- a statement by the President
As the Society moves to 2003, one of the challenges facing it will be implementing the new Constitution.
| That is assuming that the new Consititution is endorsed by the Extraordinary General Meeting at Aberdeen in April. As members are now well aware, the Constitution recognises the devolved structure of government in the United Kingdom. It is perhaps worth recalling that Northern Ireland has had a devolved administration with its own Ministry of Health, under a variety of names, since 1921, and even under direct rule, when ministers come from Westminster rather than from a local parliament or assembly, the administration remains devolved and the Civil Service has remained separate from the Civil Service elsewhere in the UK. Scotland has also had a considerable amount of autonomy with respect to health matters for many years. Geriatric medicine is a specialty which is very closely related to administration of both health and social services and as it seems likely that policies are increasingly going to diverge, the Society will have to take account of this. |  |
 | England Quo Vadis? In many ways the biggest challenge is England. There is no local devolved government for England, although there are moves to create regional government. It is somewhat paradoxical that within the Cabinet of the United Kingdom there are Secretaries of State whose roles are UK wide, eg. Foreign Secretary, Chancellor of the Exchequer, and Defence Secretary, and others whose remit extends only to England, including the Secretaries of State for Health, and for Education and Skills. It is not always realised, even in the devolved parts of the United Kingdom, that announcements by the Secretary of States for Health or for Education and Skills, whether they are on budgets or policies, only apply to England. Nevertheless, England contains over 80% of the population of the UK and accounts for over 80% of public expenditure, and what happens in England has a great influence on what will happen in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Often the policies will be applied in either unchanged or slightly modified form, usually a little later than they have been introduced in England. The main differences are in structures. |
The new Constitution of the Society is intended to reflect the new reality. There are already BGS structures in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland which differ somewhat, partly reflecting the size of the specialty in each country. Each has been asked to produce a constitution to be submitted to the existing UK Council of the BGS in January. There has not so far been an all-England structure. An interim administration, chaired by Cameron Swift, was set up to prepare the way for an England Council. We initially thought that this might take up to two years but in fact the work has taken place very smoothly and quickly and preparations are in place to elect a Council to assume its responsibilities as soon as the new constitution is accepted. Because of the size of England there will continue to be a regional structure in England. The Chair of the England Council will be a busy and important post, as will that of the other office bearers, and the BGS Office is available to provide assistance |  |
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nations - common ground One of the challenges over the next year will be to work out the responsibilities that are UK wide and those that belong to each of the national councils. Of the four UK standing committees, the Finance, Education and Training, and Academic and Research and Policy Committees have UK wide remits and I anticipate that the work of the first three will continue as before. The Policy Committee’s role will change and perhaps become even more important as it will be responsible for setting out the general principles of the care of older people which are just as applicable in one part of the United Kingdom as another. It is hoped that in this way the Policy Committee will be able to help the National Councils in their relationships with their administrations. Responses to government initiatives which apply only to one of the four nations, will be the responsibility of those nations, as has been the case in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland for some time. The National Councils may wish to allocate the specific responsibility for policy to designated members of the Council. |
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role of the President The role of the President has also to be considered. The President is the president of the whole Society and will lead in discussions where the whole Society is involved, e.g. with Royal Colleges, or where meetings take place with the Presidents or equivalent officers of the other societies. Liaison with the Department of Health in London, however, will be led by the Chair of the England Council, and this will be the case whether the President comes from England or not. To take my own position as an example, I attend the Northern Ireland Branch of the BGS as a member, not as President, and if representatives meet the Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety of Northern Ireland, the Chair and Secretary of the Northern Ireland Branch would do this. |  |
It is essential that the Society does not break up into four societies and we must not allow that to happen. The Spring and Autumn Meetings are when the Society comes together and I hope members will make a special point of attending these meetings. The existing Council of the Society will disappear under the new Constitution, to be replaced by the four National Councils. For many years the Council held an annual study day in May or June. It has been decided to continue this, at least in the mean time, as a means of bringing together representatives of the four Nations to talk about matters of UK wide importance. It is planned to hold the meeting in each of the four Nations of the UK in turn, starting with a meeting in Wales in 2003.
Change often brings uncertainty. Some regard change as a threat; others welcome it as a challenge. The changes proposed have been unanimously endorsed by the existing UK Council and Executive, and were strongly supported at the Extraordinary General Meeting of the Society in Telford last April. There will undoubtedly be teething problems and I hope members will be patient as these are worked through. I also hope members will welcome these changes, not least as a means in which they can become increasingly involved in the Society’s activities.
I wish you all a happy and successful New Year
Bob
Stout
President