As part of new 'reorganisation' in our Trust, Study Leave funding has been devolved to CMTs (about £500-700 per career grade staff member).  Funding will be granted as felt appropriate by the CD but after that it's all private funding.  Worryingly it is not considered ring-fenced and if a CMT is failing to make a profit then funding is threatened.

Simon


-----Original Message-----
From: Adrian Fogarty [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 21 April 2006 01:55
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Novel CPD/CME Opportunity


Exactly. For example, as usual I'll be attending ICEM in June. The course 
fees alone will easily exceed my annual study leave budget; in fact I'll 
probably also need some "trustees" funding for one of the pre-course 
workshops, so basically I'll be funding flights and hotel privately. And in 
case you're thinking it's just a holiday junket, I'll be flying in the day 
before the course starts and flying out the evening the course finishes, 
back just in time for my weekend on call.

AF

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Andrew Stearman" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Friday, April 21, 2006 12:23 AM
Subject: Re: Novel CPD/CME Opportunity

Or maybe the BMA should be pressing for an adequate amount of study expenses 
for consultants .
Most businesses dont expect employees to pay for their own training.
here in Australia ( new south wales ) each consultant gets $25000 ( about 
10000 pounds ) a year for
training , it makes a huge difference to the things you can attend .

Andy Stearman

( sitting in an empty office as my 2 colleagues are studying in Hawaii and 
italy this week )

>>> [log in to unmask] 04/21/06 1:19 AM >>>
Hello all.

Trying to introduce a novel concept in UK Emergency Medicine CPD.

This is merely my attempt to establish what the response would potentially
be were I to bring this to the UK EM community. Your input would be welcome.

Aim:

1. Provision of CPD to EM consultants and senior specialists
2. Lectures by consultant-level speakers with actual EM exposure and
experience
3. A low & affordable price
4. Value for money
(I hope you will forgive me, but I think the last two points are often
neglected and point 2 is something most do not even bothers to promise,
nevermind keep!)

Background:

By means of introduction, as has been mentioned on the list, there are a
number of courses and seminars currently being advertised, mostly in London,
by certain companies. These are advertised for a variety of topics and
levels, anywhere from one to three days in duration. I have collected a few
here, which may interest senior EM clinicians. Please correct me if you
think I have made significant mistakes below:
   - Transport of critically ill patient: £400 for 1 day
   - Mechanical Ventilation: £600 for 3 days
   - Acute MI: £650 for 3 days
   - RCP courses (3 different ones): £200 for 1 day
   - Sepsis: £500 for 2 days
   - First 4 hours: £705 for 3 days, £282 daily; approved 15hrs (actual
14.25hrs)
   - Fluids etc.: £600 for 2 days
   - Bipap/CPAP: £294 for 1 day
There are many others. I believe these give an overall impression of the
costs and I have decided to average figures to the following:
   - 15 hours CPD, over 3 days, cost around £700 ON AVERAGE (or about £50
per hour if you take a part of the course)
To this one must add the cost of travel, London accommodation and meals,
etc. Unless one lives in London, of course... I would calculate on 3 nights'
accommodation (including the night before the course) for most of these if
you do not wish to start the first day tired, after 2-3 hours' travel,
carrying your luggage and missing the first 1-2 sessions... Please provide
your own estimates of how much this adds up to, but let me know if you think
you expect to pay less than £400-500...
So, £1100-1200 for the 3-day course... And then some of the lectures, from
what I gather, do not reach the standard or are delivered by people without
actual senior EM experience, or seem to have been given so often and updated
so long ago that they sound "recorded"... People also report feeling like
one of a mass of delegates, squeezed in for the profit and that they often
found nothing in common with those sitting on their left and right.

It is all understandable when you consider the expenses these companies
incur in advertising, venues, honoraria, staffing costs, etc. And, bottom
line is that they must make a significant profit!

Proposal:

One simple solution to the problem of cost-reduction and value for money is
eliminating some of the cost items. I am sure everyone is aware of
conferences held at "exotic" venues, where some of the costs are "cancelled
out" by combining CPD with a vacation. But how about going further and
eliminating a few more items...

Who better to lecture to EM seniors than EM seniors themselves? What if we
arrange to have a small group (no crowds; workshops are possible; time for
questions and discussion) of EM seniors (so your fellow delegates and you
will be able to converse and discuss points from the same perspective) who
lecture to each other (no honorarium and costs of transporting and hosting
lecturers and no problem with lecturers who have no EM experience).

And by all means, we can still go for an exotic setting and cut other costs
as we may... I have connections to the cruise industry going back a few
years and I have been told of some deals we can make use of in order to cut
costs. So, sorry, but there will not be a lot of skiing at this
conference...

Details:
Here are the basic initial details. Much will change, mostly according to
the wishes and suggestions of you, the delegates. But what follows should
allow you to form an opinion:
- EmergOnSea: Emergency Medicine Conference Cruise
- 7-night cruise, with 3 days at sea
   - Sea days lectures times (8 lectures, 6hrs):
      - 09:30-10:00 Administrative
      - 10:00-12:15 45;45;45
      - 12:15-14:00 Lunch
      - 14:00-18:00 45;45;45;tea;45;45
   - Overall 24 lectures, 18hrs over 3 days
   - Of course, we will allow flexibility should some sessions fit better
with 30 or 60 minutes, etc.
   - Embarkation day
      - 20:00-20:30 Welcome, drinks
      - 20:30-21:00 Introduction
      - 21:00-21:30 Ship's tour
- Flights
   - There will be an option allowing delegates to get themselves over to
the ship
      - Allows inclusion in their own other plans
   - I will try to work out a deal with airlines for cheap group fare (if
anyone has any ideas on how to do this, please let me know)
- Delegates
   - Initial plan for 16 delegates
   - Consultants & associate specialists in Emergency Medicine. Others (e.g.
senior SpRs) possibly...
   - All delegates will be expected to lead/present at least one session
      - We will initially ask for each to propose 2 topics
   - We will choose, in advance, through the whole group, which talks we
will include
   - At least some of the "unused" talks will be kept as "reserves", in case
they are required
   - I may well be able to arrange a guest speaker as well, but only on the
condition that this will NOT cost the delegates anything - the ship's own
physician may well be a consultant in Emergency Medicine and be able to
present a relevant topic
   - Any other suggestions from potential delegates about course content and
format will be incorporated

Time & place:
- The cruise will originate in the USA and will probably head for the
Caribbean
- The assumption is that delegates will be accompanied by their spouses.
This will fix the base cost as "sharing". Of course, two delegates may
decide to share a cabin instead or pay extra for a single cabin, but we'll
work these out if/when necessary.
- The plan is to do this in winter, in order to "gain" nicer weather than we
leave here in the UK...

Costs:
These are, currently, estimates. I am just finding out what the interest
level is. Before asking anyone to sign up, the actual costs will be fixed
- Anticipated cost example, using £1.00=$1.80, should all plans work out:
   - Per couple: Cruise + taxes + flights + 1 night hotel on arrival in USA
+ transfers in USA
   - £1500-1600 all inclusive (for a couple, NOT per person)
   - This includes the lectures, of course, so that's the whole cost
   - For those who do not know, this includes food and all on board
facilities, but not drinks or tours - standard cruise conditions, which I
will expand on later if people need to know
- In comaprison, typical open market costs:
   - 9-night Caribbean flight/cruise deal (1 night in hotel on arrival, 7 on
board & 1 on the flight back to the UK) per couple: £1700
   - This, of course, is without any CPD
   - So, YES, EmergOnSea will include the CPD with, hopefully, still less to
pay than the market cost of a similar vacation

There is a lot to work out still. Prices will depend on getting the numbers
we need to sign up and the deals we can secure then, but the idea is to
secure value as shown above. I will provide all the details at a later
stage, but only to those who express an interest - I will not trouble the
whole list.

At this initial stage, all I am looking for is an expression of interest. If
you are potentially interested, please let me know and I will create an
e-mail group and continue with more information, topic selection and
details.

Anyone potentially interested? Any comments?