EFSHT COUNCIL MEETING Minutes
MAY 10-13 2007
LJUBLJANA, SLOVENIA
Present:
The Executive committee:
Nicole Grünert-Plüss - President
Roma Bhopal - President-Elect
Sheila Harris - Secretary
Glykeria Gounaropoulou - Treasurer
Full Member Societies:
Katleen MeeüsBelgium
Doddi StolbergDenmark
Claude Le Lardic France
Angela Harth Germany
Soteria PoulisGreece
Melanie EissensThe Netherlands
Mojca MarinčekSlovenia
Birgitta SvernlővSweden
Monika HarrwegSwitzerland
Aysel EnhosTurkey
Zoe CliftUnited Kingdom
Corresponding Member:
Tracy FairplayItaly
Permanent Scientific Committee(PSC): Chairman, Ton Schreuders
Observers: Gulin Arikan, Firdevs Kul from Turkey and Susannah from Slovenia
Apologies:
Oili TomminenFinland
Griet van VeldhovenNorway
Antonio Duarte Portugal (Corresponding Member)
Vicenç Punsola IzardSpain (Corresponding Member)
1/07
Minutes of 2006 Meeting in Izmir
The minutes of the previous meeting were unanimously accepted with no alterations and duly signed by the President
2/07
Presidents Report
This had already been distributed (appendix 1) and there were no points raised.
3/07
Secretary’s Report and Website
This had already been distributed (appendix 2). The situation regarding Cyprus was explained and all hoped that they would soon be participating fully.
The website has been updated and there are regular updates throughout the year. The majority of delegates had visited the website and all were encouraged to do so and also to encourage usage by their members. All were asked to try to find members within their own Societies for the Website Committee as the Bylaws state Secretary plus minimum of 2 - 3 members, at present there is just the Secretary! The Delegates themselves do not have to be the members.
Action Points 3/07, 1-3
4/07
Treasurers Report
The financial balance and statement had been distributed (appendix 3).There were some questions from Sweden regarding the financial statement which were clarified by the Treasurer. The financial Statement seems to cause confusion as it is mainly theoretical so a simplified Budget Plan will be used next year. This will need the sub committees to submit bids in advance.
A proposal to raise the level of Officers reimbursement (appendix4) was discussed and carried unanimously.
The need for invoices was discussed. At present it is impossible for the Treasurer to give detailed invoices as she doesn’t have the numbers of members for each Society. Several Societies are slow in paying by the deadline of April each year. The proposal was made that a form will be on the Website for delegates to download in order to send the membership numbers to the Treasurer at the end of December. Once these numbers are received then a formal invoice will be sent to each Country’s treasurer by the end of January. This will allow 3 months for payment within the deadline. From April 2008 the 10% surcharge as stated in the bylaws will apply!
Bank charges for money transfers had been reduced thanks to some pressure by the Treasurer, for which all expressed gratitude, however they were still high. A proposal was made to follow the example of IFSHT and have an internet Bank Account based in Switzerland. The Treasurer had some reservations about the lack of personal contact with the bank. The secretary will peruse the forms and then contact the Bank direct to discuss these
Action Points 4/07, 1-4
5/07
Appointment of Auditors
Angela Harth and Melanie Eissens volunteered and were appointed Auditors. They later passed the Accounts with the recommendation that, should the finances become more complicated some professional input might be advisable
6/07
Membership Applications
Italy re presented their request to become full members. Article 3 of the Bylaws was read out and all agreed that this did not exclude Italy despite there being at present only Physiotherapists in their Society. At least one other long term member has had restricted membership as well. Italy’s bid was accepted unanimously and they were welcomed as full members by the President. They were already working to change their Bylaws to include both OT and PT members as are Greece. They were both praised for this initiative and encouraged to continue.
Hovik Piranyan from Armenia had applied for Corresponding membership. After a lot of debate it was felt that, while all applauded all she had done to develop Hand Therapy in Armenia, we had to draw some boundaries geographically. After discussion all agreed on the following definition
All countries within the European Community plus those to the west of Russia and north of the Black Sea plus Turkey.
Armenia did not fall within this definition and it was also suggested that they would get more support from IFSHT. There application was therefore refused however several delegates said that on a National level they would be willing to give encouragement to the Armenians
Action Point 6/07 1-2
7/07
Education Sub Committee Report(EDC)
The Chairman of the group, Angela Harth, presented a review of progress so far (Appendix 5). Replies to the Verification process and Education Survey had been received from 13 countries. Not all delegates appeared to have realized that signing the verification paper meant they were signing for the Profile on their National Societies behalf, so were asked to URGENTLY ensure that it has been discussed at a National level. The majority (12/13) who had signed however meant that the Executive Committee were able to ratify the document which they accordingly did.
(By default the other 2 Societies were deemed to be in agreement as per the letter sent out in February giving an overall majority of 14/15)
There was a wide variation within the countries as to current education/qualification processes and there was much debate as to how the process would be developed. Who would be responsible for verifying the Portfolios from the various countries if we went down that route? The Education Group had hoped the national Education groups, however not all Countries had one. Would EFSHT need to have a Permanent Education Committee? Most delegates felt the answer was yes.
Sweden raised the point that as they have very distinct OT/PT boundaries they were unsure how this would work, other countries explained that they were the same regarding boundaries but not all Therapists would be expected to cover all aspects within the Profile.
One or two people expressed concern that the qualification would only be for self gratification and would have no external benefit however some delegates stated that job adverts in their own Countries now included a requirement to have the National Qualification, or to be working towards it.
There was some debate as to whether Portfolios was the route to follow as it required commitment from experts to verify. The USA had started this route but had changed to exams as it was too difficult to keep going. There was also a great diversity in all countries and it would need hard work to ensure a uniform level. EFSHT would NOT be setting standards of care within the National groups.
The Education Sub Committee was unanimously encouraged to continue their hard work and to keep the momentum going.
Action Point 7/07
8/07
Permanent Scientific CommitteeReport (PSC)
The chairman, Ton Schreuders, presented a review of current progress. (appendix 6) One of the main aims of EFSHT is to Coordinate and facilitate the exchange of knowledge between the various Societies. At present there is very little evidence for a lot of our activities as Hand Therapists. We have approximately 1880 members between all the Societies, if all that knowledge could be pooled we would advance things greatly. Level 4 of evidence is consensus of experts, work is starting by using Delphi questionnaires. Some countries reported that it is becoming exceedingly difficult to undertake research as Ethical Board approval is difficult to obtain and a very laborious process.
The proposal is that we work towards an EFSHT Recommendation on Assessment Methods and Treatment Protocols. By having standardized Assessment methods for reporting treatments it would be much easier to compare outcomes.
EFSHT was asked to support the idea, which all agreed on, proposals are:
To develop a network within all the countries of people who would respond within a maximum of 2 weeks to emails in order to find experts in various fields and then run Delphi questionnaires and literature reviews
To find Sponsors
To form an organizing group and prioritize
To publish results on the EFSHT website.
Action Point 8/07
9/07
Role of Corresponding Members
According to the Bylaws an individual can be a corresponding member, there is no required commitment from them after gaining membership. Some members have been working hard to develop Hand Therapy groups within their own Country whereas others have not replied to any correspondence from EFSHT. After discussion it was agreed that failure to reply to EFSHT for 2 years would result in loss of membership.
There would also be a requirement for the member to be active in trying to raise the profile and educational development of Hand Therapy within their country. They will be asked to submit an annual report before each Council Meeting. Failure to do so would result in loss of the journal which at present is sent to all delegates.
Action Point 9/07, 1-3
10/07
Visitor Programme
Ragnhild Cederlund is no longer able to continue as the link person for this programme. After discussion, during which no one appeared to have ever been contacted under the programme, it was felt that visits were mostly arranged by personal contact, through reading publications or via the National Societies. There was unanimous agreement to close the existing programme.
Two delegates raised the issue of visiting Units to gain “hands on “ experience, most delegates felt that the legal / insurance issues were a block to this happening, also in several countries there were national Therapists looking for work so it was unlikely that there would be paid temporary employment, the language issue would also possibly cause some problems. All delegates are to be asked to look into the requirements within their country and if any could offer this type of visit then that country’s requirements will be put on the website.The visitor programme will be taken off the website.
Action Point10/07
11/07
Pin Competition
Following a presentation of the entries a debate followed. At the end of it the following questions were raised
1)Do we want to change the Logo? The unanimous decision was No
2)Is the Pin to be a fund raiser? Probably not.
3)Were any of the submitted designs to be used for a pin? In view of question 1 all were rejected
It appeared that most people would prefer a “fashion” pin to be worn as jewelry rather than a membership badge or status symbol.
Action Point 11/07
12/07
Congress 2008
The Swiss delegate showed a presentation of the venue and plans so far, She asked for help from all delegates in sourcing speakers and publicizing the event
Action Point 12/07
13/07
Any Other Business
1)The question of having a list of “recommended” Speakers from each country was discussed. Some delegates reported that their National Society was reluctant to be seen to be approving some speakers while others were happy with the idea. It was felt that one way round the problem would be for those that were happy to send the list to the Secretary, while those that were not could send the programme from their National meetings or any International ones they went to that had European speakers.
2)Forthcoming Council meetings
200817/18 June before the Congress on the same format as this meeting, evening session on the 17th and full day on the 18th.
2009In Lyon thanks to Gemmsor, in collaboration with their 25th anniversary at the same time the EFSHT has its 20th anniversary!
2010: A host is needed.
3)It was proposed that Ase Lier be offered Honorary membership in recognition of her outstanding work during her 9 years as Secretary General. Agreed unanimously.
4). It is now possible to purchase the Journal of hand Therapy with a credit card.Action Points 13/07 1-3
14/07
The meeting was closed by the President warmly thanking all delegates, Angela Harth from the ESC, Ton Schreuders from the PSC, the members of the board and last but not least the Slovenian Therapists, particularly Mojca Marincek, for all the hard work in arranging the meeting.
1