Staffordshire LOC Annual General Meeting 2014- 19/06/2014
The Staffordshire Local Optical Committee held its Annual General Meeting on Tuesday 10th June 2014 at the Stone House Hotel in Stone with over 60 optometrists and dispensing opticians attending. Irfan Razvi kicked off proceedings with a warm welcome to everyone in attendance before outlining the evening’s agenda and introducing the LOC officers to the group. After a delicious meal, the AGM commenced with Ian Meadows presenting the Treasurers report. Ian proposed that the Statutory Levy taken from each of the practices GOS earnings be reduced to 0.75%. The majority present at the meeting voted in favour of the decrease. Ian also proposed that the Voluntary Levy be reduced to 0.25% which the AGM attendees also voted in favour of. Delia Cliffe then spoke about her role as Optometric Advisor, which includes spending 1 day a week serving the Staffordshire area and also liaising with her Shropshire counterpart to discuss any area issues and working to align policies over the area. She also explained about her involvement with practice visits and developing the process for use of QIO questionnaire along with PPV visits. Mark McCracken – Vice Chair for the South then gave us a run down of the community eye care services in South Staffordshire. He explained which pathways are currently commissioned in both North and South Staffordshire before outlining the history of the development of community services in the South. He also gave us an insight into the current interest from Stafford and Cannock CCGs around the commissioning of paediatric and glaucoma pathways. Next to the podium was the LOC chairman, Stewart Townsend who announced that Malcolm Gray was standing down from the committee. Stewart thanked Malcolm publically for his service, his great achievements and for all the hard work he had put in during his time as Chairman. Stewart then spent some time explaining how optics might look in 2015 and what opportunities might arise for Staffordshire LOC. He also highlighted some of the successes of the previous year; such as designing and re-launching the website, refining glaucoma shared care and the formation of Shropshire and Staffordshire Primary Eye Care Services. An election was held due to 3 committee members standing down and the vote was announced. Congratulations to Richard Webb and John Hollins who were elected to the committee and we look forward to working with them over the next 12 months. The vacant DO position on the committee was not applied for, so this remained unfilled and will be carried over to the 2015 AGM. There was then an opportunity to ask the officers questions and the meeting then closed, with those in attendance collecting BNF books (1 book for each practice). A copy of Stewart Townsend's presentation can be viewed here A copy of Mark McCracken's presentation can be viewed here
|
|