Annual Report of the Council 2007-2008

President's Report

Where has the last year gone? It doesn’t seem a year since my last report so I must be getting old as they say ‘time goes quicker the older you get’.

Once again, this has been a busy year. Both for the NHS and AMSPAR it has been a year facing many pressures and challenges. Here I must pay tribute and send heartfelt thanks to Tom Brownlie (our Chief Executive) and AMSPAR Head Office, for their resilience, commitment and willingness to get on with the job in what has been a ‘trying year’. AMSPAR has had to move office and work closely with City & Guilds on the development of our National Framework Qualifications, whilst keeping the organisation running smoothly on a day-to-day basis, but I will leave Tom to include more detail of these changes in his report.

As I am writing this, the Darzi report is due to be published this afternoon. I wonder what further changes for the NHS will be highlighted in his report? Let us hope that the report will offer opportunities as well as major challenges to modern health care. I believe the NHS needs time to consolidate and grow, but as the NHS is such a huge vote spinner, we need to constantly react to the vagaries of government.

Do patients understand and acknowledge the effort of those working in health and appreciate the breadth of knowledge needed to cope with the workload, let alone understand that we have to respond to challenging government reforms and come out of them on the other side continuing to offer a first-class service with very limited staffing levels? All NHS staff want to, and do, give their best for the benefit of patients but there is a limit to ‘unsocial’ hours and poor pay levels that these staff will tolerate.

Good health care is about teams of health professionals working together for the benefit of patients – not just the service that GPs, nurses and other clinical staff offer.

AMSPAR needs to react to these changes as well as the changes introduced by education bodies, and be proactive using our knowledge of external drivers to provide our members with up-to-date qualifications and short courses to ensure our students are fully equipped to do their jobs effectively. Continual change and the pursuit of improvement place great demands on the individuals who are expected to help deliver these improvements. A positive sign is that those experiencing these changes are encouraged, or even expected, to take charge of their own professional development. Everyone working in the health service could benefit from taking stock of the changes planned and currently underway, that they face and reviewing their personal development needs to assess honestly their training and development requirements to help them keep pace with the changing face of the NHS.

AMSPAR is looking to build on its relationship with its members to better support their needs and remains committed to its members and those who access our courses and qualifications as we look forward to another year of being YOUR professional association.

Elaine Guy, President

Chief Executive's Report

I concluded my report last year with the sentence “Difficult times - but we will come through with the support of our members.” Happily, we return to the NEC for our AGM in October able to say that: yes, it has been tough, and we have been forced to make many difficult decisions, but we are here on solid ground looking forward to the future with optimism.

Education

I also mentioned the change in funding policies of the Learning and Skills Council which affect the students enrolling on the IDMR and ADMS courses. Whilst these changes were in the process of implementation we also received notice of the intention to run down the LSC and return funding to local government.

Further change came with the announcement that the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) was to be split with Ofqual taking the role of regulator (reporting directly to parliament) and the remainder of the organisation fulfilling an advisory role to government. Although the legislation is not in place to allow this to happen the government has been keen to press ahead and the organisations are already taking shape. Questions do remain about lines of demarcation and this has involved extra work in clarifying who is responsible for what.

We were pleased that the Award in Medical Terminology for Non-Clinical Professionals was accredited to the National Qualifications Framework (NQF) at the end of 2007 whilst work preparing the IDMR for the new credit framework neared completion.

The first teaching of the new 14 - 19 Diplomas takes place this autumn. Four of our framework qualifications are included as additional learning and we are delighted that the Business, Administration and Finance Diploma, due in 2009 wish to include our qualifications as specialised learning. The IT infrastructure required to ensure the diplomas can function has lagged behind. The development of this has been particularly time-consuming for Awarding Bodies. This is very much a fore-runner to the new Credit and Qualifications Framework (CQF) which suggests a further call on resources would be required in order to facilitate its operation.

Finance

The accounts in this document show a deficit for the year of £40,365. The Council anticipated the financial difficulties which coincided with the end of the lease of the office we occupied. Savings were required in a number of areas and, after exploring numerous options, it was agreed to take smaller premises at Tavistock House North.

Initially it had been hoped that our move would take place over Christmas. This didn’t prove possible and it will be the new financial year before savings are made in this area.

Our overall running costs have remained consistent over the years. One variation is the Auditor’s Fee. In line with our policy of rotation we appointed Kingston Smith. Additional payments were needed in order to align our accounts with their requirements. Inevitably we have had to dispose of the CAF Bond - and this has happened in a particularly poor economic environment. Whilst there has been a loss on the sale it should be noted that it generated £8,426 in income over its investment period.

Negotiations

All the above have had and will continue to make a significant impact on ourselves and other Awarding Bodies. The insecurity of funding and the investment likely to be required in the future forced Council to re-evaluate its position. We know our qualifications are valued. We know that they are not perfect but we do have the expertise and the contacts to improve them and keep them current. However, without the resources, we could not continue in the circumstances we were in. For this reason AMSPAR has negotiated an arrangement whereby City & Guilds will take over the administration of our National Qualification Framework awards handling all the regulatory requirements. On the National Qualifications database these will now appear under City & Guilds but they will be marketed as AMSPAR awards and the certificate carries the AMSPAR logo.

We are pleased that this will enable all students part way through a course to complete and it will widen the accessibility of the awards throughout the UK.

Staff

In this difficult year I am particularly grateful for the support of the voluntary Council and the Chief Examiners with their teams of markers. With all the uncertainty we have endured they have all contributed to limiting any impact on members, centres and students. The staff have been particularly supportive. Although Christine Denmark and Nerys Cater left during the year for new posts they continue to help AMSPAR. Donna Daniel also left but continues to visit weekly to assist with the financial records. The only post we have had to make redundant was that of the Qualifications Manager and Mike Kay left in January. Ann Roberts is the one full-time member of staff working with me in the office at present. We cannot thank her enough for the work she has carried out on behalf of AMSPAR.

Looking Forward

AMSPAR will not be withdrawing from its educational and training role. It is our intention to be more responsive to the needs of the members and the sector as a whole. We are exploring new short courses and investigating delivery on-line. This is an exciting time for us and we want to involve as many members as possible to ensure we are meeting your needs.

Tom Brownlie, Chief Executive

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 (380k).

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