Following the ART committee meeting yesterday, it is with some trepidation that I would like to announce that I have taken over as the Association Chairman. I have put off taking over this role for sometime, being rather more willing to support Andy as his deputy than to "Challenge" him for his position.

In my opinion Andy has performed as an exceptional Chairman for many years, being instrumental in guiding ART to the position it holds today, acknowledged as being the Professional Body for Renal Technology. He deserves a BIG THANK YOU from us all as I know it has not always been easy.

I have no illusions and just hope that I will be able to build on the good work that has already been achieved, channeling ideas, interest and enthusiasm from the membership. I realise it will not be possible to satisfy everyone and that I will make mistakes, I will endeavour to limit these and hope that a new deputy, when appointed, will be able to keep me on track.

I do not intend to make major changes to the Association but someone new "at the helm" will inevitably travel a slightly different path and do things differently, so I would like to introduce some minor modifications to the way things are done.

I intend to listen to any and all comments raised by the membership and will aim to consider ways to act upon them. A comment raised in the past has been that "no one knows what we are doing" so I will be introducing a regular Chairman's Update for Artery, which will also be replicated on the website, which will be able to be updated more frequently.

I also intend to introduce a page on the website devoted to "Ideas and Suggestions" from the membership, seperate from the Forum. This will be reviewed regularly and will ensure that we listen to, consider and act appropriately on any membership comments.

A new post of Public Relations and Communications Officer has been established, a huge task that will involve liasion with the membership, the website manager and the Artery editor, asking questions of the membership and hopefully providing some answers.

A full list of Officer appointments and ART representatives on various committees and organisations will be issued shortly and any progress or developments will be reported and updated regularly. I have a list of other jobs and tasks for consideration and development and these will be raised at the next committee meeting, including suggestions raised in the past by the membership.

ART means different things to different people, in some cases it means very little or nothing at all. I hope that I can listen to the comments and we can work together as a committee, addressing concerns and aiming to make ART meet the expectations of the membership and mean something to all.

If you have any thoughts or comments, please do not hesitate to contact me and let me know either by phone or e-mail.

David Gandy

Modernising Healthcare Science Careers.

The DH have just launched a consultation document, "The Future of the Healthcare Science Workforce. Modernising Scientific Careers: The Next Steps." As Andy has already mentioned, this is available to read and download at www.dh.gov.uk/en/consultations/liveconsultations/dh_091137

If you are interested please take the opportunity to read this and forward your comments, any comments, directly to me. This is our chance to air views and / or concerns and we have until the 27th February to feed back to the DH.

We have already had the chance to introduce changes to the scheme, and a small group of us are attending a meeting on Monday 1st December looking specifically at Renal Technology. Any outcomes and developments will be reported.

Please get back to me with any comments, thoughts or concerns.

Thanks, David.  

In the past I have found the period between Christmas and New Year to be a relatively quiet time, allowing me time to compose my thoughts and plans for the future, catch-up on paperwork, perhaps tidy the office and complete the ‘Business Plan’. This year has been different with lots going on and an ever increasing workload as a result of staff shortages and the opening of a new unit, Christmas and the New Year just came and went in a blur.

Along with all this ‘work’ there were also professional matters that needed to be organised and arranged and I’m sure you must have noticed that sometimes ‘work’ has a habit of getting in the way.

We held an ART committee meeting at the end of February, with a rather ambitious agenda but I’m pleased to say we covered all the salient points and have actions to take forward. The minutes of the meeting will soon be available to read on the website.

We have responded to the DH consultation document on the Modernising of Scientific Careers (MSC), a project we have been involved with from the start. I’m pleased to report that our completed response was sent in, answering all the DH questions and highlighting the concerns that the committee and the membership had raised, thanks for the input guys.

We are now awaiting the feedback and will report back when it becomes available.

The ART Training Scheme is now up and running with the first couple of applicants signed-up, and we wish them every success and would appreciate any feedback.

In a similar vein the Bradford Renal Technology course continues to develop and with module 1 just having been completed, this time held in London in March and with a good number of renal technology students. Great news is that we have received funding to support renal technologists attending the course over the next 2 years. So if your department is considering taking on a trainee now is the time to consider it seriously as the cost of the training could be supported, please contact us to discuss.

Finally we have started the organisation of the annual conference and have established a sub group to take this forward. Location will be Helidon Lakes a conference hotel just up the road from Staverton Park in Northampton and arranged for 7 – 9^th October. We have tried to miss school half-term holidays this year, so no excuse for a good turn-out. If funding is a problem please contact us, we might be able to offer some advice, sorry no money though.

Please contact us if you have any thoughts or ideas or have a burning ambition to present a piece of work at the conference, all ideas gratefully received.

There are many other things to mention such as the development of projects suggested by the membership including a project on Standards, keep them coming; we currently have representation on the BRS Workforce Review Group and the Renal Association Home Dialysis Review Group; our relationship with the Department of Health continues to be good and we are still involved in discussions about Regulation, make sure you sign-up to VRCT and canvass your colleagues if they have not yet done so; I would hope to be able to visit areas where there is little interest in ART, do you know of technical departments like that, we also want to support areas that are keen to develop relationships with us, such as Ireland; what about some local area meetings? Finally why not consider joining the committee, we are always keen to consider new members and especially new ideas. And remember if there is anything you would like to mention or raise away from the website forum you can always contact me directly at work by phone or e-mail.

All the best for now and let me know if there are ways you think we can improve our Association.

David