SCSN Minutes 2010 11 - The Knowledge Network

MINUTE OF THE MEETING OF THE SCOTTISH CLINICAL SKILLS NETWORK STEERING GROUP
DATE: 5th November, 2010
TIME:
11.00am
VENUE: Clinical Skills Centre, Room 8
Present:
Graham Nimmo
Helen Henderson
Jane Reid
Jenny Miller
Predrag Bjelogrlic
Veronica O’Carroll
Caroline Wood
1. APOLOGIES
Apologies were presented to the meeting on behalf of:
Graham Geddes
Janet Skinner
Margaret Braid
Maureen Crowley
Beverley MacLennan
Alna Robb
Ailsa Armstrong
Paula Ingram
2. MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETING
GN welcomed all members to the meeting and asked if the group could take a minute to go
over the minutes of 6 August to see if there should be any changes to content. It was agreed
that the minutes were an accurate reflection of the meeting.
With regards item (12) in the last minute – Patient Safety Group – RP had written a letter to
Peter Davey to intimate that the Network were keen to be linked with this and support the
Patient Safety Group. The first meeting in St Andrews on 12 th November is fully subscribed
with 200 registered. GN will be in attendance at this meeting and will also be promoting
SCSN.
The minutes of the AGM were also distributed but not for discussion at the meeting – this
will be done at the AGM next year.
3. MATTERS ARISING – not covered elsewhere
CW enquired how the vacancies for Steering Group Members and a Secretary were
progressing – this was addressed under AOCB.
JM asked if the Network should be promoting their association with ASME more and advising
members that we have corporate membership and the benefits associated with this. PB
asked what the financial benefits were and LE to source this information and pass on to
members.
CW suggested that the Network produces a flyer for members advising benefits available
from ASME, information on the Travel Scholarship and any workshops coming up with a link
to the website as this may encourage members to look at the website more. Discussion then
took place on the formation of a bulletin from the Network being sent out to members. It
was decided that a bulletin would be produced every 4 months and there would be a
template made up and could be filled in with information relating to – Workshops, Special
LE

Interest Groups, the Annual Conference, Fundings, Travel Scholarships, ASME and would be a
useful tool for the membership. It would be called “SCSN Bulletin” and when e-mailed out
there would also be a link to the website. In order to get the bulletin out to a wider
audience, members agreed to send this out to their own contacts. LE to draw up a template
and remind members a couple of weeks before the bulletin is due to go out so that
information can be collated. GN felt for a while that it would be good to cast the net wider,
particularly in the medical fraternity, as awareness of the Network is not as high as it should
be and he thought that the bulletin could be used as a way of letting people know about the
Network – going through the College of Physicians and sending out flyers, etc.
JM had a meeting in the North with Jerry Morse, having a look at the Suttie Centre and they
invited a Service User (Carer), partly because they are having real problems with invasive
procedures and thinking that clinical skills would be useful. Carers get no training and the
Service User was very excited about the whole resource and how it could be used. There are
other groups who may be interested in becoming associated members of the Network. GN
thought this was a really good development of our profile and would help to get our
membership more active. GN wanted to clarify invasive procedures and discussion took
place on this and it was suggested that a good way to start this would be to have a workshop
to see what the interest is because you could have a special interest group. JM to contact
Loretta Lamb, director of PAMIS – huge area to provide support in localities to access clinical
skills training or at least start to talk to people. JM to send synopsis about research project
and contact details to GN and LE to circulate to Steering Group.
LE
JM
4. Artist in Residence
GN announced at the Conference, progress in relation to the Artist in Residence – GN and Christine
Borland were putting together a detailed application. If this goes ahead Christine will spend 2 days
a week interfacing with all the Clinical Skills facilities and facilitators in Scotland. If successful with
the application this will start the middle of next year and the end will coincide with the Conference
in Edinburgh.
5. Skills Passport
This was left on the Agenda from the last meeting on the basis that we need to shift this aside. Tony
sent in a Skills Passport he had when he was training but reading through minutes from previous
meetings Jean Ker is actually looking at this nationally and we should let Jean and Tony look at this.
GN did not think this was something that the Group should pursue and will e-mail Tony and advise
him of this.
6. 2010 Conference
Copies of the Feedback forms were distributed and it was decided that even under the
circumstances with the disruption of the fire, the general consensus was that the Conference was a
success. A letter was being sent to Discovery to formally thank them for their assistance that day.
GN thought that the right balance had been found with the Keynote Speakers and the conference
had given people what they wanted. It was agreed that the on-line registration system was a good
idea and worked well in principle. PB would support this idea for next year.
GN
PB asked if the Keynote Speakers had given permission for their talks to be put on the website. LE
said only two had signed permission forms. Other speakers to be contacted to ask if they will give
permission for their talks to go on the website.
CW raised the question of money and now that figures/bills were in, the situation was becoming a
bit clearer. The Group has to make £8,500 a year to keep a balance, although there is about
£20,000 in the pot but we don’t want to go into that too much. This year we only made £6,500 and
it is a point to note that we didn’t make a profit. Each year we are losing a little bit more – as we
are now having to pay for venues, this is adding to the costs and we haven’t increased the

conference fees and this needs to be discussed. Therefore this year it looks to have cost us £2,000.
Discussion then took place regarding members and membership costs. LE to contact current
members who haven’t yet paid their membership. It was felt that the choices for payment at the
conference this year led to a bit of confusion with regards to payment of membership. Perhaps we
should say that people should be members of the Group first before they receive the discounted
amount for the Conference and that the membership year should start before the conference, e.g.
June to June and then we know that everybody has paid membership and then when Conference
comes round then they pay separately and the members get the reduced price. PB thought the
solution was for the membership to be on a separate date and leave it out of the Conference. GN
asked if we could come back to this.
7. Conference 2011- Update
VO and PB met with Conferencing Services in St Andrews – Kim Mhalerbie is the contact there. With
regards to some of the things from the last meeting, the Social Event Fork Buffet would cost £15pp
for the food and there would be an additional cost for drinks (£12.50 per bottle of wine). Numbers
would need to be checked to see how many Lower College Hall could hold and also confirmation of
additional costs. There was a bit of a concern that there would only be a Technician available for set
up of the conference but there may be someone available on the two days and we would have to
pay for their time.
GN thought that the initial costing of £48/person for the two days was quite a good price with
everything that was included. VO having problems contacting Kim Mhalerbie and when she gets
final costings will copy CW for costs.
GN then proposed a formal checklist with progress and timelines that could be discussed at each
meeting. This will enable gaps to be highlighted. VO asked if there could be a section in the
checklist to highlight the responsibilities of the host.
VO
GN/LE
The rooms available are: 1 Lecture Theatre (holds 300), 2 Seminar Rooms (hold 50) and 5 Tutorial
Rooms (hold 12) and all the rooms in the Clinical Skills area will be available. Coffee will be served in
the main entrance area and it was decided that posters will be set up in the coffee/lunch area,
where the Trades People will also be situated. JM asked if more time could be spent going round the
posters.
There was then discussion on the display/presentation of posters and the length of time for showing
these to give them maximum exposure. GN suggested starting the conference one hour earlier to
allow extra time during coffee/lunch, one of which could be extended, for people to look at posters
and also to network. It was agreed to start the conference at 10.00am on the first day.
At this point in the meeting Cass Kellett came in to apologise that she had been drafted onto an
interview panel and would be unable to attend the meeting but wanted to thank everyone for their
help during the Conference. GN then thanked Cass personally for her excellent organisation of the
Conference and for the organisation on the day of the fire. GN asked if CK could e-mail him a copy of
the Abstract Marking Criteria. CK asked that it must be made clear on the call for abstracts and the
website that people cannot submit abstracts and then withdraw at the last minute because they
cannot get funding to attend the conference.
CK
Keynote Speakers – GN asked for any suggestions for Keynote Speakers and a note will be sent out
to all on the Steering Group for suggestions. Roger Kneebone who had to withdraw from this year’s
conference had said that he would be delighted to attend at another time so he will be contacted.
JR suggested Esther May, Dean of the University of South Australia as a possible Keynote as she had
heard her speak and she was excellent. PB had confirmation from the Dean that he will open the
meeting.
Workshops – suggestions were for Inter-professional Skills, or for an area that was doing really well
with Clinical Skills. JR suggested ACT AHP Co-ordinator who is now beginning to do a lot of teaching
integrating through medical school and it might be good to have a workshop or presentation on the

work that is going on. VO involved in programme piloting Clinical placements but will have
something to feedback by next year and include in a workshop.
GN’s thoughts on the format of the conference was for Roger Kneebone to start off and then run
with the concept of inter-professional skills and then the final talk would be somebody who pulls it
all together with what has gone on over the two days and Jean Ker is probably the person to do this,
if we gave her the remit.
Jane Reid left the meeting at 1.00pm.
Money – CW had done rough calculation and worked out that we need to make another £4,000 this
year to break even. The cost of the evening meal to be added to the cost of conference package.
In order to increase revenue, it was suggested that more exhibitors from Trade and Industry were
contacted and offered places if there was enough space for them. The Group decided that with the
conference expanding and costs increasing, that the exhibitor costs should be increased and it was
agreed that this would increase from £350 to £450 which was still excellent value for 2 days at a
conference. Cost of the conference fees was discussed and CW and LE to draft something with
prices and send round to the Group. Final decision regarding finance options to be made at January
meeting.
2012 Update
Venue will be Queen Margaret University, Musselburgh and not University of Edinburgh as
previously stated in minutes. A local meeting has not been held yet to discuss the concept of
“Human”. GN wondered if we should have a lay representative on the Steering Group.
8. Workshops
The workshops will be put onto the Bulletin and GN will write formally to Nicky Maran about the
Debriefing Workshop that she said she would run.
GN apologised for cancelling the Literature Review workshop in November but it coincided with the
Ahsip meeting in Newcastle and also Chris Cairns couldn’t manage but this will be rescheduled for
probably February at the earliest.
GN asked for any other ideas for workshops and the question was raised about missed workshops at
the Conference due to the fire. It was agreed that there would be 3 workshops planned and timings
would be February, June and December. JM will co-ordinate workshops and GN volunteered for the
February one. The Group will invite the people who ran a workshop at the conference if they would
like to do so either in June or December. JM to meet with LE to discuss organisation/administration
of workshops.
9. Website
The members still have to be finalised in each area and a photograph submitted. GN would like to
meet with PB to go over what has to be updated on the site. There was discussion about creating a
community site as this was free, there were discussions boards and blogs for members. Steering
group members were encouraged to take a look at the CDM community site. If the SCSN site was
re-launched as a community site then perhaps it would be used more. PB to continue his roll as
Website Supervisor and to look after community site. Meeting needs to be arranged to set up
community site.
10. CS Men Update
A. Baker was expected to be at meeting but could not attend to give an up-date.
GN
GN
JM/GN
JM/LE
PB/GN
11. Clinical Decision Making Special Interest Group Update
There is a meeting of this group in December and since the Steering Group last met the CDM have a
3 rd on-line tutorial. Members were asked to encourage people to use this and point learners at this.
This would also be a good item to put into the bulletin.
At this point Caroline Wood had to leave the meeting but the dates for future meetings were

agreed.
Next Meetings:
Friday January 28 th 2011 - 11.00am
Friday April 1 st 2011 - 11.00am
Friday June 3 rd 2011 - 11.00am
Friday August 12 th 2011 - 11.00am
All meetings to be held in the Clinical Skills Centre, Ninewells Hospital & Medical School, Dundee.
12. A.O.C.B.
Steering Group Vacancies
Graham Geddes has joined the Steering Group. Janet Skinner has intimated that due to workload
she is unable to make Friday meetings and has asked if she should step down and someone replace
her – GN will speak to Janet and also has someone in mind as a replacement. There are still two
vacancies, one in the West but Catie Paton has intimated her interest in joining and the Group
unanimously supported this – GN to contact. JM had contacted someone as a replacement for the
North and was waiting to hear their decision.
GN
JM
The Secretary Position is still available but the Group agreed that they would run without a
Secretary at the present time and see how this goes.
Len Dalglish
GN was preparing a letter to Len Dalglish’s family to inform them that we will be having the Len
Dalglish Lecture (on Decision Making) at the next Conference and invite them and Pat Crosskerry to
the meeting.
GN asked if there were any other items and JM asked about the cost of hiring the mobile unit but no
one had any firm ideas about cost. Since the meeting the following information has been taken
from the CSMEN website regarding the cost of hiring the unit:
“NHS Education for Scotland have funded the build and transportation of the unit for a twoyear
(2009/10) pilot period to allow full evaluation of the educational potential for such a
unit in the longer term and to determine the optimal use of the mobile unit. We are
suggesting that Hospitals/Practices charge £10 per person per course initially, to cover costs
of consumable items and so that professionals understand there will be charges in the
future”
13. Date of Next Meeting
The date of the next meeting, as noted earlier, was agreed as Friday, 28 th January, 2011.