ACC Council Meeting Minutes

Una Maye, Lyndsey Connell, Caroline Baird, Ros Hastings (invited), Richard Hall, Gordon Lowther, Mike Creasy, Nick Telford, Kim Smith, Debbie Lillington, Val Davison, Edna Maltby (invited), Simon Larkins, Rod Howell

1.1Apologies were received from Professor Malcolm Ferguson-Smith, Selwyn Roberts and Lorraine Gaunt.

1.2The Chair also welcomed new members of the committee who were attending as observers. The new Ordinary members are Kim Smith and Lorraine Gaunt, who are re-elected and Peter Howard. New JLC members are Amanda Dixon-McIver, Hazel Harvey-Smith and Chris Wragg. Ros Hastings was attending as NEQAS scheme manager, and Edna Maltby as Chair of the Professional Standards Committee.

Page 5 Minute 7.3.4 Change '...are due to sign off by...' to '...are due to be signed off by...'

Page 8 Minute 15 change '...B16 with an interest in ...' to '...B16 with experience of...'

Page 9 Minute 15 Paragraph beginning ' The ETC members...' change to read as ' The ETC members at council clarified that the assessments carried out by internal assessors would be at the same standard as the external assessments, but that the responsibility for ensuring quality lay with the external assessors.' The last sentence of the paragraph is deleted.

Page 9 Minute 15 Change ' ...B16 or above with an interest in...' to '...B16 or above with experience of...'

4.1 RH took up the post in June and the transfer of the NEQAS office to Oxford will be completed shortly.

4.2 All the outstanding NEQAS reports are now complete. Postnatal 2002 round reports have been checked and will be sent out in September.

4.3 The NEQAS timetable for the next 18 months has been sent to Heads of Department.

4.6 The CPA is funding a pilot web based EQA scheme. This is being organised by an MSc student and Eddie Maher. This will be tested by the Steering Committee before general release.

4.7 Overseas laboratories are showing interest in participating in NEQAS. RH will be presenting a talk and poster at the ECA meeting.

There was no CPA report. It was proposed that this item was removed from the agenda as a standing agenda item.

6.1.1 As requested a letter has been sent to Lorraine Gaunt listing the changes in the A-grade training scheme. KS suggested the summary sheet circulated to council members could be sent to the ACS. The changes made are:-

Program
Molecular module updated
New credit module – Chronic lymphoproliferative disorders and lymphoma
Training Courses
Two courses are planned to deliver core theory training.
Course 1 Introductory and Post natal will be held in Birmingham during the week beginning 24November 2003. The syllabus and timetable have been circulated.
Course 2 will cover Prenatal and Oncology and is planned for February.
Both courses will cover aspects of Molecular Cytogenetics relevant to the course.
Modular assessments
\|First assessments will be done by an allocated external assessor.
If there are no problems then a trained internal assessor will undertake the remaining modular assessments. Project will be assessed by the external assessor.
Flow charts detailing the assessment process were circulated.
Final Assessment
Reorganised to run at planned times of the year.
Assessments will be by two external assessors, who will undertake a number of assessments on the same day.

6.1.2 Two Internal Assessor training courses have been held, Southern and Northern. Feedback from the Southern course suggested that the content was too general, with too much discussion centered around NOS and competence based assessment. KS discussed changes with Shirley Fletcher and there was more input from External Assessors in the second Northern course.

6.1.3 The A-grade training courses in 2003-4 will be paid from existing funds. The ETC will then be seeking increased funding from the WDCs. A-grade training fees will increase from £1200 to £1800. TP asked if the council would support an increase in fees, and there was a consensus to support the increase.

ACTION: KS to write to Chief Executive of WDCs informing of increase. Secretary to provide contact name and address.

6.1.4 A-grade trainees will be encouraged to join the ACC when they register with the ETC.

6.1.5 There have been discussions with Sue Hill over a 4 year training program, with Registration as an exit qualification. The ACC has agreed the 4 year program in principle.

6.1.6 Gavin Cuthbert is liaising with Humon about the production of an e-learning package. The cost of putting it together will be about £2500. There will also be some discussion with the Manchester Reference laboratory. The ETC has some concerns about the involvement of the Reference laboratories and/ Knowledge Parks, regarding the ownership of any package produced. Discussions about e-learning are to be held in Manchester on 29 September. MC stated that an e-learning package could be hosted as a sub-domain on the ACC website, possibly with password protection. Steve Abbs has produced a molecular module for the IBMS, which is offered by Greenwich University, but which will charge individuals who undertake the course.

6.1.7 TP asked how final assessments would be restructured. KS replied that Heather Ward would set up three assessment windows per year.. Heads of Department would be informed of the assessment dates one year in advance. Information will also be made available on the website.

6.2 There was some discussion of the consultation document reviewing future ACC membership. It was pointed out that this was very much a first draft and that the views of council were welcome. KS asked if two types of full membership would help. Council members made a number of useful comments which will be taken on by the working party.

ACTION: Further comments should be passed to RM by 19 September. Executive Committee then to sign off final version prior to being put on website.

Council agreed to take forward the proposal for dual fees to the BSHG. This would see a lower membership fee for members on Band 6 and below.

6.3.1 Format of Best practice meetings have been circulated to Heads of Departments.

6.3.2 Fiona Ross is organising ‘FISH in Haematological Malignancies’ to be run in the second week of October. Each department has been invited to send one representative. Participants will be circulated by Fiona prior to the workshop. Feedback will be given at the next Professional Standards meeting in November. Final report to December Council meeting.

6.3.3 Ros Hastings will be collecting the reporting data (old NEQAS part 1 data). Laboratories should be receiving the data collection forms shortly. VD asked if there will be a revision of reporting time guidelines. EM replied that it will be brought back to council when the data has been collected. EM was asked if staff data will be collected so that realistic workloads can be assigned taking into account skill mix and reporting times.

KW asked whether study day rates were being charged. It was decided that study day fee should be charged.

The NOS in clinical Cytogenetics were circulated to HoDs by Stuart Imrie. Trusts have been approached to pilot the revised NOS. It is possible that there may be some flexibility in choosing which NOS to pilot.

7.1.1 The ACS met on 20 June. Closure of title for Clinical Scientists occurred on 9 July 2003. The grandfathering agreement started on the 9 July and will run for 2 years. Applicants under the grandfathering agreement will have to demonstrate that they have been acting as Clinical Scientists for 3 of the last 5 years.

7.1.2 ACS is working with the HPC to produce a workable CPD scheme. The AHP piloted a CPD scheme based on outcomes. It was piloted by 1300 AHPs and found to be too complicated for introduction. The AHPs are now looking for a new scheme.

A consultation document was received from JCMG on genetics training for nurses, midwives and health visitors

8.1 The last meeting was held on 31 July 03. Details of meeting were circulated to council and Heads of Departments.

8.2 Bids against the White paper will be invited for Laboratory and service upgrades.

8.3 Bids will also be invited for training the Health Service in genetics (not for training Geneticists, Clinical or Laboratory).

8.4 The call for bids will be by e-mail from the DoH. A workshop will be held on 12 September, and the DoH is expecting commissioners and providers to work together. The DoH is not working to a blueprint and is open to ideas.

8.5 VD believes that they will look at bids that include cytogenetic services. The DoH wants Genetics Laboratories and Services, not isolated groups.

Debbie Lillington has finished her spell on council. Nick Telford will provide feedback from UKCCG in future.

Teresa Davies is coming to the end of her term as the ACC representative. A replacement is required by the end of September. The replacement must be a member of the Royal College. ACTION: Suggestions to TP.

11.2The JLC had arranged, with John Barber, a slot at the BSHG meeting. Unfortunately none of the JLC will be able to attend the meeting.

11.3Una Maye reported on the Workforce Planning For Healthcare Scientists meeting held at Chester race course. The meeting was attended by WDC representatives, HR representatives and members of the professional bodies. The meeting consisted of formal presentations in the morning and workshops in the afternoon. Andrew Foster spoke about strategies for meeting the NHS Plan. This may involve changing the profile of the workforce and extending some roles. Over the next few years the NHS will require 30,000 new AHPs and HCS. At present workforce data is poor and they hope to improve this with the new electronic staff record. Bill Sang described the principles of workforce planning and new workforce planning structures within the NHS. It is expected that the professional bodies will become involved in workforce planning. Better HCS representation is required at the WDCs and this may be achieved by the formation of forums at local trusts.

11.4Una Maye reported that the list of Top 10 UK Cytogeneticists has been completed, with some help from John Barber.

12.1New signatories are required for signing cheques. These will be John Wolstenholme, Tony Parkin, Katie Waters, Rod Howell and Mike Creasy.

12.2Funds are healthy, but are heavily committed to future ETC training meetings.

13.1 An e-mail has been received from Teresa Davies. She has received a copy of the second iteration of a report from National Screening Committee entitled Antenatal Screening for Down’s Syndrome – Policy and Quality Issues.. This was only sent to those who responded to the first. It discusses the use of QF-PCR for screening for Down syndrome and that karyotyping would only be indicated for specific cases. The final report will be published next year.

Val Davison informed council that no decision has yet been made as to whether QF-PCR only will be recommended for low risk pregnancies. The results of the ARIA trial are awaited. If karyotyping is continued, there may need to be a review of the standards. At present many clinicians are not comfortable with QF-PCR as the sole test.

14.1 Kennedy Galton Centre and Great Ormond Street have offered to host the Spring Meeting in London in 2006. Peter Howard has offered to host the meeting in Liverpool in 2008, this will coincide with Liverpool being the City of Culture. Both offers were gratefully accepted.

Hosts are still required for 2005 and 2007. Manchester will be approached to host the meeting during one of these years.

14.2 There was some discussion about the implications of CE marking. TP is to write to Dr Jeffreys to seek clarification. RM, RH and SR are to investigate the production of a skeleton CE registration form for completion by laboratories.

14.3 Minute 7.3.4 Val Davison reported that cytogenetic currencies are at least as advanced as molecular currencies. They were sent from GenCAG to JMGC and taken back to GenCAG by the DoH. There were concerns over whether the clinical and cytogenetic currencies included a cost element (molecular do not). The FISH currencies were reviewed, to remove capital charge elements. The average cost is likely to be about £100 per unit, with differences between centres, due to different contracting practices.

14.5 Minute 6.2.4 Rod Howell reported that the Professional Guidelines were never submitted to the Journal of Medical genetics for publication. Katie Waters asked if they had been sent back for revision. It is possible that Tony Potter never sent the revised revision back. Val Davison and Katie Waters will check on the status of the guidelines. Rod Howell suggested if they have not been submitted, they may require editing before re-submission.

14.6 John Wolstenholme has entered a bid to NICD to set up an international CVS database to run for 5 years. The plan is for John to co-ordinate the non-US entries. If successful the grant will cover 50% of John’s salary. The laboratories which have contributed data will be asked to agree to making their data freely available. There will be a UK pilot of the database, which will be password protected. The password will be provided to contributing laboratories.

16.1 Council decided not to renew membership of the UK Forum for genetics and Insurance. ACTION: Secretary

16.3 Katie Waters reminded new members of council that the expenses claim form can be found on the ACC website, and that claims should be sent to John Wolstenholme.

16.4 Tony Parkin thanked retiring ordinary members of council, Debra Lillington and Simon Larkin, and the retiring junior members Una Maye, Caroline Baird and Richard Hall.. He also expressed thanks to Lorraine Gaunt for her work as chair of the ACC over the last 3 years.