Annual Report of the Council 2006-2007

President's Report

When I became an AMSPAR member in 1986 I never dreamed that I would one day be President of the association and be required to contribute to the Annual Report for the members. This was just one of the many interesting articles and facts that I read each year in the magazine, not something I thought I would have to write!

Pauline Young stepped down from her role as President last year and I must pay tribute to all the hard work she did for AMSPAR. Pauline has not gone forever, she is still available to help and advise the association when required and I am sure we will be calling on her experience and expertise to help us in our future development.

We now have a new Prime Minister and I am sure that everyone working in the Health Sector will be wondering what impact this will have on us. We all know that there is nothing constant in the Health Sector – except change, and once again this last year has been a challenging one for everyone. We have seen PCTs merging, reconfiguration of organisations, more implications from the introduction of Agenda for Change, and changes for GPs in their QOF targets amongst other things.

AMSPAR has also had to undergo changes, after all we all need to move with the times! There have been changes introduced for Awarding Bodies to meet the requirements of the National Qualifications Framework and AMSPAR has had to work hard to meet these requirements in order to ensure that all our qualifications fit within this new framework. We must also ensure that our qualifications remain ‘fit for purpose’, are of the highest quality and relevant for all Health Sector staff. Here I must pay tribute to our dedicated team at Head Office, our CEO, our Chief Examiners and Council Members and take this opportunity to thank them on behalf of all AMSPAR members for their hard work and commitment to the ongoing development of the organisation.

We are also in consultation with our colleagues in the MOD and Prison Service health sector to see if we can provide them with qualifications more tailored to their needs. We are updating our ‘non - framework’ qualifications to ensure that these remain relevant and are looking at developing other new awards. Two new qualifications are due to become available in the Autumn.

We as an organisation need to consolidate our past growth and remain proactive if we are to meet the needs and expectations of our current and future members. You need to keep us informed of your constantly changing requirements, advise us of your priorities, so that we can continue to evolve AMSPAR to be in the best possible position to provide the right membership benefits and education to help and support you. AMSPAR remains committed to providing cost effective support, training and development opportunities for all non - clinical staff in the Health Sector and with this as our goal we look forward to working with you on the future development of the association. After all, training and development leads to better business performance and better care for patients – isn’t this why we are all working in the Health Sector?

We need new members and current members to join Council and our Education Team. All organisations need ‘new blood’ to ensure that new ideas are taken forward to develop and direct the path the organisation takes. Come and work with other members to agree a shared vision for the future development of YOUR organisation.

Elaine Guy, President

Treasurer's Report

Whilst the accounts for the year show a disappointing deficit of £23,334 this has not come as a complete surprise to your Council who have already taken steps to address the situation. Although we have been able to control expenditure our problem has been the significant fall in income.

Due to the cyclical nature of the education year it is not until around December when AMSPAR knows just how much revenue it is likely to receive from its two largest qualifications – the IDMR and the ADMS. Unfortunately the registrations have gone down recently due to a number of factors which tend to be outside our control. Many Awarding Bodies have suffered a decline in VRQ registrations as centres move to alternative awards where success, and consequently funding, can be more guaranteed. The Learning and Skills Council’s funding policies are also influential and whilst we welcome the increased funding for the IDMR in 2007 – 08 there is concern regarding mooted changes after that date.

In addition to the above, the deficits in the NHS have seen training budgets ‘raided’. The Health Service Journal estimated that £117m was clawed back by SHAs in the past year. The uncertainties through reconfiguration and restructuring in hospitals have also had an impact on our membership numbers.

As I have already mentioned above, your Council have begun to address this and we have regrettably had to increase our fees above the rate of inflation. A number of other options are being discussed, one of which is the situation regarding our premises. Our lease is about to expire and we are looking at a number of alternative possibilities. Hopefully our new qualifications and participation in the 14 - 19 Diplomas will also assist whilst I would encourage you all to spread the word and recruit a colleague.

You will note that we have appointed a new auditor this year. This change is ‘best practice’ in the Charitable Funds sector and we would like to thank Harry Nicolaou who has served us well in recent years.

Finally, this will be my last report as I have decided after approximately 15 years of service on Council, as Regional Rep, Vice-Chair, Chair and latterly Treasurer it is time for me to hand the reins over to younger members. I hope to remain an active and enthusiastic retired member for many years to come, but after our three month trip around the world at the start of 2008 my husband and I both feel we would like to spend more time travelling and seeing as much of the world as we can before we get too old and decrepit!!!! I would like to thank everyone in Head Office for all their help over the years, and all the support I have received from you as members. I am sure we will meet up again at AMSPAR AGMs in the future – but not this one as I will be in Portugal on holiday!

Jennifer Kerry, Treasurer

Chief Executive's Report

Although this is the fourth occasion I have written the Chief Executive’s report I never cease to be amazed at the speed with which the year has passed. Whilst we have had difficulties – and there are many more challenges looming ahead – we have to be satisfied with the achievements that we, as a small organisation, continue to make in the different fields we operate in.

The standards and expectations set by the various regulators continue to increase, but we continue to meet them. During January the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) carried out an audit on AMSPAR. Although the report has yet to be formally delivered we know of a number of conditions that will be set and we are confident of meeting them within a very short timescale.

A prime example of our ability to participate in the education sector is the proposed changes to the National Qualifications Framework as we move towards a credit based system. In anticipation of this we took part in a project supported by the Federation of Awarding Bodies (FAB) and Education and Learning Wales (ELWA) to have our Level 3 Medical Terminology for Non-Clinical Professionals accredited on a credit basis for the Credit and Qualifications Framework for Wales (CQFW) and by extension also to the NQF. This was successfully attained and we are one of only nine Awarding Bodies to have achieved this feat to date.

We have also contributed heavily to the new 14-19 Diploma for Society, Health and Development. Although this has been a time consuming process we hope that our submitted units will be drawn upon when teaching begins in the autumn of 2008. Likewise, it is our intention to participate in Phase 2 in the Business, Administration and Finance Diploma.

In May of this year we were pleased to stage an Information Day on our various awards and the imminent changes in the sector. We would like to record our thanks to MANCAT who hosted the event for us.

Work has continued in the development of our existing qualifications and we hope to announce the accreditation of a new Level 2 Award in Medical Terminology and a restructuring of our non-NQF ‘Receptionist’ Programme.

A key element in making credit ‘work’ will be the IT systems and we are keeping abreast of the developments in relation to Moving Information Across Partners (MIAP) and Minerva.

Whilst we have faced many changes in the education field our members are only too well aware of similar activity in health. Many are still coming to terms with the effects of Agenda for Change. They have also had to deal with the spectre of redundancy as some trusts undervalue the contribution that Medical Secretaries make. We continue to promote the professionalism of the post and highlight possible deficiencies of farming work out overseas.

Of course, this is seen as a quick fix in order to address ‘deficits’ and training budgets have been another casualty in this area. Any sound manager knows that a well trained staff leads to a far more efficient organisation in the long term.

This is just one of the messages that we carry with partner bodies at various meetings. We are members of The Primary Care Consortium, The Primary Care Forum, The NHS Alliance and The Federation of Awarding Bodies. Here we work together to promote the ideals of AMSPAR and ensure that the work of our members is fully recognised by the likes of the Department of Health and Skills for Health.

In conclusion I would like to thank the members of Council and our Chief Examiners and markers. Without their contributions AMSPAR could not continue. We have a small team at head office who I also have to thank; Michael Fiennes and Marta Palaczynska (who both left during the year), Nerys Cater and Christine Denmark (who both joined us), Ann Roberts, Donna Daniel and Mike Kay (who continue to tolerate my idiosyncracies).

As I said at the outset, we have many challenges facing us. The current office lease is about to expire, the LSC is changing its funding policies which will impact on our student registrations and NQF developments will draw on our resources. Difficult times – but we will come through with the support of our members.

Tom Brownlie, Chief Executive

Membership Report

Since the departure of Michael Fiennes last June I have been working as the Marketing and Communications Officer at AMSPAR and working alongside Donna Daniel on the membership side. Between April 2006 and April 2007 I am pleased to announce that we gained 340 new members. The source of these new members is varied and includes successful students achieving an AMSPAR qualification, people being recommended by friends or colleagues, people hearing about us via our website and also former members who have decided to rejoin.

Since I joined AMSPAR we have taken stands at a number of events including the National Association of Primary Care Annual Conference, the Times Crème Executive PA exhibition, Primary Care 2007 and we have been delighted to forge a special relationship with Management in Practice. Attending these events helps to raise AMSPAR’s profile and we have also offered special membership promotions on the day to encourage interest.

We have continued to work closely with other organisations and assist in their campaigns including the NHS Security Management Service, which helps to prevent violence in hospitals and surgeries, and the Disability Rights Commission which this year launched a disability equality framework to assist frontline healthcare professionals. In the coming year I will be introducing an e-newsletter exclusive to our members. This will be sent direct to their inboxes once a month and will contain all the latest AMSPAR news and special member offers.

I am also working with other companies to increase the number and variety of benefits which we offer to our members and try to make our members more aware of these. Another benefit of which I would like to draw their attention to is the website: currently less than 100 members have signed up to access their exclusive area.

Another objective for the coming year is to improve our membership retention rate and encourage successful AMSPAR students to remain with us as AMSPAR members at the end of their course.

Our Annual General Meeting for 2006 was held in October at Stewart House, Russell Square. We took this opportunity to recognise the achievements of top performing students in AMSPAR examinations – a tradition which we hope to continue.

I’d like to take this opportunity to thank our members for continuing to support their professional association.

Christine Denmark, Marketing and Communications Manager

Download the full report

A copy of the full annual report, with tables and financial figures, is available to download from our web site as a PDF file (212k).

The Association of Medical Secretaries, Practice Managers, Administrators and Receptionists
Registered Charity Number 313310. Registered in England and Wales, Company Number 850300.
Tavistock House North, Tavistock Square, London WC1H 9LN
Telephone: 020 7387 6005, Fax: 020 7388 2648