MINUTES OF UTG AGM
Tues 25th September 2007
Reading Room, Majestic Hotel
1. Apologies:
Jonathan Sandy; Donald Burden; Declan Millett; David Rice; Derrick Willmot; Rob Evans; Richard Oliver; Peter Nicholson; Kevin O’Brien; Fraser McDonald; James Spencer; Laura Mitchell
2. Present:
Friedy Luther (Chair); Sue Cunningham (Secretary); Nigel Hunt; Kathy Derringer; Ross Hobson; David Bearn; Chris Johnson; Zararna Nelson-Moon; Philip Benson; Alison Williams; Rishma Shah; Liz Turbill; Martyn Cobourne; Ann-Marie Isaacs; Jonathan Smith.
3. Matters arising from the minutes of the previous AGM
These had been circulated to membership by e-mail prior to the meeting. There were no matters arising from the minutes.
4. UTG Session 2007
Forestadent had made a decision not to sponsor the UTG session again this year, therefore BOS kindly agreed to take on the sponsorship of this prize. It was reported that the UTG session had been very successful with a good audience. Nigel Fox was also thanked for giving the UTG session publicity by asking the winner of the prize to speak on the main programme.
The winners of the prizes were
1st prize: Paul Scott (KCL)
2nd prize: Ann Marie Owens (Royal London)
3rd prize: Michelle Browne (Leeds)
The judges for that session were thanked: David Bearn; Ross Hobson and Steve Chadwick.
5. UTG Session 2008
We have not received any formal notification re next year’s session but assume it is likely to be Sunday am again.
6. Situations vacant
At the end of this year the following people finish their terms of office:
Friedy Luther - Chairman
Sue Cunningham - Secretary
Peter Mossey - Financial Monitor
Alison Williams - UTG rep on the Clinical Effectiveness Committee (not to
be re-elected due to changes in the BOS committees)
Bridget Doubleday - UTG rep on the Scholarship and Grants Committee
The following people stood for these posts (with the appropriate nominations):
Sue Cunningham - Chairman
Martyn Cobourne - Secretary
Phil Benson - Financial Monitor
Fraser McDonald; Neil Pender; Alison Williams
- UTG rep on the Scholarship and Grants Committee
The first three posts were not contested, therefore were appointed. As there were three people standing as UTG rep on the Scholarship and Grants Committee, a paper ballot was held - Alison Williams secured the highest number of votes and was therefore elected.
7. SAC Nigel Hunt
Nigel Hunt’s report (included at the back of this document) was read to those in attendance. There was further discussion on:
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The 18-week wait, opportunities for training and potential changes which may then be required for the MOrth examination in due course.
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Changes in training and the primary care element which has been proposed.
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DwSIs and the role of the SAC in their training. Professor Hunt reported that it has been agreed that the SAC will undertake visits to training practices and stressed the importance of maintaining standards if this component of training may in the future be used to exempt candidates from part of the MOrth training.
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Professor Hunt also reported that Professor Nairn Wilson had been appointed Chairman of JCSTD and was intending to look at issues related to training – for example, at what stage newly appointed consultants can act as trainers, what happens when locums cover maternity leave etc. JCSTD are also looking into the possibility of producing modules for the other dental disciplines and, in particular, whether any generic core modules could be produced.
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It was reported that the SAC will no longer be undertaking inspections of existing SpR posts but new posts will still be inspected.
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The SAC has handed “sign off” for CCSTs to the Deaneries.
8. Clinical Standards Alison Williams/ Martyn Cobourne
The report (included at the back of this document) was read to those in attendance. There were no questions at that time. Alison Williams was thanked for her time on the Development and Standards Committee on behalf of UTG.
9. Scholarship and Grants Committee Peter Rock
There was no report submitted on behalf of the Scholarship and Grants Committee. However, it was reported that as from January 2008, David Bearn will take over from Peter Rock as Chairman of this committee.
10. Ethics Committee Fraser McDonald
The report (included at the back of this document) was read to those in attendance.
11. BOSF Report Kevin O’Brien
There was no BOSF report, although Professor O’Brien had informed the committee that all was progressing well.
Friedy Luther also noted that in the Trustees meeting prior to the conference it was reported that no projects had been funded this year and the BOSF committee had rolled this year’s funding over to next year and were keen to fund larger projects since funds in excess of £100K would be available – all UTG members were therefore encouraged to apply for this funding in the future.
12. UTG Website Fraser McDonald
The report (included at the back of this document) was read to those in attendance. Sue Cunningham reported that she had spoken to Professor McDonald about the website and he was keen to get as much feedback as possible from people – anyone with any ideas was asked to contact Fraser as soon as possible. Those in attendance were supportive of the idea to link the UTG section of the website to individual schools’ websites. Friedy Luther emphasised that BOS were very keen that the website be used to its full potential especially as much new information was being distributed by BOS via the website now it was working well. BOS are keen that communication is not just one-way.
13. Chairman’s Report Friedy Luther
Friedy Luther reported that her term of office comes to an end at the end of 2007 and reflected on some of the changes which had occurred during her time in office. The huge amount of work put in by Sue Cunningham was acknowledged over this time; she thanked all those who had helped during this term and wished the new team well as they move into their new posts. The work of the BOS Trustees was discussed and it was confirmed that there was specific training in place for individuals taking on Trustee responsibilities. It was vital that potential/actual Trustees were aware of the responsibilities associated with the role.
14. Secretary’s Report Susan Cunningham
The chairman and secretary reported that all issues of interest had been covered elsewhere in the agenda and there was no further report.
15. Financial Monitor’s Report Peter Mossey
There was no report from the financial monitor.
16. Changes to the BOS Council
There was nothing to report on the changes at this stage, other than that the new structure appeared to be working well.
17. UTG Constitution
The constitution currently states that “The Offices of Chairman and Secretary will be elected for a period of three years at the Annual General Meeting which may re-appoint them for one further year. The Chairman and Secretary will normally operate a three-year successional arrangement: that is the Secretary will become Chairman after a period of 3 years (or 4 years if the Chairman has been re-elected for 1 further year).”
Under the new BOS regulations, this successional arrangement is not permitted and the wording of the constitution will have to be made accordingly. The need to re-word was approved and this will be circulated by Sue Cunningham in due course.
18. 18 week wait and the effect on teaching
There was nothing further to report on this item as it had been covered with Item 7.
19. Update on GDPs with Special Interest
There was nothing further to report on this item as it had been covered with Item 7.
20. Manpower and Clinical Academics incl. Walport posts
Friedy Luther reported that, following the COG Symposium, she had spoken to Nick Hurd MP about the shortage of clinical academics and the difficulties involved in training as he seemed to be supportive of orthodontics. Following this, Sue Cunningham wrote to Nick Hurd and he eventually wrote back stating that he had passed the letter to the front bench spokesperson in charge of health but no response has ever been received. Sue followed this up with a number of e-mails with no luck and then phones, but the answerphone was on! She will keep trying to contact the necessary individuals.
21. Report of 2nd European Orthodontic Teachers Forum
Friedy Luther/ Sue Cunningham
Friedy and Sue reported that the 2nd meeting of the Teachers’ Forum at EOS had been more positive and more structured than the first meeting in 2006 and encouraged others to attend the meeting if they were able to do so. Various developments were taking place including the first steps to set minimum standards of training in Orthodontics across Europe. This meeting had also identified quite a lot of interest in the National Core Modules and this will be borne in mind with the planned transfer of these modules to the BOS.
The question was raised as to whether someone should be funded to go to this meeting on behalf of BOS. Sue reported that she would be going to the meeting in 2008 anyway but this should perhaps be considered in the future if necessary.
23. Future UTG meetings
Following the successful meetingin March 2007, it was suggested that a meeting should be held around April 2008 to discuss “Changes in Specialist Training and how the Universities fit in”. If anyone has any other ideas, they were asked to let Sue Cunningham know in the next few weeks. Ross Hobsonreported that the Dental Academic Staff Group of the BDA may be able to offer some funding for a meeting of this type and should perhaps be approached if a meeting is organised.
24. Any other business
(1) Ross Hobson reported that the Dental Academic Staff Group of the BDA are holding a meeting on “Student Selection” on 18/19th Nov 2007 if anyone was interested in attending.
The meeting finished at 2.15pm.
Date and time of next AGM to be announced.
Reports for UTG
JOINT COMMITTEE FOR SPECIALIST TRAINING IN DENTISTRY
SPECIALIST ADVISORY COMMITTEE IN ORTHODONTICS
At: Please reply to:
THE ROYAL COLLEGE OF SURGEONS ORTHODONTIC DEPARTMENT
OF ENGLAND EASTMAN DENTAL HOSPITAL
LINCOLN’S INN FIELDS 256 GRAY’S INN ROAD
LONDON WC2A 3PN LONDON WC1X 8LD
Telephone: 020 7869 6802 Telephone: 020 7915 1239
Fax: 020 7869 6816 Fax: 020 7915 1238
E-mail: N.Hunt@eastman.ucl.ac.uk
Report of Specialist Advisory Committee in Orthodontics
UTG AGM – BOC Harrogate Sept 2007
Since the last AGM there have been two meetings of the full SAC (Oct 06 and Mar 07), two meetings of JCSTD (Dec 06 and Jun 07) and a meeting of SAC Chairmen and Lead Deans (Mar 06). The main points to have arisen are:
1. Clarification of the inter-relationship between the Masters level degrees, the MOrth examinations and the award of CCSTs.
2. Training Posts
New FTTA posts have been approved as follows:
Newcastle – Academic FTTA/Lecturer
Leeds / Bradford
Dundee / Kirkcaldy
Cardiff / Swansea (replacement for Cardiff / Newport)
FTTA posts have been amended as follows:
Conversion of NHS post Leeds / York to Academic lecturer post
Conversion of SpR Nottingham/ Sheffield to FTTA
New SpR post created:
Stoke Mandeville / Eastman.
3. Chairman of JCSTD
Prof. Nairn Wilson was elected (replacing Mr Ray Reed)
4. Future role of SAC
Following the establishment of the SDEB and the move in QA monitoring from the SACs to the Postgrad. Deans, the workload of the SACs is likely to reduce and as a consequence the size of the committee will follow, probably to around 6 members in total. At the present time Dr F.Luther remains the UTG rep on SAC.
5. QA and DwSI training.
The management team of the DwSI training programme have agreed that the SAC should be involved in QA of the programmes, the trainers and the trainees. It is likely to be a joint SAC/FGDP exercise.
The question as to how individuals who hold the Diploma in Primary Care Orthodontics can apply for full MOrth training still needs to be resolved.
6. Workforce reviews
The SAC Chairman, together with Liz Jones attended a meeting of the NHS Workforce Review Team for dentistry on 7th March 2007. The number of Consultant vacancies, retirements and the results of an Eastman MSc report on the effects gender and ethnicity on the work pattern of specialists were all presented and noted by the Review Team. All figures pointed towards a major shortfall in the orthodontic workforce over the next 5-10 years (up to 30% of the current workforce will have retired). It was also reiterated that DwSI are unlikely to produce any major effect on the overall workforce as the trainees had, by definition, an existing PCT contract. The dearth of academics was highlighted
7. Part-time training.
During the course of the year, the SAC and JCSTD have approved both self-funded part-time SpR training as well as funded part-time FTTA training.
8. Conjoint Masters degrees/ MOrth qualifications
The Chairman has written to the Chairs of the SDEB and the Education Committee at GDC asking for their views on the conjoint Masters/MOrth examination and the award of CCSTs in orthodontics. To date there has been no definitive response.
9. 18 week wait and Specialist Training
Discussions are now taking place with the lead postgraduate dean and the DoH regarding the implications of the 18 week wait, and also the proposed move of specialist training into primary care. The next meeting is on 3rd Oct 2007.
10. The next meeting of the SAC is on October 10th 2007.
Nigel Hunt 18.09.07
Report from the Clinical Standards Committee
The recent restructuring at the BOS has led to the Clinical Effectiveness Committee and the Development and Standards Committee being amalgamated to form the “Clinical Standards Committee” (CSC). The remit of the new CSC, which will meet three times each year, is to produce clinical guidelines and advice documents on clinically related matters, promote clinical audit, allocate awards from the BOS clinical audit budget and oversee projects in progress. The CSC is chaired by David Morris; Joy Hickman is the secretary. The work of the CSC together with the Ethics Committee is coordinated by the BOS Clinical Governance Committee, which is chaired by Iain Hathorn.
The CSC has been allocated an annual budget of £10,000. This is to cover the costs of running meetings and the production of new / updated advice sheets. The CSC will also fund the production of the Clinical Effectiveness Bulletin. Over the past two years there has been a large increase in the number of articles about audit projects being submitted for publication in the Bulletin. It has therefore been decided to increase the publication of the Bulletin to two issues each year and to introduce some colour to make the Bulletin easier to read.
The CSC has met twice since it was formed. Former members of both the Clinical Effectiveness and the Developments and Standards Committees attended the first meeting. Some members of the latter committees have subsequently resigned from the CSC and others will not be replaced when their term of office comes to an end. This means that the membership of the CSC will eventually be reduced to around 8 people, with each of the BOS membership groups represented.
At the last meeting of the CSC advice sheets on treating medically compromised patients and giving advice to patients who play wind instruments and their teachers were approved. The first draft of a leaflet about giving oral hygiene instruction to patients was discussed together with progress on the production of clinical guidelines on unerupted incisors, extraction of first molars, the treatment of palatal canines, implants and autotransplantation of teeth. Progress on national audits of patient satisfaction with the delivery of orthognathic treatment, adverse reactions during orthodontic treatment, orthodontists’ comprehension of informed consent, cross-infection procedures and patient satisfaction with routine orthodontic treatment were also discussed, together with a proposal for a national audit of extraction patterns.
The CSC have also established a register of technicians who are calibrated to use PAR and so could independently score dental study models for BOS members. It is envisaged that eventually this list will be published on the BOS website and made available to PCTs. The CSC are also in the process of producing a list of websites and other addresses for the BOS website where members can access information to CPD in key areas. Mary Lo has volunteered to act as webmaster.
The CSC is due to meet again on 14th November 2007. Alison Williams’ term of office on the former Clinical Effectiveness Committee was due to end in September 2007. As discussed previously, her role will not be replaced. This means that, in the future, Martyn Cobourne will be the sole representative from the UTG on the CSC.
Alison Williams and Martyn Cobourne
Ethics
The Ethics Committee has continued to develop and support the BOS throughout the year. There have been a number of contacts with patients and practitioners with a variety of difficulties which have generally been resolved.
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A course on report writing was given by Bond Solon.
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A variety of advice sheets have been submitted to the BOS including:
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Advertising and websites
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Whistle blowing
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An editorial in the BDJ has been published on different orthodontic philosophies.
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Links have been continued with the General Dental Council with Janet Collins, Head of Standards and a variety of correspondence has been dealt with.
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At the present time we are refining documents on:
These will be submitted to the BOS Council after the next ethics meeting in November.
Fraser McDonald
Website
After a period of protracted organization the training is in place for the ongoing update of the BOS website, UTG section.
Work has commenced (often very tedious issues) but it is slowly developing.
For the last 3 months I had mis-spelt the Eastman Dental Institute and only included 5 dental schools to see if any comments were returned. NONE have been returned. I have still left some aspects absent to see if anyone identifies them.
Ideally I would like to place a document similar to the one circulated earlier (the Eastman) to support each dental institute with links to published work.
Can people give serious consideration to the content of the site?
Ideally I would like a standardized format of the content for each school.
We can then possibly discuss if there could be links to place some information on the PUBLIC site of BOS.
Fraser McDonald
