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Our next trainees meeting will be held during Friday lunchtime of the Autumn BGS meeting in Harrogate on 23 November 2007. I hope that many of you will be able to attend.

At that meeting, we will be electing the new Trainees’ Committee. This committee will be expanding from five to six, to take account of constitutional changes in the Specialty Advisory Committee (SAC) in Geriatric Medicine to JRCPTB. At the same time it was proposed to elect national council representatives locally. The future structure of the Trainees Committee is outlined in the box below.

A date for your diary!
We will hold elections for the first six positions. Any trainee from the whole of UK can self-nominate or be nominated by someone at the meeting, or in advance (preferably the latter). If you are interested in serving on the Committee, it would be helpful to send a short statement mentioning who you are, to what position you wish to be elected, and why you think you are suitable for the proposed position to me through the email facility at the head of this article. If any of you have specific questions on what these jobs entail, please do not hesitate to contact me.

To be eligible you need to be an SpR or ST3 and above and you should be a BGS member. You should have at least two 2 years remaining as a trainee from the date of election in order that you might serve a full term on the committee.

Both current England Council members who were elected in 2005 will be standing down from their positions. Applicants for the England Council representative positions should also contact me. I will forward your nominations to the BGS England Council.

This newsletter article will be my last contribution to trainees’ pages as the Chair of the Trainees group. Since taking up the position, first as Vice Chair (2003) and then as Chair (2005), I have been continually involved with the matters which are relevant to us, and perhaps I am ready to retire. However, I must admit that the supportive colleagues had made my job easy. I especially like to thank Miles Witham and Alasdair MacLuillich who played key roles in transforming the landscape of the trainees’ webpages at the academic front.

Now I realise why our immediate past President, Dr Playfer highlighted the risk of sounding too much like an Oscar winner in his last column before he retired from office. Following his example, I would like to thank many people for what has been a very exciting, enjoyable and rewarding four years for me. I would like to acknowledge the trainees committee members who I worked with for the past four years. I am inspired by their motivation, leadership skills and sincerity. I thank the senior members of the Society, the Presidents and the officers I worked closely with and with whom I had opportunity to share views - Dr Playfer, Prof Crome, Prof Potter, Prof Jackson, Prof Gladman, Prof Mulley, Dr Corrado, Dr Morse, Dr Turnbull, Dr Vassallo, Prof Allen, Prof Hendra, Dr Steele, Dr Primrose, Dr Martin, Dr Morris, Dr Beaumont and Dr Rea, to mention but a few. Our work as Trainees committee has also been made easier by the BGS staff. It has been a steep learning curve for me (and for all of us) initially, but we were strongly supported by the BGS officers and office staff throughout our term and I cannot thank them enough.

To sum up, it has been an enjoyable and satisfying experience for me to get involved in the Society’s business. As a committee we managed to achieve small but sustainable progress over the last four years but no doubt things can be much improved. It will be an exciting opportunity for those who are considering standing for the forthcoming election.

Before you ask, in case you want to know:

Q: Would I do it again? (A: yes)
Q: Any regrets? (A: no)
Q: Any advice for the candidates? (A: go for it--you will be alright).

I look forward to seeing you in November.

Phyo Kyaw Myint
Chair


BGS Trainees Committee

Chair - to represent trainees on the BGS UK Management Committee, Education and Training (E&T) Committee, Specialty Advisory Committee (SAC) in Geriatric Medicine to JRCPTB, BMA Junior Doctors’ Committee and BMA multispecialty group

Vice Chair - serves on Academic and Research Committee and BGS/RCP Joint Committee

Second E&T rep- sits on E&T and SAC

Third E&T rep - sits on E&T and SAC

Policy Committee rep - serves on Policy Committee and BMA multispecialty group

Finance Committee rep

Two England Council trainee reps as nominated by the BGS England Council

Northern Ireland Council trainee rep as nominated by the BGS Northern Ireland Council

Scottish Council trainee rep as nominated by the BGS Scotland Council

Welsh Council trainee rep as nominated by the BGS Wales Council

The Clinical Practice Evaluation Committee representative to be nominated by the trainees committee (this post was served by one of the England council member over the past four years).

BGS Newsletter, October 2007
Issue 13 ISSN 1748-6343 13