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Welcome from the President
4th August 2018
The President for 2018/2019 Welcomes to you the new commitee & set outs the upcoming immediate and medium term agenda. Read on for more information.
Dear Colleagues
It is with great enthusiasm that I write to you today on behalf of the new PLASTA committee; we are reaching out to you all, to shape and inform the changes we hope to make this year. Within this letter is an update with some of the changes that are already taking place within the organisation.
1. The PLASTA/BAPRAS Strategy Day
The New PLASTA Committee is having its first open meeting at the BAPRAS Strategy Day (22nd September 2018 Manchester) to engage the membership. We strongly advise all trainees to take advantage of this unique opportunity as registration is free and travel is fully funded by BAPRAS (as BAPRAS members). If you are unable to attend please feel free to voice your thoughts and opinion via email to plastauk@gmail.com. We are keen to hear from you all, to learn and understand your priorities so that we can act effectively on your behalf.
The infrastructure changes we propose require a constitution to allow effective day to day running of PLASTA and ensure that officers and executive members are aware of their responsibilities to you as trainees. We are keen that all members and future members see this constitution and that it is ratified at an appropriate general meeting. To this end we hope to meet with as many of you as possible in Manchester on the 22nd of September. To Sign up & find out how to book accommodation please email emma.brighton@bapras.org.uk. All NTNs can utilised this one off opportunity.
2. Engagement, Information & Involvement.
We are delighted to announce that the PLASTA committee this year is a diverse and enthusiastic group from across the country. Our shared vision for the next year is: Engagement, Information & Involvement. The committee is for you and will be led by you.
We are grateful to have the opportunity to run this organisation and work together to deliver an energised and informative trainee association whose focus is improving training delivery at the coal-face.
3. The Committee
We have written below some further points of interest on the formation of the committee and some of our proposed changes. We look forward to working with you all on the future of our specialty and the trainee organisation.
4. Involvement
Finally we feel it is important to highlight that the committee wishes to run an open, fair and engaging organisation that is interested in everyone’s views from all parts of the country, regardless of grade. If you wish to get involved, please get in contact and we will welcome you with open arms. Likewise if you wish to provide feedback, opinion or advices please get in touch. The committee are keen to come to as many deaneries as possible to engage, meet and discuss key issues so if you would like us to come to a future training day please email us directly ASAP.
We look forward to meeting you all in due course and working on your behalf for the next 12 months.
See you in September
Rob Staruch
PLASTA President 2018-2019
On behalf of the PLASTA committee
Instagram: @PlastaUK
Twitter: @PLASTAUK
Email: president.plasta@gmail.com / plastauk@gmail.com
Website: www.plasta.org
Future Directions in 2018
Advent of the new PLASTA Committee
A group of trainees from all across the country came into contact through mutual acquaintances in the run up to the elections. Having a shared vision, enthusiasm and passion for training in plastic surgery, we decided to run together as a committee. Many of this group make up the incoming committee; we’d like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who nominated for positions and all those who voted. The intent was to organise a cohesive group of individuals from across the country as a more representative body of trainees. We encourage all trainees to get involved.
Proposed structural changes
We are investigating and instigating the process of converting PLASTA to a charitable organisation whose primary aim is the improvement of Plastic Surgical Training in the British Isles. This will give the organisation many benefits, necessitating a formal committee structure and code of conduct.
We propose that the way PLASTA integrates with training and trainees will change. We face significant challenges in maintaining our trainee workforce for the future. This needs enthusiastic and engaged regional representation that is working in tandem with the training program directors and SAC. The trainee regional representatives will therefore meet as a committee, chaired by a member of the PLASTA executive in order to directly inform the rolling agenda of PLASTA. This enables us to directly serve the trainee population and empower regional representatives to solve regional and national problems as an individual, and as a team.
Early priorities:
Providing a centralised, informative website
It is important as a national organisation that we keep our members up to date and abreast of key meetings, courses and opportunities. To that end we will be revising our current online space to best suit the needs of the organisation. In addition we will be expanding our social media profile to diversify the enhance the ease of access to plastic surgery training news and debate We strongly suggest all members, non-members and interested parties follow our instagram page @PlastaUK for all updates & details. Please also join us on Facebook & Twitter.
Registration & Funding
PLASTA can only be representative of its membership if trainees get involved and therefore we will embark on a membership drive. We also believe that our membership criteria needs to reflect the changing face of the workforce. Therefore, from immediate effect we intend to open membership to Non national training numbered doctors in plastic surgery (Core trainees ,Foundation Doctors, non training registrars etc). We will also be actively engaging with grassroots medical students societies in the coming year.
Understanding and defining funding for PLASTA
Given the financial pressures in the current systems, we as an organisation feel it is not appropriate to charge for membership and will make every effort to keep costs of meetings and events to a minimum. We are investigating avenues of funding with BAPRAS and sponsors to ensure future meetings and events can be free of charge or run at minimal cost to maximise your own training budgets. We wish to have a discussion regarding funding, charges and the future structure of this at the upcoming strategy meeting. So we are keen to hear your thoughts on this subject. We will keep you updated as we investigate this area.
It is important that any relationship between PLASTA and external funders is transparent. To that effect we will openly clarify these relationships on a subsection of the website. This will enable PLASTA to maintain its position as a neutral body capable of advocating on the behalf of trainees.
Re-engaging Trainees
Our hope is that through providing effective restructuring and communication to our membership that we may re engage trainees in the organisation. Through this we hope to be much more effective at improving your training and morale! It is hoped through goal setting at the upcoming strategy day that we are able to deliver much better representation of our trainee body and improve our communication to you as that is delivered. So we are keen to hear your voice in September.