimation of subscription and trainee registration income. The expenses of the Faculty were favourable against budget and the Faculty continues to manage expenditure responsibly.

Dr Geoffrey Speldewinde queried if the financials from the 2012 Spring Meeting were available. The Dean undertook to liaise with Dr Speldewinde about the 2012 Spring Meeting report. Fellows were reminded that they could contact the Faculty Dean or General Manager if they had any enquiries with regard to this report.

Resolution:                        From the Chair

That the Balance Sheet and Income and Expenditure Account be received.

Carried.

5.   To receive the declaration of the poll for election

There being two nominations for one position, the Board election was conducted on 8 April 2012. There were 123 envelopes returned, 21 invalid and 102 votes counted.   

The results of the Board election are:

*Successful

[Subsequent to the AGM Meeting, Professor Stephan Schug was co-opted as the WA Representative and Dr Kieran Davis was co-opted as the North Island of NZ Representative to the Board].

6.   Dean's Prize presentation

The FPM Dean’s Prize has been developed to promote and encourage research, and is open to Trainees of the Faculty and of the five participating professional bodies of the FPM or FPM Fellows within eight years of admission to their original Fellowship.

                Dean’s Prize:                                      Dr Chui Chin Chong

Analgesic efficacy of oral versus sublingual ketamine.

7.   Best Free Paper Award

The Best Free Paper Award is open to presenters in the FPM Best Free paper session not eligible for the Dean’s Prize.

The Dean announced the prize winner of the FPM Best Free paper session:

Best Free Paper Award:                                Associate Professor David Champion

Genetic influences and associations of common idiopathic/functional pain syndromes of childhood: evidence from twin family case-control studies.

8.   Other business of which due notice has been given to the Executive Officer     in accordance with the Regulations of the Faculty

The Dean acknowledged the incredible work of Dr Frank New on the Board over the last eight years. Dr New was warmly thanked by the Faculty.

There being no further business the Dean thanked Fellows for their participation and closed the meeting at 12.30pm.

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