ACC PROFESSIONAL STANDARDS COMMITTEE

Guidelines for Timetable for the Organiser of a Best Practice Workshop

2 months before Choose date and venue and alert Heads of Department. Ask the HoDs to choose one suitable delegate

6 weeks before Send information to Heads of Department and any delegate already identified · relevant time and travel information · The questionnaire · Invitation to comment on the content of the questionnaire · Request for name of the delegate (if not already known) · Request for the e-mail address of the delegate · Information regarding the cost of the venture, refreshments etc

1-2 weeks before Issue a draft of the outcome of the questionnaire to all delegates

2-3 weeks after Send a draft report to all who attended for further comments, setting a strict time limit for comments to be returned

6-8 weeks after After comments have been fed back and revisions made, forward the draft report to the Chair of the Professional Standards Committee

ACC PSC October 2005

Guidelines for Organisation of a Best Practice Workshop

Thank you for agreeing to organize a Best Practice Workshop. This venture needs careful planning in order for the profession to gain maximum benefit. From the outset, all those involved must be aware that the workshop is not a Study Day, but rather a fact-finding session designed to define acceptable standards for a particular aspect of diagnostic cytogenetics, based on available evidence, consensus and existing practice

1. Before the workshop

Plan a questionnaire. What questions need to be asked and answered in order to produce meaningful guidelines? Give careful thought to the design of the questionnaire in order to get the discussions focussed on the important and central topics. In particular, ask for information on areas about which the profession has concerns. Items may include · Population tested · Referral categories · Techniques · Analysis strategies · Reporting · Turnaround times

Choose a date and venue and circulate all Heads of Department. If you need a comprehensive list of departments, this can be provided by the Assistant Secretary of ACC Council. Include in the circular: · Relevant time and travel information · The questionnaire · Invitation to comment on the content of the questionnaire · Invitation to the HoD to choose one suitable delegate as below · Request for the e-mail address of the delegate · Information regarding the cost of the venture, refreshments etc

It is essential to invite only one person per lab to keep numbers manageable. The delegate must have suitable seniority and knowledge to contribute. The invitation should make it clear that the meeting is not a study day, but a fact-finding session, that all delegates will be expected to participate, and that they need to prepare for the workshop by ensuring they know what happens in their own department and canvassing the opinions of their colleagues.

If any additional questions have been added to the questionnaire at the request of participants, circulate these to all delegates. Then produce a draft of the outcome of the questionnaire to discuss on the day. If possible, circulate the draft to participants before the meeting

Plan the day to ensure that contentious points and central issues are covered. Set time limits for dealing with individual issues. It is important to keep the workshop focussed and not to try to cover too many topics.

2. On the day

The Chairperson must have substantial experience in the field and should be someone with the ability to keep a complex and full programme under tight control, and to adhere to agreed time constraints

A number of assistants should be co-opted to take notes of issues raised in discussion. One secretary is unlikely to be sufficient. The assistants need to be outside the discussion, not participants. They should have sufficient working knowledge of the topic to be able to follow the proceedings and ask for clarification where necessary. Clerical staff are unlikely to be suitable

In discussing setting of standards it is important that the Chairperson remember the following

· Standards apply to work done by trained staff, and any training or supervision requirements of lower skilled staff must be covered at local level, not by best practice · Standards should as far as possible be evidence based. Any proposed standard should be rigorously questioned for supporting evidence either from published data or from documented audit undertaken by participating laboratories · Standards without supporting evidence should be based on consensus, but the evidence must always be sought first · Standards should generally be minimum acceptable, while still drawing attention to ideal situations as long as the difference is made clear · We should not set unachievable or unnecessarily high goals or targets or propose unnecessary work · Standards should be set to a level that, if not achieved, the result that goes out is a fail or at least qualified as substandard

3. Afterwards

Write a draft of your guidelines. Add a header to the document stating it to be a draft, and include the date. (Remember that by the time the document has been circulated to the participants, and the PSC, and a draft displayed on the ACC website, and been placed before ACC Council, it is likely to have been through a number of revisions. It is vital that everyone is working from the same revision!)

Send the draft to all who attended for further comments. Set a strict time limit for comments to be returned. Make it clear that comments received after the deadline may not be incorporated.

After comments have been fed back and revisions made, forward the draft to the Chair of the Professional Standards Committee. The PSC may arrange wider consultation including publication of the draft on the ACC website, and this may result in your being asked to make further changes before the document is finally ratified by Council. In any event, you will be given clear instructions as to what, if anything, to do next.

Professional Standards Committee October 2005

Financing Best Practice Workshops

Council has agreed that a standard fee of £70 should be charged for all delegates attending Best Practice Workshops*. This fee covers all the expenses of the meeting and provides sufficient funds to run most of the associated pre- and post-workshop activities of the Professional Standards Committee. Cheques should be made payable to the 'Association of Clinical Cytogeneticists' (not the 'ACC'). Cheques should be collected by the organisers and sent to the Treasurer, in a single batch if possible, after the Workshop.

The ACC will cover the cost of hiring the venue and all catering costs. Invoices should be made out to the 'Association of Clinical Cytogeneticists' and sent to the Treasurer. Incidental expenses within the organiser's laboratory, such as photocopying, postage, etc. can also be covered. These can be claimed either by invoice, or an expenses claim form, the latter indicating the required institutional name for the cheque to be made out to. The ACC will reimburse any reasonable travelling costs and sundry expenses of Workshop organisers. Completed expenses claims forms plus receipts, should be sent to the Treasurer. Claims forms are available on the ACC Website. In general, it is unlikely that Best Practice Workshops will have invited speakers, or the equivalent. However, if such individuals are invited, they will also receive any reasonable travelling expenses and may be entitled to an honorarium of £50. Please confirm the availability of expenses/honoraria for invited speakers with the Treasurer, in advance. Again, a completed expenses claim form plus receipts should be returned to the Treasurer. Expenses and honorarium will be made out as a single combined personal cheque in the name given on the claim form, unless the Treasurer is instructed otherwise. The Treasurer can include a 'thank you letter' with any cheque, if this is provided by the organisers.

If at any stage the organisers are concerned that a Workshop may cost more to run than can be covered by anticipated income, they should contact the Treasurer for further advice.

*The only alternative to this fee per would be to subsidise these meetings from general ACC funds, which would result in an increase in individual membership fees of about £3 a year.

ACC treasurer - John Wolstenholme - Dec 2005