Issues
arising from the Royal College of Pathologists Council meeting
held on the 18th January 2007
Summary by Professor
Gordon Ferns
Carter pilot sites were
running though no templates for data collection had been received
(N.B. now received by some sites). The Steering Group meeting
before Christmas had been postponed. The first phase of the pilot
sites data collection process due to end in March 2007. The College
has established a portal on its website to keep Fellow informed.
The College Executive with input from some Specialist Societies
would form an Expert panel to feed into the review process. Blood
Transfusion would receive special attention, this would be led
by Professor Mike Murphy.
The College had responded
to the NCEPOD audit of the Coroner's Service. There should be
better quality assurance, and better communication between Coroners
and Histopathologists.
It was reported that Payment
by results (PBR) had been decided Pathology would not be part
of the Health Resource Groups version 4, although it may be included
beyond April 2008, to inform tariffs for patient episodes at this
time, and would have a role in ‘Connecting for Health.'. Each
discipline was bveing asked to cost profiles of tests rather than
individual tests. Under these circumstances payment may not reflect
true costs as average costs would be used to set the tariffs.
The President had written
to Sue Hill about the proposed restructuring of NHS Clinical Scientist
training. No reply had yet been received.
CPA would be undergoing
a restructuring of its administration with the CEO taking on the
responsibility for Clinical affairs and line management of the
Executive Manager. There would also be a Clinical Director on
the Professional Advisory Committee.
Standard B1 had been discussed
in greater detail by the CPA Board. The Clinical/ Scientific responsibilities
of the Laboratory Director had been stated more explicitly including
a statement of the expected level of professional attainment ‘….annual
performance review, …expected to be Consultant status, with Fellowship
of the RCPath or equivalent. Exceptions would be allowed in highly
specialised services e.g. virology. A tabled document had been
presented to the Board by the IBMS regarding the possibility of
individuals at AFC level 9 being acceptable for Laboratory Director.
This would be reviewed in the next month or so.
It had been proposed that
fees for HTA licences (Autopsy and Research) be increased from
£6,000 to £9,000, and that the fee for satellite sites
be increased from £250 to £4,000. College was concerned
about this additional call on research funding in particular.
50% of the funding for
the Lower Ground Floor development had been raised, and work will
now start in the Autumn 2007. This would require relocation of
the College Offices for a couple of months as utilities would
need to be cut off during the reconstruction. It was expected
that the work would be completed in November 2008.
The National Specialty
Commissioning Advisory Group (NSCAG) is to be reorganised, moving
out from the DoH to the NHS. This would be under PCT control but
ring-fenced for the time being. This would allow a greater inflationary
uplift for the £2-300M budget.
Membership of the College
would be abolished and replaced by Fellowship. It was proposed
that Associateship be awarded after completion of Part 1 of the
examination. Other categories of association were discussed. These
included: Diplomats (these may all become Associates, though it
was felt that the designation should be retained as an option);
Affiliates (a new category who would receive the bulletin and
take part in CPD); Voluntary Members (via article 3c(iii)) (it
was felt these too should be Affiliates rather than yet another
category).
There are Consultants who
are not currently on the Specialist Register. Some do not know
that this is the case until they wish to move jobs. The late entry
route is now closed, potentially tying individuals to posts. At
present requires application to PMETB via article 14, and at a
cost of £900. Further discussion will be required to solve
this potential problem.
The College is in the process
of developing its own 360 degree appraisal tool.
The Model job description
for Haematologists had been modified in line with the other disciplines.
It was agreed that membership
of the Job description review Committees would be approved through
Regional Council.
A ‘patient' section of
the College Website was being developed.
The Workforce database
was about to be launched.
All curricula had been
approved by PMETB in December 2006. The person specification for
Run through training was being finalised. The MMC figures for
annual RTT in Medical microbiology was indicated as 35, and 10
for Chemical Pathology, although it was unclear how these had
been derived. Banding payments for on-call payments had been withdrawn
at some Foundation Trusts. PMETB required approval of assessment
proforma for trainees. These were likely to be very time consuming
with up to 1000 episodes of assessment likely to be necessary
in some organisations.
20.1.07 GF
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