Meeting 4th May 2016: to organise the constitution of UK Liver Pathology Group.
Present: in Leeds: Stefan Hubscher (SH) (chair); Judy Wyatt (JW) (secretary); Paul Kelly, Tim Kendall
By Phone: Graeme Murray (GM), Laszlo Igali (LI), Adrian Bateman (AB), TuVinh Luong, Gaby Kohnen, Rosa Miquel, Niamh Nolan, Rachel Brown (RB).
Apologies: Alison Winstanley, Rob Goldin, Chris Bellamy. Dina Tiniakos was unable to connect to the conference.
Pre-circulated: draft agenda for UKLPG and summary of outstanding items for discussion.
Below is a summary of the discussions and agreed way forward for the establishment of the UKLPG committee. All participants listed above took an active part in the discussions: contributions mainly summarised rather than attributed to a specific speaker.
SH and JW – for the last 10 years, we have been chair and secretary of the liver subcommittee. We want to manage the transition to a sustainable group that will maintain and develop the existing activities in liver pathology, including the EQA Scheme. The plan is for us to continue as interim chair/secretary, standing down after one year from the start of the UKLPG.
AB: from BSG Pathology Section experience – the normal practice of 3 year terms of office for chair, with the secretary becoming the next chair has worked well, providing continuity. Others considered 6 years in total as an officer is a long commitment. However the value of overlapping chair and chair-elect was recognised.
Agreed: Chair and secretary term of office will be 3 years. Half way through, the next chair and secretary will be decided, by election if more than one committee member expresses interest.
Membership: We assume that all members of the liver EQA scheme will form the core membership of the UKLPG (currently 99 members). It is not envisaged that it would be possible to participate in the EQA scheme unless the pathologist is also a member of UKLPG, although this may need further consideration in future. Core/full members will be asked to pay a small annual subscription.
There will also be associate members – on an email list maintained by the secretary, who will receive email notification of UKLPG activities but not be a member of the EQA Scheme. Also trainee members. Only the full members will elect the committee. It is assumed that UK/Irish pathologists with significant commitment to liver pathology will all wish to become full members.
Treasurer: Proposed that there would be a small annual subscription for members, e.g. £30, with a bank account that also receives profit from educational meetings. JW said that the EQA Scheme subscriptions fund the running of the EQA scheme, but cannot be used for funding activities which are normally the province of professional organisations. At the simplest to get started, the role of the treasurer would be to oversee the bank account and provide an annual report to the committee. GM – based on his experience as treasurer elect for the Pathological Society – we should consider the tax and VAT aspects at an early stage –
GM will provide further information to be further discussed at the first UKLPG committee meeting.
Election for committee members: The aim is to be inclusive, and encourage current and future committee membership. We recognise the enthusiastic support of UKLPG members, and want to provide opportunities for experience in organising activities, and for future UKLPG committee members to be visible within the group.
From the objectives of the group – to promote the best possible liver histopathology service in the UK and Ireland, across all levels of specialisation, through professional collaboration in education, quality assurance and research – It was proposed that the committee would include an elected lead member for each of three specific areas, with a 3-year term of office.
a) education/training,
b) quality
c) research.
Members of the UKLPG interested in being on the committee will specify one or more of these areas of interest. Following the election, all the candidates will have the opportunity to then be part of a 'sub-committee' in each area, thereby providingsupport/assistance in their area of interest. That way, future committee members will gain experience and recognition.
a) education/training - the competing demands of the training curriculum were emphasised. A survey of liver pathology training by Deanery, and production of training materials on the website would be included in this sub-group. Also maintaining the CPD programme of activities, and scope for developing more web-based material including undergraduate.
b) quality - including future provision of the EQA scheme, with additional input into its organisation. Also updating the RCPath dataset and pathways documents, and opportunity to develop other UK liver pathology guidelines.
c) research - increasing awareness of UK liver research activities that involve pathology, including national trials. Opportunities to pool experience of rare diseases.
Additional UKLPG committee members: the following areas would be valuable:
Website, Virtual Pathology in Leeds has been convenient and effective for the liver EQA scheme since 2003, with additional pages being added as required. This can be expanded to include pages for the UKLPG, and the group can develop its own format and logo. LI advised that the UKLPG should have a named website that could continue to be within/hosted by virtualpathology; UKLPG.org is free at the moment. It was agreed that a co-opted member with IT expertise would be valuable, and LI agreed to take on that role.
Paediatric liver pathology (RB) – provided by liver or paediatric pathologists in the UK. Proposed a committee member to represent paediatric liver pathology, and a website presence to communicate, share cases etc.
Transplant pathology (SH) – previously regular meetings, but lapsed of late - the last was held in January 2014. Based on responses to the questionnaire to EQA members, the aim is to have a meeting every two years, after the Banff meetings, open to all members, not just transplant centre pathologists. This needs organisational input.
Trainee members: should be two of these – to contact the RCPath trainee representative to arrange.
Meetings: proposed quarterly, by telephone conference. Up to now, our meetings had been arranged to coincide with educational meetings – this restricts membership of the committee.It was agreed that the telephone conference today has worked well. There will be somemeetings which committee memberswould attend in person (at least at the annual liver update meeting). The use of telephone conferencing enables the committee to be larger, more frequent and more active.
Logo: LI has drafted an improvement on the circulated logo. To work on developing this (JW, LI),
Summary:
Membership: UKLPG – full members are the members of the Liver EQA Scheme.
Small annual subscription to be determined.
Associate members (no subscription) – anyone with an interest in liver pathology who does not take part in the Liver EQA Scheme. To include Consultant, trainee (and overseas? - not discussed) associate members.
Committee membership:
Officers: Chair, secretary – term of office 3 years, elected from committee members 1½ years into term, by UKLPG full members.
Interim arrangement -Chair, secretary, treasurer. SH and JW continue as interim chair and secretary for one year.
Treasurer – a member of the committee. If no-one has experience in this area, can be co-opted. GM will provide further information about status of group for tax purposes.
Elected members: representing a) education/training, b) quality assurance,c) research. All full UKLPG members are encouraged to stand for election; the elected lead will be on the committee meeting quarterly. Other candidates will form three sub-committees as outlined above.
Other members with specific responsibility: website, paediatrics, transplant.
Two trainee members.
Ex-Officio members – RCPath sub-specialty advisor(currently SH) and Liver EQA organiser (currently JW) – if not already members.
This produces a total of 6 officers/elected members plus up to 7 additional members, depending on overlapping roles.
Each quarterly meeting - each member (except officers and trainees) attends by phone or sends an update.
The secretary will arrange meeting dates at 3 monthly intervals, including one meeting during the annual update meeting.
The secretary will arrange an election of UKLPG members using SurveyMonkey, and update the draft constitution to incorporate items listed above.
JIW SH 08.05.16
UK LIver Pathology Group. 4th May 2016Page 1