Minutes of the 38th Annual General Meeting held at the Blakemore Hotel, 30 Leinster Gardens, London, on Tuesday 10 May 2005.
AGENDA ITEM 1
Report of Council and Financial Statements, 31 December 2004
The President proposed, with the consent of the meeting, that the report of the Council and the Financial Statements be taken as factual. There being no objections, the President stated that he would mention some of the issues in the Council Report later and went on to note a number of points which had affected the financial outcome for 2004:
· The overall profit margin of £44,000 for the year was pleasing, and was largely due to a very successful conference. Many of those at the meeting had also attended the conference.
· The conference had realised a profit of £62,000 which had been even better than the 2003 conference. The 2004 event had 600 delegates and speakers, over 50 papers presented in four parallel streams, and 140 exhibition stands. The President congratulated those involved.
· Management and administration costs had increased by some £23,000 with staff salaries, meetings costs and office costs all going up. It was noted that the Institute was, nevertheless, still in a very healthy financial position.
The President then proposed, seconded by R P Boyce, that the Report of Council and the audited accounts be received and approved. The President called for questions from the floor and, there being none, the resolution was put to the vote and carried unanimously.
IHEEM president Richard Nugent (right) and chief executive Bill Pym at the AGM.
AGENDA ITEM 2
Elections to Council
Arising from the Report of Council, the President reported that, in accordance with the Articles of Association, the following members would retire at the conclusion of the AGM:
W A Mosedale Nominated Member
IEng/EngTech
D A Kerr General Member
D J Wicks General Member
IEng/EngTech
S Clark Branch Member
East Midlands & Anglia
N J Keery Branch Member
Northern Ireland
G Marsh Branch Member
South West & Southern
N J Keery, D A Kerr and D J Wicks were eligible for re-election in their respective categories. W A Mosedale was not eligible for re-election as a Nominated Member and S Clark and G Marsh were not eligible for re-election as Branch Members.
The following were the sole nominees in their respective category and accordingly are elected to Council unopposed:
P J Wade Nominated Member
IEng/EngTech
D A Kerr General Member
D J Wicks General Member
IEng/EngTech
N J Keery Branch Member
Northern Ireland
A R Hayward Branch Member
Wales
W S H Millar Branch Member
East Midlands & Anglia
Vacancy Branch Member
South West & Southern
AGENDA ITEM 3
Appointment of Auditors
The President proposed that Moore Stephens be re-appointed as auditors to the Institute and that Council be authorised to fix their remuneration. J Hayes seconded the motion which was carried unanimously.
AGENDA ITEM 4
Ordinary Business
The President asked for any items of ordinary business from the floor. No items were raised.
President’s Address
Membership. The President was encouraged by the success of the recruitment campaign which had resulted in a net increase of members for 2004 of 75, the second successive increase. There were now 1975 individual members plus 300 company affiliates (100 companies).
Engineering Council UK. There had been a noticeable increase in members coming forward for Registration – nine in 2003 to 30 in 2004 – caused perhaps by increased publicity as part of the recruiting campaign. It had been a busy year putting the new UK Spec into practice and correcting all the associated documentation in IHEEM’s Standing Orders. A streamlined application and joining procedure had been developed which had processed up to 50 candidates at “one sitting” of the Membership Committee. IHEEM continued to play an active part in the Engineering Council’s business – it is represented on the Quality Assurance Committee, the Engineering Education Alliance, Professional Development Forum, G15, and Group B College Forum. Alan Mosedale is a member of the EC Board, Richard Boyce is Chairman of the IPEM, IOM and IIE Audit Committees, and IHEEM supplies three ECUK Liaison Officers.
Branches. The President thanked the Branches for their continued enthusiasm and hard work. They were very much the Institute’s foundation and a group was looking at how communications with the Branches could be improved.
Congratulations were given to Scotland and Northern Ireland which ran their own very successful two-day Regional Conferences during the year.
Website. The President said he wanted to encourage the use of the website as a means of communicating between members – the notice board could be utilised. He welcomed suggestions for website improvement and asked members to register so that they could access the members’ only section.
Prizes. As a professional body, part of the Institute’s role was to carry out the function of a Learned Society, which, amongst other things, included the awarding of Prizes. The President welcomed two winners to the meeting:
The 2004 winner of the Northcroft Silver Medal (for the best technical paper in Health Estate Journal by a member) was Stuart Ward, for his paper ‘Questioning oxygen flow rate guidance’ (HEJ, August 2004). He had travelled all the way from Guangdong Province, China, to receive the Medal which was presented to warm applause.
The 2004 winner of the John Bolton Memorial Award (for the best technical paper in Health Estate Journal by a member under 35 years old) was Dr Didier Bozec from the York EMC Services for his paper ‘Risks must be minimised’ (HEJ, June 2004). The presentation was made to warm applause. The President congratulated both winners.
International Federation of Hospital Engineering. IFHE had held its annual Executive Committee and Council meetings in Orlando, Florida, in July in conjunction with the IFHE biennial Congress. IHEEM had been fully represented at the meetings and J Cook remained as the IFHE Treasurer. A number of IHEEM members had given papers at the Congress. IHEEM continued to provide the administration service for IFHE. The President reported that the next meetings were in Antwerp in June and felt that it was important to retain the connection.
Health Estate Journal. The Journal continued to set excellent standards and was a very attractive publication which received praise from all.
Institute Development. The President mentioned the plans set in motion by Past President Bill Murray to broaden the membership base. The work had been taken forward by Past President Peter Wearmouth and was being continued by the current President. Interviewed by the Journal Managing Editor, the current President emphasised the need to increase the relevance of the Institute to its members. He went on to say that a broader base would strengthen the engineering core. There had been concern about the demise of NHS Estates, but subsequently it had become apparent that a sizable element of NHS Estates was to be beneficially based within the DoH.
During 2005 it was hoped to progress:
· The recruitment drive. The Licentiate grade initiative had been disappointing so far.
· Activity which had come to a halt during 2004 on the revised role for AP(S) in line with NHS Estates’ work on decontamination and the management of critical engineering services. Once the future of NHS Estates and the DoH is firmed up, it was hoped that the new system and the establishment of the “Authorising Engineer (Decontamination)” will be put in place.
· The introduction of a Registration system for Medical Gases, similar to that for AE(D) and managed by IHEEM.
· The identification of a potential research topic and the location of appropriate funding.
· A decision as to what contribution should be made to publications and the putting in place of suitable resources.
· Establishing better communications links with the Branches and giving consideration to setting up special interest groups.
· Forming links and working relationships with a number of different organisations. Meetings had been held with HeFMA and the Architects for Health.
The President concluded his report by asking for any comments from the floor. It was suggested that it would be of interest to have a very brief comment on technical aspects of healthcare provision in China, taking advantage of Stuart Ward’s presence.
Stuart Ward, after his time in Hong Kong (where he was the Hong Kong Branch Secretary), had moved to a hospital in Guangdong Province, China, where he had spent the last five years. Healthcare in China had expanded at tremendous speed: there were 66,000 hospitals in China mainly equipped with the latest technology. His own hospital was large and expanding – an example of its depth of provision was its 28 hypothermic beds. Recently, five kidney replacement operations had been conducted in one day. Everything was done on a huge scale with state-of-the-art technology, although systems and supporting structures were still under development.
The insight into life in China was applauded and the President thanked Stuart Ward for his comments.
There being no further questions the President thanked members for their attendance and closed the meeting.
