International Primary Care Respiratory Group
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Approved Minutes of IPCRG Annual General Meeting Saturday 27th September 2003
Hotel Imperial, Vienna, 14.00 - 16.00
1. Welcome and Apologies
H. John Fardy (HJF) opened the meeting at 14.10 and noted apologies from Jim Reid (JR) and the Cyprus Group. The system for voting was discussed and country representatives present were issued with their voting paddle.
2. Approval of minutes from last AGM
HJF asked the floor for any comments, none noted.
Approval Proposed by UK, Seconded by Netherlands, all in agreement.
3. Matters arising from minutes not covered elsewhere on agenda
None noted
4. President's Report
HJF ran through an update on the progress of the IPCRG from it's birth in June 2000 to date. He noted his thanks to Chris van Weel (CvW) and the collaboration pending with Wonca and noted that the IPCRG became a company limited by guarantee on 18 September and will be progressing the application for charitable status. A copy of the outline of the report is attached.
5. Finance Report - Accounts for 2002, Accounts to date
Ron Tomlins (RT) gave an update on the finances, noting that the research account shows no monies as all work has been completed but new work will be in the pipeline soon, the 2002 conference ended with a deficit of around 20,000 Euro and that the 2004 conference is ongoing but strict financial controls are now in place. There will be a Governance committee who will oversee the finances from now on.
Approval Proposed by Australia, seconded by UK, all in agreement.
6. Memorandum and Articles of Association for decision
7. Organisational Structure: for information
8. Sub-committees and appointment of chairs of sub-committees
The above 3 points were discussed jointly by Sian Williams (SW). A copy of the presentation given is attached and SW recommended that the members approve the documents as they stand but opened to the floor for any questions or comments:
David Price (DP): How will the sub-committees communicate back to the executive?
SW: This still has to be decided between the committees
Mike Thomas (MT): Will the directors be paid?
SW: There is provision in the M&As to reimburse reasonable expenses
Monica Fletcher (MF): Concerns over difficulties of offering charity advantages to overseas donors. Further discussions with MF and CvW may be appropriate for this point but SW to discuss with lawyers in first instance.
Antje Fink-Wagner : Asked for more information on the proposed joint meeting
SW: noted this built on Altana's idea, and proposed that this joint industry - IPCRG Executive and sub-committee chair forum happened on the same day as and prior to the AGM.
Dermot Ryan (DR): Asked how individuals within countries can be heard if they are either associate members or if they are in disagreement with their country lead
SW: All individuals are entitled to speak and add items to agenda but only country leads can vote, issue re disagreement within countries is up to them to sort out between themselves
MF: noted that it would be good to have Good Practice Guidelines for countries and has been asked to prepare 1 page document to start. ACTION MF
Thys van der Molen (TvdM): Noted that we should be inclusive of organisations and people and Bjorn Stallberg (BS) noted that individuals from new countries could start as associate members before moving to full member status when a group is established. It is the responsibility of the directors to decide whether to accept the application of a new group.
It was pointed out that there is a discussion forum on the website and such issues can be added to this.
DR: Noted that would it be best to state the quorum at meetings as a % rather than an amount.
BS: noted that we should have at least 2 more countries than the executive committee countries.
SW reminded members of the presentation that stated that, legally, the AGM had to meet face to face every 15 months for just 4 business items:
- to consider the annual audited accounts and the reports to the directors and the auditors about the accounts;
- to elect the Treasurer;
- to appoint and fix the remuneration of the auditors; and
- to select the country in which any conference of IPCRG is to be held.
Therefore a small quorum was proposed to ensure that this was achieved since it was unreasonable to expect large numbers of people to travel internationally for this business and sometimes the meetings would not coincide with existing meetings such as the ERS given the 15 month deadline.
HJF: noted that we should move to approve as they stand and in their circulation between now and Melbourne conference that it can be open for discussion and changes can be passed at next AGM.
Onno van Schayck (OvS): noted that should we add in the conference organising committee to the organisational structure as a dotted line relationship to the Executive.
Approval Proposed by Australia, seconded by Norway, all in agreement
9. IPAG Guidelines: update
OvS gave a short update on the progress of these guidelines, stating that progress to date had been a great achievement and that the only slight change to timelines is that although they will still be launched in February 2004, they will not be the final document - it will still be a working draft and will be sent out to IPCRG members for comments and WHO approval will probably still be pending.
10. Website: notification of priorities and approval of editorial team
SW noted our new website (www.theipcrg.org) and a show of hands revealed that most of the members present had now looked at this. It was noted that the web editorial team will be working on the content but that they will not be writing everything so information from our members is very much sought after. The IPCRG wants to see this as a good resource of information for its members and other health care professionals. Including links with other good websites.
11. Journal: agreement of financial commitment for 2004
It was put to the members to confirm agreement to continue with purchasing and sending out the journal for 2004.
Approval proposed by Norway, seconded by the Netherlands, all in agreement
12. Wonca: for information and discussion
CvW gave an outline of the plans for the IPCRG to be a special working group of Wonca and that as decisions are made once every 3 years on such matters our next opportunity is October 2004 at their world conference in Orlando. The IPCRG Executive is working on a 3 year plan to submit to Wonca and we will keep you updated with the progress. Thanks to go to CvW for all his hard work with this initiative.
13. 2004, 2006, 2008 conferences and venue for discussion
February 2004 Melbourne conference organisation moving along, all details of programme on the website and a reminder that abstract and early bird registration deadline is now extended to 1st November 2003.
October 14-17 2004 Orlando, Wonca conference (and potential IPCRG meeting 13 Oct)
2006 date for Oslo conference is confirmed as 6 -8 June so please add to your diary now
2008 venue - Spain and UK have both expressed an interest in hosting the conference, all other member countries are welcome to join the bidding and a final decision will be made at the AGM of 2004
14. Any other Business
2 matters noted:
a. Wonca Europe, Amsterdam, 1 - 4 June 2004
CvW noted that the above conference planning is underway and that there would be 1 day with a respiratory focus. He opened to the floor to have an IPCRG meeting with workshops etc and urged people to send in abstracts and proposals. All IPCRG members will be sent out information about their forthcoming events.
b. Honorarium
HJF noted that there was an issue regarding honorarium/travel funding for the treasurer and did anyone have any issues regarding this.
DR noted that he would support this as some members of committees work very hard for little or no financial support.
15. Date of next meeting
12.30 - 14.30 Thursday 19th February 2004, Hotel Sofitel, Melbourne, Australia
Meeting closed at 15.50
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