Notes of the Council meeting held Wednesday 9th November at the Portland Hotel, Birmingham.
Mr Williams updated Council on the development of the revamped website and highlighted the fact that we would like to move away from the current login system to one that simply used a members email address. To this end we would need to make every effort to collect relevant email addresses.
Council questioned the cost of the redevelopment but Mr Williams reported that he had looked elsewhere and the quote was competitive. Dr Smith reported that we had the support of the treasurer but that Dr Anderson felt that this should be the last upgrade for the foreseeable future.
Mr Williams reported that the new site should be available early in the New Year.
Dr Desai thanked Council members who had contributed to the outline proposal to HTA. A large number of proposals had been submitted and the final decision on who would take this work forward would not be made until February 2006.
Dr Denton reported that she had been in discussion with the National Office and gave feedback from a meeting held at BSCC 2005 between herself, Dr Smith, Dr Desai, Mr Patrick Walker and Julietta Patnick.
It was agreed that the lack of information available to the wider membership since the terminology conference was less than ideal and it was agreed to publish an update on the website as soon as possible.
Dr Herbert gave an update on the paper Dr Smith and she had being preparing.
The FNA and Exfoliative Cytology Sections have now been circulated to all Council members, the RCPath and the IBMS and would be placed on the website for comment. Mr Williams suggested that the best course of action would be to publish the document in pdf form and invite comments via the forum on the revamped website early in the New Year. Responses are required by the end of March in order to produce the final document for ratification at the June Council meeting and launch at the 2006 ASM.
As previously reported there has been no progress on either the general cytopathology or gynaecological cytology modules until full LBC implementation.
Council agreed to reduce the number of meetings from at least four to at least three and to put this to a ballot of the membership.
The issue of APs being banded as band 7 had been raised at the previous Council meeting. Council agreed to make appropriate representations but with only nine APs banded to date we should wait until we had more data. It was agreed that Mr Williams would continue to monitor the situation and feedback to the February meeting.
Dr Desai briefed Council on the programmes for the two Spring tutorials in London and Belfast and asked for any comments.
The revised programme for Edinburgh 2006 was tabled for confirmation and comment. It was agreed that in an effort to attract more members the AGM would be moved to 11.00 - 12.00.
Details of these meetings can be found at the meetings pages of the web site. [Den could you/Jonah please insert link here. Ta. John]
Mr Dudding gave a report on a very successful meeting held at the ASM.
Several regional societies are struggling to keep going whilst others seem to be running very successfully. Mr Dudding had spoken to several societies and suggested that we should consider merging some and redefining the boundaries of others. In particular there might be merit in merging the Southern and South Eastern Societies and the East Anglia and Thames Valley Society. At the same time Mr Dudding felt that there would be merit in splitting the North of England and North Wales Society with laboratories east of the Pennines joining the North East of England Society.
Council came up with a number of useful suggestions and it was agreed that Mr Dudding would draft a short proposal on the way forward for the next Council Meeting.
Six new applications for membership had been received. There were no objections and these would be put to the AGM in September.
Dr Smith outlined the rationale and history behind the debate on an open membership structure. A useful debate ensued and one particular concern that we would need to take into account, should we change, was the relationship with the RCPath.
It was also felt that it was difficult to move on before we knew the breakdown of the current membership. Dr Smith undertook to investigate the breakdown of the current membership and prepare an option appraisal document for discussion at the February Council meeting.
Dr Smith outlined the proposed changes to the Statutes to allow immediate admission to membership at each Council meeting. It was decided that applications for membership must arrive one month prior to the next Council for consideration at that meeting. These would be circulated to the whole membership and any comments on applications must be sent to the honorary secretary at least one week before the relevant Council meeting. Otherwise there was general agreement on these proposals and they would be put to a ballot of the membership prior to the 2006 AGM.
Two letters had been received.
Ms Patnick had asked the BSCC to consider what advice we might offer in the appropriate screening of SurePath samples. It was suggested that we approach the manufacturer and supplier for clarification of their guidance and Dr Duvall agreed to draw together some thoughts on a prospective study should one be needed.
The National Office had also sought Council's view on whether we continue to report infectious organisms found during the screening of cervical samples. Following some debate it was decided that on balance we would prefer to continue to report the presence of infectious organisms and that a more pragmatic response might be to amend the invitation leaflet to point out that incidental infections might be found during the screening process.
Jonah Jones is a designer, programmer, film maker and photographer who specialises in the internet and usability. Jonah Jones