Chairman's Report
General Meeting of Members, 1 June 2009
MEETINGS
Current: I would like to start by thanking Andrew Norton for organising this meeting at Woodhall
Spa. My thanks also to Pippa Norton, who I know has been an enormous help to Andrew in doing
much of the administration. This meeting represents a change for SCATA. It is in early June rather
than November and it is being held on Monday and Tuesday, rather than the more traditional
Thursday and Friday. The reasons for these changes are, as I said in my Chairman's report last
autumn, that November was becoming very crowded with anaesthetic meetings, while holding the
meeting on Monday and Tuesday should help reduce the time that people need to take away from
work. One of the consequences of this change is, of course, that Andrew has had just 6 months to
make all the arrangements, rather than the more leisurely 12 months that recent meeting
organisers have had. If the attendance at this meeting is anything to go by then it seems that the
decision to move to a spring meeting held early in the week was the right one. The attendance
might also have something to do with the excellent programme of lectures and workshops that
Andrew has put together!
I would welcome the views of members regarding these changes, and also remind members that
the Committee is always looking for ideas for meetings and suggestions are most welcome.
Past: In November 2008 we held our annual meeting in Bath. The scientific sessions were held in
the glorious setting of the Assembly Rooms. The drinks reception before the formal dinner was
held around the Roman bath, and we then enjoyed a splendid meal in the gallery of the Pump
Rooms overlooking the bath. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the organisers, Andrew
Donovan and Steve Sale, for what really was a most enjoyable and informative meeting. My
thanks also to Juliette McCormack who, yet again, provided the necessary administrative support.
Future: SCATA will hold a one day meeting on Monday 16 November. This will be primarily for the
Working Groups, and will be held at the Association of Anaesthetists headquarters in London.
Details will be made available in due course.
RESEARCH AND EDUCATION
ITLS: On Wednesday 3 June we will be running an Information Technology Life Support Course.
While this is designed to meet the needs of trainees a number of Consultants have found it
provides a useful introduction to medical informatics. Participants receive a certificate of
attendance approved for 5 CPD points by the RCoA, and all attendees who pass the final MCQ
receive a Certificate of Competence which can be used as supporting evidence at RITA or
appraisal. We are always on the lookout for new faculty members for ITLS courses, so if you have
some expertise in one or more areas covered by the course, and would like to join the faculty,
then please contact me or Jim Berrington, the Hon Secretary.
Research: One of SCATA’s objects is to support research. The financial resources of the Society
are quite modest by comparison with those of larger organisations but we do encourage members
to seek support for any projects which fall within SCATA's sphere of interest.
WORKING GROUPS
Terminology: One of the Working Groups is concerned with the development of standardised
terminology to facilitate computerisation. Andrew Norton is the Content Director for the
International Organisation for Terminology in Anesthesia (IOTA) which has close links with the
International Healthcare Terminology Standards Development Organisation (IHTSDO). The latter
is the body responsible for the ongoing development and promotion of SNOMED CT. If you would
like to get involved with this work, which requires anaesthetic rather than terminological expertise,
please contact Andrew ([email protected]).
Wiki: Alan Hope is responsible for SCATA's Wiki Working Group. The Wiki has its own web site
which has a link from SCATA's site. Anyone who wishes to get involved with this project should
contact Alan. This is potentially a very valuable resource for all anaesthetists and members are
encouraged to help with its development.
OTHER MATTERS
ACCEA: The Society also supports members applying for Clinical Excellence Awards. The
ACCEA process seems now to be a continuous one and members are advised to start
considering their application for the forthcoming round as soon as possible. Further information
about both research grants and ACCEA is on the web site.
Cybercafe: Another area where SCATA provides a service to the anaesthetic community is
through the provision of a cybercafe at AAGBI meetings. So far we have had an unofficial
cybercafe at the meeting in Torquay in September 2008, and an official cybercafe at the WSM in
London in 2006 and 2009. The latter was a particular success, seldom being unoccupied
throughout the 3 days of the meeting; there was usually a queue waiting for the first laptop to be
connected to the internet each morning. I would particularly like to thank Paul Cooper, the Vice-
Chairman, for his help with this. It would not have been possible without his knowledge of DHCP,
DNS, proxies, sub-net masks, IPv4 and IPv6 addresses etc! Following that success SCATA now
has agreement to run the cybercafe at the Association's meeting in Liverpool in September.
Members will be most welcome to visit the Society's stand and the neighbouring cybercafe.
SCATA is always willing to run a cybercafe at meetings of other societies. Costs are minimal when
compared with the charges of commercial organisations, but we do need to cover expenses. So if
any member knows of another specialist society that wants a cybercafe please get in touch.
JIC: In my capacity as Chairman I continue to represent SCATA on the Joint Informatics
Committee of the RCoA and AAGBI.Three other members of SCATA's committee sit on the JIC as
representatives of other bodies.
Constitution: In common with other charities, SCATA has had to modify its Constitution to comply
with new legislation. SCATA's new Constitution was discussed and approved at the Annual
General Meeting held in Bath, and came into force on 1 January 2009. It is modelled closely on
the new Constitution of the Association of Anaesthetists. The big change is that the Annual
General Meeting, at which members can vote, has been replaced by this General Meeting of
Members, which will be held at least annually, but which can not vote on matters. Under the new
rules, if a vote is required on any matter then all members must have the opportunity to vote, even
if they have never attended a meeting.
Communication: To facilitate that new process electronic communication is now approved as the
only means by which SCATA must communicate with its members. Since electronic
communication is now the norm, it is most important that SCATA has a current email address for
every member. As a member you can log in to the members only section of the web site and
change your personal details on SCATA's database. Please check your entry and keep it up to
date, especially your email address. If you have any difficulty contact the webmaster
([email protected]) or the membership secretary ([email protected]).
SCATA's web site is essential to the Society's communication with members and its visibility to all
anaesthetists, and I would like to thank Grant Forrest for his continuing work on the site. A new
addition to the site that I would like to point out to members is the history of SCATA written by Dr
Alastair Lack, one of the Society's founder members. Alastair developed this paper at my request
following his presentation on the subject at the dinner on the occasion of SCATA's 20th
Anniversary meeting in London In November 2007.
ESCTAIC: Finally, I would like to remind members that the European Society for Computing and
Technology in Anaesthesia and Intensive Care will be meeting in Berlin in September. There is a
link to ESCTAIC's meeting on SCATA's web site for those who want more information.
Committee membership:
President Dr C Barham (until November 2009)
Chairman Dr A P Madden (until November 2009)
Vice-Chairman Dr P Cooper (until November 2009) (see note 1)
Treasurer Dr A Donovan (until April 2010) (see note 2)
Secretary Dr J Berrington (until November 2011)
Webmaster Dr G Forrest (co-opted)
IOTA representative Dr A Norton (co-opted) (see note 3)
Industry Liaison Dr S Sale (co-opted) (see note 2)
Ordinary Member Dr P Ashford (until November 2009)
Ordinary Member Dr A Hope (until November 2010)
AAGBI Liaison Dr R Verma (co-opted)
GAT representative Dr M Hari (co-opted)
Meeting co-ordinator Mrs J McCormack (co-opted)
Notes: 1=future meeting organiser; 2=immediate past meeting organiser; 3=current meeting
organiser.
Anthony P Madden
Chairman
[email protected]
http://www.scata.org.uk