MINUTES OF THE SCOTTISH TRAINING & RECRUITMENT GROUP (STARG) MEETING
ON FRIDAY 1 June2012AT13.30
- Present
Dr Tom Brown (Chair), Dr Audrey Morrison (Vice-Chair), , Dr Neil Masson, Dr Angela Cogan, DrJohanne Leuvennink, , Professor Lindsay Thomson, , Rob Emery, Dr Richard Day, Dr Sam Wilson, Samantha Perera, Dr Daniel Bennett, Ben Grey
In Attendance:
Miss Christine Caithness
- Apologies
Marie Curtis-Barton, Dr Helen Dawson, Katrina Dunbar, Eilidh Gunn
Absent
Alex McLean, Gary Cooney, Katie Ann Reid, Dr David Reid, Dr Anne Conway-Morris.
- Minutes of the meeting held on 10 February 2012
The minutes of the meeting held on 10 February 2012 were accepted as a true and accurate record.
- Matters Arising
(i)Student Reps / FYs
There is now a new student rep for Aberdeen, Samantha Perera, and there is one lined up for Dundee – name not yet known. Neil Masson will follow up getting a rep for Glasgow and Lindsay Thomson will follow up on Edinburgh. Ben Grey attended this meeting as the Edinburgh rep but he is due to graduate.
Rob Emery from Dumfries attended the meeting for the first time and said he was happy to sit on the group as an FY. Audrey Morrison has been talking to 2 possible volunteers but there is nothing definite as yet. It was decided that the group needed another FY rep and Tom Brown asked the group to consider any possible names and let him know
Action – Neil& Audrey to follow up possible FY reps for the group
(ii)Summer School
Tom Brown said there had been useful meetings and some good feedback from the students.
Lindsay Thomson presented the draft programme and explained how the day would go. There would be a drinks reception at Kennedy Tower at the close of the first day and those who wanted to could go to dinner (approximate cost would be £25 for 3 courses £20 for 2 courses). Attendance at dinner was not compulsory.
The organisers have managed to get very good speakers from all over Scotland to take part. Lindsay talked the group through the programme and said that they already had 5 or 6 names who have signed up to take part. Samantha Perera said that they already had a very good response from Aberdeen. Lindsay said information had been sent to all Student Associates on STARG, but Charlotte Collins at the College may have more contact names.
Tom asked whether all Student Societies had actually disseminated the information about the Summer School as only Aberdeen seemed to have responded, and said he would speak to Charlotte Collins again.
Discussion took place about how this could be disseminated more widely and various methods were suggested. Lindsay asked Richard Day about circulating it round the Universities. Neil Masson will see Katie Reid and Johanne Leuvennink will also see what he can do. Distribution is now very important
Accommodation was discussed and the feedback was that the students thought staying with psychiatrists was a good idea. Lindsay had looked at costs of residences etc but these are expensive. Rob Emery suggested Youth Hostel and Lindsay asked Christine Caithness to look into the costs and possibilities of block booking the Bruntsfield Hostel.
Audrey Morrison mentioned that we needed more people from specialities to take part in the speed dating part of the course. The lecture room can take up to 60 people so the more the merrier.
The push is now on to encourage as many people as possible to attend. Christine Caithness will put the programme on the website and send a copy of this and the flyer to all STARG members.
Finally Tom advised that £500 will be available from the college.It was discussed whether packs should be made available to students. Tom said he had some college recruitment booklets etc which could possibly be used
- Actions:Tom to speak to Charlotte Collins
- Richard Day , Neil Masson & Johann Leuvennink to take action to disseminate information on school
- Christine Caithness to make enquiries about accommodation
(iii)Support for Student Associates
Tom Brown said he would like mentors for the Student Associates to be identified by the end of theyear. There should ideally be a consultant and a junior doctor, and they would be invaluable in helping identify good speakers.
Tom also mentioned an International study into recruitment and asked whether anyone had heard of this. It suggested that support to Student Associates reaps a lot of fruit in terms of recruitment.
Lindsay Thomson said she would like feedback from students about mentors and said it was helpful to students to have a contact. Tom asked what the students thought. Samantha Perera, rep from Aberdeen, said she thought mentors/contact were very helpful and Sam Wilson said they were trying to get a consultant to take this role on board.
Lindsay said there was need for stability as people move on and contacts tend to get lost or fall apart. Tom emphasised that there should be named consultants and junior doctors and asked for names from all areas by the next meeting.
Tom said he was happy to speak at any Student Associate group on clinical matters at no cost.
Richard Day said that some students were reluctant to approach or bother a consultant etc so there was a need for mentors to be pro-active.
Finally Tom said there was a small amount in the recruitment budget for student socities. Overall Recruitment budget is 50k but as the college is a charity so societies would have to account for how money spent.
Actions:Each area to identify named mentors by next meeting
(iv)Psych Recruitment Strategy
The recruitment strategy is now on the college website, and
Tom said he was happy to answer questions on it. The feedback on
Thestrategy has been mostly positive. An annual report will be
required and Tom will prepare this for Scotland.
Lindsay Thomson said that Sir David Carter was chairing a
committee looking into recruitment to academic psychiatry.
Action: Tom will look into this committee.
- Trainee Teaching Skills Course 2012
The 2012 course is being held at the central GlasgowCollege, Alan Glens Campus on the 1 & 2 November 2012. This is the same venue as last year and the feedback from last year regarding the noise at the back of the room has been resolved. Neil Masson said that it would be ideal if the slides for sessions could be included in the delegate packs and Christine Caithness said that this would not be a problem as long as she received them by Wednesday 24 October.
PBL is to be dropped from the programme and included in Small Group Teaching. Claire McRae and Audrey Morrison will incorporate into their lectures. Day 1 of the programme will be the same as last year although Angela Cogan will be taking over Neil Masson’s talk and Neil will chair. Tom Brown will chair Day2 but he will attend both days. The previous feedback suggested more time should be spent on SGT and this will be developed.
There were various discussions on what should be changed this year, timings for practicals, online feedback, feedback given at time, how best to give feedback, individual feedback etc. Suggested more emphasis given to dealing with difficult people.
Advertising was discussed and it was suggested that as well as putting advert on website, a copy should be sent to student associates, Post Graduate secretaries, STARG members and PTC reps. It was also suggested that we offer the Teaching Undergraduates book at discount as we did last year. Tom Brown will also put together a letter of thanks to all who participate in the course.
Christine Caithness will put together a budget and get it agreed as soon as possible
Both Sam Wilson and Daniel Bennett volunteered to come along on the day, and Angela Cogan said they would be very welcome as the more there were the better it was for feedback.
As last year priority will be given to ST5s and ST6s, then to ST4s.
Johan Leuvennink will supply a flyer on the Malawi Project to be included with the advert.
- AOCB
There was no AOCB, but Tom Brown suggested a brainstorming session to think about what the group could do for the future:
- Extend TTSC to those who are not trainees. Lindsay Thompson supported this idea.
- Implementation Plan to go with Recruitment Strategy. Divisions are most crucial element in delivering the strategy. Good practice needs to be cascaded. Divisions are primary focus for this.
- Career Fairs. Are these happening? Yes, in the main
- Johan Leuvennink suggested taster weeks for FY1s. Work is being done on this and there is a need to look at what goes into this
- Johan also asked what was contained in the undergraduate curriculum. Was ADHD talked about in this? Nothing formal in any area
- Secondary School pupils – No work being done in this area
- Engaging with Deaneries & others
- Lindsay Thompson mentionedtraining for FY2s. Glasgow have a teaching programme for FY2s which includes all key aspects of the Foundation curriculum
- Date and Place of next meeting
Friday 28 September 2012, BMA Offices. Edinburgh at 1.30pm.
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