Saturday, 28th July, 2018 at 2:00 pm
In Attendance: Jeff Ecker (President), Rohan Page (Secretary/Treasurer), Stewart Flemming, Nathan Stewart, Wysun Wong, Sharon Chu, Alex O’Beirne, Craig Smith, Patrick Michalka, Mark Allison, Brigid Corrigan.
Apologies: Angus Keogh
Minutes:
President’s Address, Mr Jeff Ecker
Mr Ecker advised that the Society had had a successful period of growth under his tenure as President. As advised in previous correspondence to members, that because of commitments to the Australian Hand Surgery Society he would be resigning as President of the WA Hand Surgery Society and called for nominations for that office. The only nomination received by the Executive to date had been that of Angus Keogh, which had been accepted by Angus. The President also advised attendees that the office of Treasurer/Secretary was also to be vacated at this AGM as Dr Page was resigning from that post and not standing for re-election and called for nominations for that post. After discussion, it was agreed that separating the offices of Secretary and Treasurer, and having a three person Executive, may help reduce the workload and improve efficiency for members of the Executive. Mr Ecker advised that he felt it was important for the future of the Society that younger members were encouraged to participate in the Executive.Treasurer’s Report, Rohan Page
Rohan Page advised that the club was in a favourable financial position as a result of income from sponsorship as well as fees from conferences run over the past 10 years. Financial statements prepared through Smith Coffey had previously been sent out to members. A copy of the Society's original Constitution had also previously been sent out to members. There was general discussion regarding governance and compliance issues for not for profit organisations and it was recognised that this would require further attention and that the new Executive should give consideration to taking professional advice in this respect.A call was then made for voting for the new President, Secretary and Treasurer. Angus Keogh was elected President unopposed, Alex O'Beirne was elected Secretary unopposed, and Rohan Page agreed to remain as Treasurer and was unopposed.
Plans for future meetings were discussed. Rohan Page advised that Actelion may be able to sponsor a guest speaker, Prosper Benhaim, in late October 2018 at the Fremantle Hospital Hand Unit. A general discussion was held regarding holding future meetings every two to three months hosted by one of the teaching hospital Hand Surgery Units and involving training Registrars in orthopaedic and plastic surgery in those meetings, and having a local or National guest speaker at those meetings and a theme for each meeting that would address an area of the hand surgery curriculum. There would still be a forum for case presentation and presentation of relevant journal articles to the topic. There was general acceptance of this plan and the Executive will plan to arrange the next meeting in late October 2018 and advise members accordingly of a timetable for future meetings thereafter.
The General Meeting was then closed.