Abstract
Women make up just under one third of the Fellows of the Royal Australian and Zealand College of Psychiatrists, according to the latest Workforce survey.
The survey found that men outnumbered women by almost two to one with only 32% of the Fellowship being women.
General Council has decided to conduct the Workforce survey annually, which will enable it to track trends over time.
The survey found that the average age of Fellows was 50.
Most Fellows treated adults while 10% of their time was spent treating children and 12% treating the elderly.
Half of their working time was spent in private clinical practice and 41% in public clinical practice.
The survey found that there were 725 vocational training positions in Australia of which 80 were recognised as rural/remote training positions.
Nearly 50% of trainees are women and 16% undertake part-time training.
The survey was completed by more than half of the Fellowship.
General Council decisions available on Internet
All resolutions passed by the General Council in Christchurch in May are available on the College website (www.ranzcp.org).
General Council decisions will be posted on the website following each meeting in future as well as a summary being published in Australasian Psychiatry.
A summary of the General Council's Christchurch discussions is published in this issue.
The College's Director of Corporate Services, Mr Chris Keegan, gave a presentation and led a discussion on councillors’ responsibilities as directors. This was followed by a discussion of governance issues and the options open to the College to change the present system of governance. A report on the issue will be presented to the General Council in October.
Congress
Our sincere thanks go to Dr Alfred Dell'Ario and Dr Sandy McLeod for organising a most successful conference in Christchurch.
Its theme “Balance” was ably reflected in the keynote addresses.
The Congress venue was very good and while the hospitality was warm, the weather was cold!
Next year's Congress in Sydney from 22–26 May will be organised by the NSW Branch Committee.
The theme will be “Psychiatry in a Changing Society”.
Annual General Meeting
Motions to change Article 13 and 71 were removed from the agenda before the Annual General Meeting following concerns about how the changes would affect doctors who were ill.
It was decided to reconsider the proposed changes and to consult further with medical boards and councils.
More information will be sent to Fellows on this and the Board of Practice Standards welcomes comments.
An extraordinary general meeting will be held in Melbourne in October to consider the matter.
A move to change the way the President is elected was defeated. Professor Philip Boyce discusses this in his report.
About 200 Fellows attended the AGM in Christchurch.
The Minutes of the AGM are published in this issue.
The review of the College's information technology system is continuing.
Medicare changes endorsed
General Council endorsed changes to several Commonwealth Medicare Benefits Schedule items.
These include a new item, the Referred Assessment and Management Plan, changes to item 319, case conferencing items, and telepsychiatry items.
The Executive Officers and staff from the RANZCP's policy unit are working with the AMA and the Department of Health and Ageing to progress this further.
Secretariat matters
The RANZCP's Marketing and Communication Manager, Ms Andrea Chapman, resigned in June to take up a position with a Melbourne legal firm.
Although she was with us for a short time only, she made an impact with the media policy she developed being endorsed by General Council in May. She also brought some order to the College's awards and presentations. We welcome acting manager, Mr Allan Crompton.
The ICT committee chaired by Dr Greg Carter is examining options to improve the system including data management.
Fellowship Board matters
Examinations under the new system have successfully taken place.
This was due to an enormous amount of work by secretariat staff and many Fellows who spent many hours organising the changes.
The review of the College's information technology system is continuing.
Our thanks and appreciation goes to all of those who have contributed to this.
Changes to the Advanced Training Program continue to be fine-tuned.
Again, this also has taken many hours of hard work by both the staff and the many Fellows involved.
Trainees will be offered a wide variety of training opportunities next year as more programs become available.
The staff and Fellowship Board are working diligently preparing the College for AMC accreditation, which is due in August next year.
Clinical Practice Guidelines
The Clinical Practice Guidelines have been completed after three years of writing, consulting and re-writing.
They are available on the College website (www.ranzcp.org) and will be published in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry.
The consumer and carer versions of the guidelines have also been completed and have been endorsed by the Mental Health Council of Australia.
They are also available on the website.
Well done all those who have been involved in this very important project.