Notes of the Council Meeting Held on Wednesday 6th June 2007.
This was Mr Williams last meeting as webmaster and he thanked everyone who had helped him over the last three years. There had been no progress with a formal contract with Jonah Jones, the web provider and it would now be the responsibility of the new webmaster to take this forward. Dr Smith announced that Dr Duvall had agreed to take on this role and thanked both Mr Williams for his hard work on our behalf and Dr Duvall for taking on the role.
Dr Desai reported that she and Dr Turnbull had undertaken a series of visits to diffent QARCs with a view to recruiting laboratories to the project. To date 26 laboratories had agreed to take part but 55 were needed. The volunteer laboratories would need to be equally split between SurePath and ThinPrep. It was hoped that the preliminary definition work would be sent out in August with a view to starting the study in September.
Dr Denton reported that the document had been formally agreed by the IBMS, NAC and RCPath. No formal comment had been received from the BSCCP. The next stage therefore was to submit the document for publication in Cytopathology as previously agreed.
Dr Smith thanked Dr Chandra for his hard work and noted that the Exfoliative Cytology COP had been circulated for final comment. However Dr Smith was concerned that if we were to submit the document for publication in Cytopathology as previously agreed there was a need to improve the referencing and evidence base. He also suggested that an introductory paragraph similar to that used in NHSCSP document No 20 should be placed at the beginning of the document explaining that where possible guidance was based on published evidence but where this was not possible it was made on the basis of what was considered best practice. Dr’s Giles and Chandra agreed to add references where possible and have the final document ready for the September Council meeting.
Dr Smith reported that he had received a letter form Julietta Patnick confirming that the proposed study into double bi-directional screening of Surepath samples was now considered to be unnecessary and this matter was now closed.
Dr Herbert reported that she had done some work on a formal response. It was agreed that Dr Smith would review this work with Dr Herbert before forwarding to the RCPath, who are better placed to take such concerns forward.
Dr Herbert spoke to the previously circulated document prepared by Dr Young and herself for discussion.
Dr Hemming raised her concerns about the amount and complexity of work required of HBPCs. Council agreed this was a real issue. Dr Herbert was also concerned about the potential issues of writing reports once internal slide reviews had taken place and the potential for this to cause problems should cases become the subject of litigation. She felt that an RCPath study day to cover this would be very useful. Mr Dudding agreed but suggested that this sort of information should also be passed onto the QARCs who are tending to facilitate the whole process. Dr Smith agreed that this was a potentially very worrying area and suggested that he put our concerns about this and other practical areas in a letter to the NHSCSP. Council agreed that Dr Smith should redraft Dr Herberts paper to form a letter to Julietta Patnick.
Mr Cullimore presented his outline proposal for a multicentre prospective audit of atypical glandular cells.
Council made a number of comments including referencing the proposal to earlier RCPath and NHSCSP documents, the process of selection of laboratories and inclusion of HPV testing.
Interobserver variation of reporting was felt by many to be a major influencing factor and Council were keen to support the idea of a formal central review of all initial referral samples. Dr Smith thought that central review of histopathology should also be undertaken, though it was conceded that this would be difficult to organise. Dr Desai warned that laboratories would clearly need to check with their own colposcopy units before agreeing to participate since the protocol had clear implications for them. Mr Cullimore indicated that it was hoped to gain ethical approval by the end of 2007 with a view to starting the actual study in early 2008. It was expected to be completed by 2010.
Council agreed in principle to support this study but in order to move this forward Dr Smith would collate the comments of Council and discuss these with Mr Cullimore and Dr Waddell.
Mr Dudding reported that Ms Symonds had drafted an outline of what representing the BSCC on EACC actually entailed and that this would be sent out to all members of the BSCC.
Dr Smith felt that whoever was able to represent us on the EACC might also be invited to represent Council on QUATE, ensuring that we had both a medical and cytotechnologist representative.
It was recognised that with no funding to go with the role it might be difficult to find a volunteer but that we should try and have someone in place for the next meeting in Madrid in October.
Dr Anderson was unable to be present but had circulated a brief report prior to Council. Dr Giles was a little concerned that new Charities Commission rules meant we did not have undertake a full audit each year and suggested that we might wish to continue to do so.
Dr Desai did not have the full financial details for the Edinburgh ASM but confirmed it had made a loss. Lessons had been learned and Dr Desai was already more optimistic for Cardiff with 12 companies already signed up for the trade show. It was however an expensive venue and Dr Desai warned Council that at best the meeting might only break even.
Dr Desai also reported on the spring tutorials. Both were very well received and the programme committee had decided to keep the same format for the 2008 London tutorial and a similar format for Manchester 2008 but with a change to the IBMS non gynae examination. Both tutorials made a profit of around £4000.
The 2008 ASM will be in Dublin. The programme committee were looking at The East Midlands Convention centre for 2009 and there would be no BSCC ASM in 2010 as we are hosting the 17th International Congress of Cytology (ICC).
Dr Denton reported that she had written to Dr Lonsdale outlining our concerns around transparency of the marking structure for the Certificate in Advanced Practice and that she had received a very helpful response. In addition Dr Lonsdale had spoken at the Northern Tutorial about this issue and as such it was now deemed to be in the public domain. Dr Denton agreed to thank Dr Lonsdale on our behalf and request that since the marking structure was now in the public domain information about this could be included within the information pack for prospective candidates.
Ms Mather reported that East Anglia had still not met.. The IACC and South West Societies had had recent meetings, while the Southern Cytology Society were hoping to meet in November. The CSNENW held a meeting in Autumn 2006 but attendance had been poor. Mr Dudding reported that commitment from the regional representatives to the meeting with Council had also been poor and it had been decided that the meeting would be cancelled.
In light of the lack of support from the regional societies there was some debate as to the future of the £500 sponsorship available to each Society to attend the ASM. A number of suggestions of how better to use the money were made including: a bursary scheme; support for junior members; and, prizes for the best lectures by junior members of staff.
It was decided that these suggestions would be referred to the Programme Committee who would advise how best to move things forward.
In the meantime it would be fed back to the regional representatives that the current system of sponsorship would remain for this year but after that a new system would be introduced.
Dr Kocjan tabled the publishers report and summarised the major points.
With regard to the appointment of the new editor following the call for expressions of interest, Dr Herbert had been the only applicant. However a further advertisement had then been placed by the publishers in the next edition of Cytopathology and Dr Kocjan felt that it was probably appropriate therefore that the deadline was extended by another month.
Dr Kocjan was very positive about the merger between Wiley and Blackwell’s and felt that it could only strengthen the journal
Discussions had not yet started. It was suggested that the meeting could wait until the new editor was appointed but Dr Kocjan felt that it should happen before then. It was agreed that Dr Smith would write to Elizabeth Whelan prior to the management board meeting on the 18th June. It was agreed that Dr’s Smith, Herbert, Kocjan and Anderson, together with a representative from the BSCC accountants should represent the BSCC at any meetings.
There had been five new applications for membership: Dr Dhilanthy Arul, Mrs Janet Jessop, Dr Samita Agarwal, Dr Yogaranee Marianayagam and Dr Veena Naik. All were approved by Council.
One nomination for each post had been received. There would be no need for an election.
Subject to ratification at the AGM the following officers would serve for three years from September 2007:
President - Dr J H F Smith
Chair of Council - Dr M Desai
Honorary Secretary - Dr T E Giles
Vice Chairman - Mr N Dudding
Hon Meetings Secretary - Dr Chandra
Dr N Anderson had previously indicated his willingness to serve a further term as Hon Treasurer.
Dr Denton gave a brief report on the meeting she had attended on our behalf. The meeting had been a DoH initiative to discuss the various patient pathways they were developing. One of the reasons we were invited was because originally colposcopy had been included as one of the pathways. However prior to the meeting it had been decided that this was not the way forward. Dr Denton did feel however that her presence had been useful in the discussion of the haematuria pathway. The pathway had been developed with only minimal input from pathologists and Dr Denton had suggested that the RCPath should be more closely involved.
Mr Wilson informed Council that the national computer network had now started in Scotland and to date things seemed to running pretty smoothly.
Dr Giles questioned the absence of reference to the trainee grade of membership within the BSCC statutes. Dr Smith acknowledged this but felt that this was something the new chair and secretary could investigate when they came into post in September.
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