Wolverhampton Branch Profile
We are a small friendly branch of about 20 members, having at least half attend every meeting. We have a loyal core that attend showing their support for the branch and taking part in branch activities.
As we all know this can be an isolating and lonely profession at times so attending the meetings gives us all a chance to exchange ideas and points of view.
We hold our meetings four times a year on a Sunday morning at a branch member’s surgery that she kindly lets us use, this keeps the branch expenditure down so helping keep the branch viable.
Many of our branch members have been attending meetings for over 30 years and have seen lots of changes in the profession, some for the better and some not so and have made some lifelong friends. Some are old Scholl girls that could tell a tale or two but they wouldn’t be printable in this profile!!.
We try to make our meetings as varied and interesting as possible, asking our members at the Branch AGM what topics they would like to cover over the coming year and doing our best to arrange speakers and workshops for them.
As a branch we are very proactive in keeping our cpd file updated as you never know when it could be your turn to be called upon, but I’m quite sure we would all pull together to help a fellow member get through it .
The Institute seems to be a lot more driven and academic these days which can only be a good thing as the profession is evolving at such a fast pace we all need to try to keep up and support each other. We have a branch library where we can sign books out to help with course work we may be doing or just as a refresher to sharpen our skills.
Lastly I would like to thank our branch members that attend for making our branch fun and enjoyable as without them we would not have a branch.
David Collett
Branch secretary
Chester, North Wales, Staffordshire and Shropshire Branch Profile
Chester, North Wales, Staffordshire and Shropshire branch was established in 1998. The first branch secretary was John Patterson who went on to sit on the Executive Committee on the Board of Education.
The branch have 57 members in which around 22 regularly attend the meetings. Due to the postage costs 75% of the members receive their information, notices, minutes and our new Newsletter by e-mail. The Newsletter keeps members informed of any information from Head Office and of what is happening at the branch. We meet four times per year and at every meeting a trade stand from one of the podiatry suppliers will attend. This is a new concept for Chester Branch due to the work of our CPD Officer Miriam Moorcroft. She was elected to the role in 2011 and has been responsible for seeking out new topics of interest to members and has brought together some excellent presentations and lectures to our branch meetings. She has spent hours on the phone and e-mail to companies and training providers to bring us a variety of subjects that are of interest. Not all presentations are related to podiatry. Just recently we enjoyed a presentation from an accountant who lectures at Liverpool John Moores University and Chester University to bring members up to date with Tax and Business Planning. We regularly have members from other branches attend our CPD and the feedback from them is always positive.
Our members are keen to learn and are encouraged to discuss any topic. Two of the members had recently attended a nail reconstruction workshop and they demonstrated this at one of the meetings.
At the coffee break we have a raffle. This gives members a chance to catch up with each other. We are a friendly branch and enjoy each others’ company. Prizes are donated by members which include bottles of wine, and podiatry related products. Monies collected go back into the funds to provide CPD to benefit members.
At our AGM we always have an Autoclave Service Engineer booked to have autoclaves serviced during the meeting. Twice yearly a First Aid Course is booked for members to keep their qualification up to date.
We are proud of the fact that the Chairman of the North West Area Council is from Chester Branch and 2 other members sit on the Council. 5 of our members hold the B.Sc. Podiatry Medicine, 3 members hold the D.Ch.M. and 1 is a Long Service Award Holder. The Secretary recently received the President’s Prize at the 2012 AGM.
Western Branch Profile
Our branch is very friendly and approachable, with a current total of 68 members, including 2 National Officers. We meet at Liverpool Women’s Hospital four times a year January, April, June and September. A wide range of topics including “Plantar fasciitis exercise and prevention” and “Nail reconstruction” have been offered to members to enhance their CPD portfolios. We do not confine CPD to branch meetings as we have visited the Hotter shoe factory on two occasions and will be visiting the Algeos factory this June.
Many members like to see new and current products that are available, therefore we have invited several trade houses i.e Canonbury, Chiropody Express and Algeos the opportunity to attend branch gatherings throughout the year. Other companies i.e. MDS Medical have attended for the calibration of members autoclaves. First Aid courses have also been organised for members.
Western Branch is a modern, democratic and forward thinking branch, for this reason we have been awarded the Branch Endeavour award for two consecutive years running 2010 and 2011. Long service Awards have also been celebrated within the branch.
The President’s Award has been awarded to two of our branch members Mr Malcolm Holmes (2011) and Mrs Linda Pearson (2012) which is a great honour to receive.
Last year saw our first Christmas get together at the Chaoprya Thai restaurant in Liverpool One.
Our committee consist of Margaret Coleman, Malcolm Holmes, Linda Pendleton, Linda Pearson, Michelle Taylor, David Topping, Gary Munro and many others who work to keep things on track.
The Western Branch committee members work hard to keep the branch running smoothly, trying new innovations and ideas to forward the branch in a positive and beneficial way for its members. We also like to keep in touch with other branches informing them about forthcoming CPD opportunities and informing our members about coming events from other local branches.
Linda Pearson, BSc Pod Med. M.Inst.Ch.P
Leeds/Bradford Branch Profile
It will be two years next January since the previously separate Leeds and Bradford branches merged to form what I think is now the largest branch in The Institute. Since we had always held joint meetings at the same venue, very little changed for the members. It simplified our branch AGM's and reduced the number of branch officers needed.
To keep in contact with all our members we are gradually getting Email addresses so that we can let them know dates of meetings and speakers etc (If you are a Leeds/Bradford member and I don't have yours, my phone number is at the back of Podiatry Review)
We meet on the first Sunday morning of the month, from October to June and as often as possible we have a speaker. This month (October) we had a talk on Dementia given by one of the Admiral Nurses. Next month (November) is a First Aid update course.
It helps attendance so much when there is more than just a business meeting.
The December meeting always ends with many of us going out for a Christmas lunch together.
I think the branch structure of The Institute is one of its great strengths. Without it, especially in the private practice, you can soon feel as if you are working in isolation. Contact with others in the profession is most important.
Norman Hodge LCh, HChD
Leeds/Bradford Secretary
Surrey and Berkshire Branch Profile
Chairperson Judith Hornby
Treasurer Sue Marchant
Secretary Melanie Macdonald
The branch has 24 full members and 3 Associate members.
We hold regular branch meetings which are regularly supported by a 'hard core' of 6~8 members this provides a friendly group all of whom have known each other for several years. Occasionally we may welcome new or less familiar faces!
Owing to the large area that the branch covers, we alternate between meetings between 2 venues, Greyfriars Church Hall, Greyfriars Street. Reading. Berks on Saturday afternoons during January and July and Pirbright Village Hall, Pirbright. Surrey on Monday evenings during October and April.
As a group we try hard to support each other with CPD and hold group discussion evenings in Pirbright during the months in between. At these we have pre-determined subjects that we research and discuss.
In the past we have organised visiting specialist speakers on Parkinsons disease, Arthritis, Multiple Sclerosis, Cryosurgery ,Dementia care and several other topics relevant to our profession .We are also fortunate to have a member qualified to train us in our First Aid in the workplace and clinical skills so we are kept up to date frequently..
South Wales and Monmouth Branch Profile
South Wales and Monmouth branch of IOCP is a small but active group of about 20 members who get together for meetings 4 times a year. I have been secretary for at least 25 years and Michael Franklin (known to most of you) also has been chairman for many years. We have about 60 members but some we rarely see and some we have never seen. The members that come to meetings are all committed to CPD and we always have some CPD on the agenda at every meeting.
Some members have been friends from as far back as the 1970’s and 80’s when we worked together at Scholl (the Scholly dollies) and we have some good fun together reminiscing. I wonder what health and safety would think of it now!!! “Sterilizing “with surgical spirit and having a quick puff of a cigarette in the back room seemed quite normal then and we quite often had to extinguish resulting fire in the waste bin!. All good fun!!!!!!! But I digress.
We have had many eminent speakers at our regular seminars such as Dr Peter Evans of the Royal Gwent Hospital a specialist in Diabetes also Martin Harvey and Judith Barbaro Brown. Esther Danahar (one of our group) gave an excellent talk recently on Vitamin B deficiency and pernicious anaemia. We always have a first aid course every year and we usually have our autoclaves serviced on this day and have also had PA.T. testing carried out.
Twenty of us attended a day course in March on health and safety. There was an exam at the end of the day which we all passed. These certificates are issued from the Chartered Institute of Health and Safety executive and will cover our practices for the next three years. It was a really interesting day and we all enjoyed it. We had a lovely buffet lunch and some free time to chat to colleagues. This I feel is as important as CPD as we can learn as much from passing on ideas to each other and talking over problems as we can from structured learning.
We have our meetings at the prestigious Village Hotel, Coryton, Cardiff. The hotel has excellent facilities and is easy to find. The staff are very obliging and always make us feel welcome. Laura and Gemma are our coordinators and Jason or David are our usual helpers on the day. Some of you may remember we had the conference at the same hotel a few years ago.. It is also possible to have a swim there if there is time. Unfortunately due to rising costs and our low branch budget we may not be able to continue there, but we will cross that bridge when we come to it. I think it is so important to have a good venue so that good speakers are attracted to come and also members know what facilities they can expect to have.
We also have a branch library with a very good selection of chiropodial books to lend out. We always have a bit of a do for Christmas this is usually at the same venue and at the same date as the branch AGM (post Christmas) Geographically branch members are very spread out but we still have enough keen members to keep going. Anyone interested in joining us for CPD can contact me by phone or email 02920 331927 planetjanet_007@fsmail.net.
Leicester & Northants Branch Profile.
We are a friendly, active branch of around 42 members, which meet at two locations, either Kilsby Village Hall or Lutterworth Cricket Club depending on suitability for the type of meeting taking place. Members are mainly from Leicestershire and Northamptonshire but also travel from Cambridgeshire, Bedfordshire and Warwickshire, all are welcome
Meetings take place quarterly on a Sunday and CPD is provided at each meeting often free of charge. In addition to the regular meetings a first aid update is arranged once a year and a branch seminar takes place in the autumn, usually with autoclave servicing available at a reasonable cost.
We strive to make the meetings and CPD sessions relevant and affordable to our branch members using both the experience with the branch and professional speakers.
Meeting dates remaining for 2012:
2nd September 2012 Branch Meeting plus CPD on nail surgery. Starts at 10am, registration and refreshments at 9.45 at Kilsby Village Hall
Contact Sue 01530 469816
4th November 2012 Branch Seminar subject Podiatry Basics by Ivan Bristow & Mike Potter at which members of other branches are welcome. Further details and cost, which includes lunch and refreshments, will be published in Podiatry Review.
There will be a trade stand and autoclave servicing available.
Starts 10am, registration and refreshments at 9.45 at Lutterworth Cricket Club
Contact David 01455 550111
20th January 2012 Branch meeting and AGM. Starts at 10am, registration and refreshments at 9.45 at Lutterworth Cricket Club.
Committee members
Chairman Sue Forster
Secretary Sue J Foster
Treasurer David Ayres
President Graham Ramsey