GALENICALS COMMITTEE MEETING MinutesLocation: DHB

6 th December 2015; 6 – 7pm

PresentChloë de Souza (CdS)Andrew Armson (AA)Amy Samson (AS)Anjie Mosuro (AM)

Caitlin Biliyard (CB) Jo Miles (JM)Eliane Blows (EB)Jagrati Chopra (JC)

Ollie King (OK)Jonny Bray (JB)

ApologiesEmma Sanders (ES)Shamus Butt (SB)

Ted Caplan (TC) Tom Lyons (TL)

Lauran Noël (LN)

1. Matters Arising from Previous MinutesNil

2. President Matters General Update Curriculum review

o It is an ongoingo A student focus group will be formed in order to address all the issues

raised in every other panelo Who wanted to be involved?

AP: Think ES, CdS double checko Course reps for our year are, AA, AS, AM and myself (CdS)

Industrial action o Keep an eye out for more information, as things seemed settled at the

moment Union

o Between us (namely: AA, AS, CdS and AM) we will be issuing a formal complaint on behalf of Galenicals

o Galenicals has a long standing history of tensiono They are not vey good to us, every other faculty has an official

employed rep and we do not. In short, we are not treated wello We will try and speak to someone prior to issuing the complaint

o Events and venue bookings are our biggest issue, there are many things they can be helping us with which they ought to

o In the event that we do issue a complaint, we need to collate everything that everyone has encountered in order to insert examples within the letter

o If we have any issues between now and then, please make a note AP: ALL – anyone who has a negative experience between now

and the time we issue the complaint should document ito JC: do we get allocated hours? Societies get a booking allowance

(something like 6 hours/week to utilise) o JC: At the handover of my other society, I was told about union

bookings and given a form to fill, where you can put down how many hours you want at the union each week. Then you log in and book when you need it

o CdS: I had a poor handover, so I wasn’t aware of this. We need to know things like this. I’ll look into it

3. Vice President – Amy Samson Course rep mandatory feedback

o Good idea to have course reps summarise meetings and give feedback to year group to improve communication between the faculty and student body

Pre-clinical SSLCo Changes to structure

Very long meeting Suggest that the first year have a separate time slot to second

year so they don’t have to sit through things not directly relevant

o Help writing essays (1st years) Timed essays for SHM and ethics Primary concern is that they don’t know how to write essays They would like for some kind of document regarding writing

essays JM: Don’t they have a library session, which addresses all of

this? CB: Learning essay writing skills is something that’s part of the

learning curve – CdS: We should understand that there is lots of pressure for

first years, so we can at least provide them with this. It’s not our responsibility so perhaps we can pressure the library into producing a document to help the first years?

AA: Could an e learning session be created? Perhaps we could ask the e-learning department if they want to make an SSC out of it?

o Grad medics mailing list – AP AM to createo Thank you to everyone who attended the pre-clinical SSLC

4. Vice President – Andrew Armson General update SJT event

o 5th Jan – life after finals & preparing for foundation Elective event January 17th

o Targeting 4th yearso Talk from elective network o Would like 5 doctors to give a small spiel about where they went and

how to go about organising it in order to inspire people We only have one and 2 maybes so far…

o We really want to get doctors interested in attending! Please let them know that they have a certificate and bottle of wine in it

CdS: Would George be up for it? CB: Probably, I can ask him

AP: CB to ask Dr. George AA: IT would be great if he was. He can stay for as long as his

talk or for 2hours, its all down to himo AA: To get the word out, JB please include information in next mail

out to the most recent Alums o AA: Can I have the list of last year’s grads?o JB: Yes – AP: JB to send AA the emails of last years alumso CdS: It will be good to have a variety of experiences from all over the

world o JM: Send out emails to our JMS F1 buddies o AA: Yes I have sent emails out in South B academy, now going to send

emails to all other academies wide

5. Intercalators Event/Society AA: A girl has reached out regarding setting up an intercalators society AA: her idea – current intercalators getting together not just academically but

on a social platform too OK: There are many courses in intercalating, so it’s difficult to be cohesive

academically CdS: It seems like a feasible idea from the social perspective, in terms of ents

AH: We have made a fb group of all intercalators including external intercalators so that everyone can get plugged in

CdS: perhaps you could put together a cocktail night thing at be-at-one…Gauge interest on the intercalators group to see if you get interest and if so then set up the event

o AP: ES and AH to organise cocktail night for intercalators CdS: post-grads, intercalators and internationals are groups we don’t show

enough attention to AS: perhaps we could do a similar thing for post grads not just 2-in-1s but also

pre clinical, 5 year course post grads CdS: AH and ES, get in touch with post grads and facilitate an event for them,

get them to organise the bulk of the event so that its not strenuous for ES AHo AP: AH and ES to facilitate cocktail night for intercalatorso AP: AM to forward emails of grad reps to ents girls

6. Handovers (CdS) In order to improve quality of handovers, by the next committee meeting –

everyone must bring 3 things (on paper). o Bullet pointed job descriptiono Things accomplished this year (whether or not in job description)o What you would like to accomplish in the rest of the year

HANDOVER MEALo CdS: Well organised, nice event and paid for by the sponsorso Met with them this week and they seem happy as lots of events are

coming upo I will probably post about it, later on. Likely to take place right after

Eastero OK: Intercalating exams happen around that timeo CdS: when are they, so we can ensure that we don’t clash o JC: physiology is in the last two weeks of May if we go by last year…o CdS: any idea of good places to go? Put any suggestions out thereo OK: riverside…o CdS: last year we went to townhouseo JM: three courses for 10 type thing?o CdS: Agree on date nearer the time

7. Mental health of Medics CdS: Lots has been emerging that we have not been doing enough for

student mental health, the faculty are looking to us to sort it but it is difficult and we are not trained nor have the time or training to deal with it

CB: where has this criticism come from? AS: from first and second years mainly CdS: Mindfulness for medics is a good course but from student feedback we

know that access is poor because it’s mid week and at a rotten time – especially when students are in academy

AS: Faculty has suggested that students should explore options within their academies

CdS: I have emailed the new student advisor in order to glean her view point, the only issue is she is not a medic and is a faculty wide advisor so she has no real insight into what medics go through and she is stretched thin

OK: Could mindfulness take place at the weekend? CdS: It’s not student run, it’s run by professionals so weekends are not

possible JM: Could student health offer any assistance? CdS: The waiting list is 8 weeks long JM: could we do drop in sessions in academies in regular intervals? So that

students can access the service more easily CB: I thought they did late night sessions. CdS: They no longer do late sessions, which is a shame because it would be

ideal to have it in place at this time JM: perhaps make a face for the service at every academy in order for people

to have a point of contact to go to with their issues CdS: mentorship and this kind of pastoral support is an on-going thing…in this

respect – the student advisor is great. I don’t want I t to be peer led, it is not professional or feasible

CdS: perhaps the student advisor could do some late nights or weekend mornings

AA: The problem is that she pulled is lots of directions CdS: The faculty need to employ more advisors AP: If anyone comes across any good things in academy please let CdS know

8. Updates from committee members Secretary

o General update Contacted by a medical student interested in setting up a

medical philosophy society – will link her up with RN & the medical ethics society

o Coppafeel The UoB president got in touch in order to ask if Galenicals

would be interested in speaking at their event in February CdS: Get in touch with the OBGYN society

CdS: Get in touch with LN and ask her to contact some charities who can send delegates to the event

Treasurero General updateo AP: contact Jane Sanson regarding DHB money

Careerso General updateo Career’s Fair Progress Update

Sorted sponsorship✓ Talks running alongside fair, sign up sheets to be sent out a

week prior to the fair✓ Sub society meeting scheduled this week

o CdS: Compulsory for everyone to attendo CB: It’s going well. Struggling a bit to find people to speak on

alternative careers

Charitieso General update

Awaiting 3 confirmations of addresses in order to post the envelopes

AP: LN to send off cheques by end of calendar year

Sportso General updateo Varsity

Good day, room for improvement Sports club dinner this Tuesday NANTES is the next big thing

o The online store is great, working really well – well done to Shamus, Tom and Jo

CdS: Where is the money going? JM: Into the sports account, which is currently frozen because

PayPal was taking precautions because of the large sums of money coming in. The account is soon to be unlock and the funds will be released

Musico General update

Ronald McDonald house performance yesterdayo Christmas concert

o Birmingham exchange – February potentially o CdS: Eliane has done so brilliantly! She has been on the ball. You have

really put music out there. o CdS: Any other faculties at the concert?o EB: Vets are going home before our concert and they have theirs this

week so none will be there, which is a shame; but a few of the vets are really involved and plugged in

o CdS: Faculty are really glad that music have really ventured out

Entso AH: General update

Christmas party went well but made no profito AH: Spring Ball date is confirmed 19th Feb

Meeting with decorations guy scheduled ✓o AH: Mystery tour will not be happeningo AH: Difficulty getting hold of CLIC

AP: AH to get hold of Tom Wardill or Jessie as they are on the ball

AH: We have held a date for end of Jan – will see how it goeso CdS: ENTS have done phenomenally well this term. Manic term, really

good work!

International o General update

JC: Two weeks ago, dinner with first and second years CdS: How many? JC: About 10 first years – we only have 19…quite a few 2nd

years JC: We went to falafel king and it went really well JC: Fees came up

JC: informed them that things are remaining status quo JC: Visas came up and new NHS fees

I went to talk to the international office re – extending visas and for F1 and 2 jobs etc.

AS: A first year has just joined – because of visa issues AS: I spoke to her about this and mentioned you Jags (Tiffany

Kwon) AS: She is now involved in the university peer mentor scheme JC: maybe give me her email so I can get her in touch with her

and get her in touch with someone from her home

AS: She conveyed that she was worried about becoming an international groupie,

JC: everyone has their separate friends so getting plugged into the international cohort will not cause her to be labelled an international groupie

o Last Monday of term – Christmas meal Open up to all internationals and not just 1st and 2nd years

Alumnio General update

JB: A little disorganised because galenicals alumni is only 2 years old…so only 2 years worth of emails

JB: The remainder are in possession of the university so there is difficulty sharing information

JB: It would be great to get an up to date database of medical alumni

EB: working for alumni in the past, I know they have a huge database but heavy restrictions regarding use of the contact information

JB: will we be allowed to access their details? CdS:it data protection might be an issue but it doesn’t hurt to

ask, it would be really beneficial even if not for you JB, for your successors

o 16th April Anson Rooms – first general alumni event going out to all alumni contactable, with speakers from med school

Double check the booking this week 16th April is the earliest time the Anson rooms are available

after December Once booking confirmed can start asking speakers to attend

o Eugene wants something similar set up for recent grads “one year on” reunion

Eugene also wants a workshop to be run on the day I have contacted the MDU contact (given by CdS) MDU said if

50 attendees can be confirmed they will get medical legal advisor to attend

o AS: to confirm…the one you’re doing is for all alum and Eugene’s event is for last year grads

o JB: Yes, it’s just Eugene’s idea he is not facilitating it, I will still have to organise and put it together

o AS: how many people do you think you’ll have in attendance?o JB: 70 – 80 people

o JC: it might be worth calling Sam at the union for bookingso JB: I spoke to Evao CdS: Eva is who you should be speaking to, she is the overall managero JB: Eva has said she was not the right person when I went to speak to

her in person. This was after I tried to speak to her on the phone, but couldn’t get through

o CdS: then perhaps speak to this Sam person o JC: yes Sam is in control of the bookings

Showso General update

Contacting the performing arts forum to try and get listed as a show in order to gain priority

PCR want the space for later in the year so I was trying to get in and book early

March – PCR and medic drama (we do not have a union room but a small theatre)

CdS: Double check dates so that we can pen it down in the diary, please let Anjie know

AP: OK to inform AM of dates of PCR medic drama PCR is on a weekday but the other event is on a Sunday I can give dates at the end of the meeting CdS: February and March are really busy months, with various

sub society and academic events, so let us know before you book events please

Above and Beyond – flash mob in Cabot circus Advised them that because they have two events they

are splitting their eggs They seem keen anyway I said that we were happy to help and put them in

touch with CLIC as more dancers CdS: please be aware A&B are affiliated and CLIC are

not OK: Considering having a musical next year…

CB: my idea OK: Dates – 27th matinee. 28th FEB nil by mouth. Peg studio

Webmastero General update

9. Affiliation: Anaesthetics Society – Richard Elston

Speaking on behalf of a group of people who are interested in anaesthetics and critical care

This society did exist but we want to take up the mantle again We want to do things in line with other academic societies – BOGS etc. Many of our peers would consider a career in anaesthetics but are not sure

how they would go about it The main way we would go about helping our peers is by hosting talks We have informally spoken to consultants and registrars and they seem keen

to get involvedo To speak about the steps that have been taken in medical school and

career steps they’ve taken Bring together info about conferences that happen, essays and prizes in order

to distribute to our members and raise awareness Bring people together and create a forum for the like minded CdS: have you gauged interest? RE: not formally but I have spoken to people from all years and there has

been a lot of interest RE: those who want to start society, are mainly 5th years who also make up

the committee RE: I am VP, Rhydian is president CdS: do you know what you get? RE: no CdS: free ads, fresher’s fair, access to funds for events, general support you

need, help booking venues etc. CdS: thinking about how Galenicals could help facilitate presidents to attend

relevant conferences – in the works for next year RE: we spoke about the possibilities of arranging a conference…several years

down the line; there is support for it occurring in the future. RE: Our needs are minimal for the time being CdS: You have access to our sponsors for any events you’d like, there is our

careers fair in Feb, so it that would be a good opportunity to put yourselves out there

CdS: please make sure you populate your committee with 3rd and 4th years in order to ensure the society keeps running

RE: planning on organising one event a term…we will gauge interest and based on that may increase the number of talks we host

10. AOB Email from Nigel

o JM: the faculty need to stop throwing fitness to practice at us, the latest email from Nigel is a great example

CdS: it is a big issue and it makes students less willing to go to faculty with their issues for fear of reprimand

Christmas selfie! Cake rota

o Caitlin

11. Date of Next Meeting 10th January 2016

o Apologies: JM, OK, JB, SBo