Minutes from the Bowen Professional Forum Annual General Meeting (2010)

DOWNLOAD THESE MINUTES IN PDF FORMAT - CLICK HERE

Held at 10.45 am on Saturday 29th January 2011
At the Soroptomist Residential Club, 63 Bayswater Road, London W2 3PH

Present: Martin Grasby, (BTPA, BA Uk), Gillie La Haye (BTPA; PSB), Sheila Whyles (BA Uk), Christine Bowler (Representing John Francis; BTPA), Penny Gibbings (BTPA; Acting secretary), Veena Lidbetter (BA Uk), Sally Filmer (BA Uk), Agatka Warsza (BTPA).

1. Apologies: John Francis, John Wilks, Alastair Rattray, Nikke Ariff, Sarena Baxter, David Howells, Angela Cannon, Michael Nixon-Livy, Claire Pickin, Bénédicte, Paula Esson, Lisa Hooper, Robert Manning, Valerie Tyler, Ray Edwards, Patricia Underwood, Barbara O'Connor, Caroline Madden, Martina Grubmueller, Hilary Herd, Ellen Cobb, Marshall Davies, Adam Buttery, Phily Gransbury, Margaret Butler, Sandie Murdoch, Rob Godfrey, Kim Pearson, Christopher Pieri, Julie Dexter

2. Minutes of the Annual General Meeting 2009 (held on January 16th 2010):
These were accepted as a true record of the proceedings. Proposed: Sheila Whyles, Seconded: Gillie La Haye

3. Matters arising: None

4. Chairman’s report 2010:
With the closing of the Bowen Forum there was discussion as to the need for anything to take its place. However, given the structure within the Complementary and Natural Healthcare Council (CNHC), it was felt by a number of members that it was indeed worth having a point of contact for practitioners. The Bowen Profession Specific Board (PSB) also indicated their preference for there to be a group available to call upon, if an issue arose that would benefit from discussion with representatives outside of the CNHC/PSB arrangement.

The result of these discussions was that in early 2010 the Bowen Professional Forum (BPF) superseded the Bowen Forum.

Bowen practitioners owe a large vote of thanks to members of the previous Bowen Forum for a phenomenal amount of work in order to get Bowen on to the CNHC register. We are also grateful to the Bowen PSB for continuing to look after the integrity of Bowen and the reputation of its practitioners.

Bowen practitioners who register with the CNHC can be assured that their representatives do their utmost to ensure Bowen continues to have its rightful place within the world of
complementary therapies and, increasingly, within the medical field.

The present level of activity means the BPF is something of a ‘committee in waiting.’ The most recent meeting was a Conference Call when a number of concerns were discussed and several items were highlighted with view to the PSB presenting these to CNHC. We look forward to hearing the outcome of the PSB’s subsequent discussions. In closing, there are many people who have enabled Bowen to be accepted onto the CNHC register; most notable were the previous Forum members, Chairman John Lant and lay member
Lynden Lane who helped to keep momentum going, present PSB members Gillie La Haye, Angela Cannon, Alastair Ratrray and Sarena Baxter. Thanks are also due those working in the background such as the Professional Associations for their on-going support and to Richard Baverstock who does an excellent job at maintaining the website for us and Esau Rahim for preparing our accounts.

We are also most grateful to the various organisations who provided the necessary funding. The balance sheet for the BPF looks healthy particularly with only modest expenditures likely. One year later and it is now appropriate for there to be a review as to the future form and remit of the BPF.

Martin Grasby
Chairman, Bowen Professional Forum

5. To receive Annual Report and Accounts 2010: Martin presented these and no questions were raised. It is likely that there will be little ongoing expenditure in the immediate future. Forum meetings will only be called as required e.g. if requested by the PSB or if an urgent issue arises from Bowen practitioners that needs discussing/coordinating before passing on to the PSB. According to needs, future Forum meetings may be managed via conference calls/ Skype.

Proposed: Veena Lidbetter. Seconded: Christine Bowler

6. Appointment of Auditor: The meeting agreed to continue to employ Esau Rahim as financial officer. The meeting thanked Esau for his expertise.

7. To fix Auditor’s remuneration: Esau has agreed to charge a maximum of £150 to manage the accounts for the coming year (unless something exceptional occurs).

Proposed: Sheila Whyles. Seconded: Christine Bowler

8. Election of officers and Committee members:
Given the low number of attendees at the AGM it was thought inappropriate to conclude this item on the agenda and discussion ensued about the difficulties of communication between committee members. Martin mentioned the sometimes slow, or lack of, response to emails and that the Terms of Reference which state that committee members will endeavour to respond to email/phone contact within seven days. He said he appreciated that members are busy in their own right but felt it worthwhile to highlight the value of a response within a reasonable time.

With further discussion on this issue it was suggested that committee members should ensure relevant emails are not going into spam. Martin agreed to email existing BPF members to determine their thoughts on BPF’s future, their part in it and, if not email, their preferred method of contact. It was also agreed that the committee would benefit from a larger pool of contributors to call upon even if not formally on the committee – PA membership could be invited to be part of this. In addition, more members will be invited to be on the committee and hopefully enable better representation at meetings. Veena Lidbetter and Sally Filmer volunteered to join the BPF committee. Martin and Penny agreed to continue in their present positions for the immediate future.

There was some discussion of the future role of the BPF. Gillie La Haye described the role very clearly:
1. To select and elect members on to the PSB as needed – the PSB consists of 4 members and need to cover the areas of regulation, education and practitioner issues.
2. The BPF is the point of contact for the Bowen PSB and to act as a 2 way channel (funnel) between the PSB and all Bowen therapists

9. Date of next AGM: It was agreed that the AGM in 2012 would be held in the Spring (April?). It was hoped that nicer weather would encourage more Bowen practitioners to attend! Martin thanked everyone for attending and for their contributions to a very worthwhile meeting.

The meeting expressed sincere thanks to Martin for his work in the continuation of the Professional Forum during its first year.

The meeting closed at 11.45 a.m.

---

Post AGM

Gillie La Haye (PSB) gave a report on the PSB and their meetings with the CNHC (Complementary Natural Healthcare Council).

The Bowen PSB has been in place since January 2010.

The 4 current members are:

Angela Cannon (Chair BAUK, ex Bowen Forum),
Gillie La Haye (BTPA, ex Bowen Forum),
Sarena Baxter (BA UK, ex Bowen Forum, experience of regulatory matters from nursing career),
Alastair Rattray (BTPA, ECBS teacher, ex Bowen Forum).

The CNHC has quarterly meetings with the PSBs. The Department of Health (DOH) attends PSB meetings. The CNHC also meet regularly with Professional Associations (PAs).

Gillie gave interesting and cheering feedback concerning PSB experiences of working with the CNHC.

There have been some teething problems but Gillie explained that the brief of the CNHC is huge and it is taking time for things to bed down. The DOH has agreed to fund the CNHC for a further 2 years, which is excellent news.

Gillie believes that the sincere intention of the CNHC is to work with total transparency and integrity. Meetings are lively and informative and everyone is invited to contribute. She feels the CNHC are listening to what PSBs and PAs are saying to them. She believes the CNHC have the interests of therapists as well as the public at heart.

Recently there has been an organized attack on a number of reflexologists concerning their advertising. Gillie feels that the CNHC have handled this in a fair and supportive way and helpful Adverstising guidelines have been sent to PAs following this.

The aim of the CNHC is to be a primary source of information about therapies and that the public should seek therapists who are CNHC registered. The CNHC are constantly talking to GPs, hospitals, hospices, insurance companies and private healthcare providers. They have recently written to all GP practices explaining that the CNHC is fully supported by the DOH and suggested that they should be referring patients only to therapists who are CNHC registered. They have sent a PR template to all registered therapists who have requested it to aid with publicity.

Due to the original brief of the CNHC there have been serious misunderstandings concerning the required standards of entry. These are being resolved and all therapies currently registered with the CNHC have been in agreement with each other about this.

The next CNHC/PSB meeting is on March 1st and will be discussing Continuing Professional Development (CPD) requirements for registering and maintaining registration. The CNHC are aiming to clarify this issue by summer 2011.

On-going verification will be an issue and unless a therapist belongs to a PA the PSB will be doing spot checks to ensure the practitioner is eligible to continue with registration with CNHC.

The meeting thanked Gillie very much for her feedback, which has given very valuable insight into how things are developing with the CNHC. It is clear that registration with the CNHC will be increasingly important to therapists.