Inside News

6 / 68

Introduction
6 Inside News
Role of the standing committee
My view, and that of the Board and
the Faculty of Clinical Radiology
Council, is that the tension present in
the membership over IR and INR is in
part structural in nature and, insofar as
it is structural, the establishment of a
new standing committee dedicated to
interventional radiology will go a long
way to solve the problem.
However others may portray the
decision, to my mind this is an obvious
and necessary response by the College.
Under its terms of reference, the
Interventional Radiology Committee is
charged with the responsibility inter alia
to:
• Identify and advise on emerging
issues, procedures and technologies
in interventional radiology and
matters that may require advocacy
with government, regulatory bodies
and others
• Identify issues in quality of service
in IR and INR that potentially affect
patient care and may require the
setting of a standard or other action
• Recommend professional and
practice standards to support
patient-centred care in IR and INR
• Liaise with other RANZCR
committees (such as the safety,
quality and standards committee and
education and training committee) to
ensure issues regarding interventional
radiology are addressed throughout
the College
• Engage with stakeholders, under the
direction of the FCR Council, with the
purpose of developing IR and INR
policy within the College.
I have long believed the College is best
placed, corporately and strategically,
to showcase the value of clinical
radiologists, whether the practitioner is
a generalist or a subspecialist. However,
to do it well, the College needs a
reliable flow of objective information
and advice that is focused on advancing
what is best for patients, not on narrow
sectional interests. In this respect, the
goal for IR and INR is no different to that
for any other area of radiology.
Membership of the committee
To get this right, the Interventional
Radiology Committee must be so
constituted to ensure that a full range
of views and opinions is at hand when it
deliberates and that its advice and other
outputs are guided by the tenets of best
practice.
This means having a committee of
outstanding individuals prepared to
put the interests of patients above any
other consideration. Further, they must
be able and willing to act in accord with
the FCR Council and the excellent work
already undertaken by that Council.
The membership structure, the Board
and FCR Council have determined
for the standing committee includes
general radiologists who perform only
Tier A (basic) interventional procedures,
interventional radiologists who perform
Tier A and Tier B (advanced) procedures,
interventional neuroradiologists and a
recently qualified Fellow.
Across its membership, the
committee must have an FCR Council
representative and the Dean of FCR and
President (as ex officio members), and
ideally as a minimum:
• a Fellow with substantial experience
in quality, safety and research;
• a New Zealand Fellow or educational
affiliate;
• a recently qualified Fellow (within five
years of receiving FRANZCR).
Committee members will be appointed
initially for a term of one year, and the
committee chair can neither be the
Dean of the FCR nor a Fellow who is
already the chair of another FCR or
affiliated entity.
If you are interested in getting involved,
please indicate your early interest by
emailing and we
will be in touch about the process as it
develops.
The value in taking this step
I am convinced the establishment of
a standing committee, as described
above, is a sensible course of action to
promote good clinical care, advocate
for IR and INR issues and to overcome
challenges confronting RANZCR
members who practise IR and INR.
The new committee will go a long way
to remedy the shortcomings in the
College’s oversight of interventional
radiology practice and bring much
greater certainty to our efforts to fully
represent and support these members
of RANZCR.
The initiative taken here with
interventional radiology forms part of a
broader plan by the College to provide
advice to the governments of Australia
and New Zealand which are seeking our
input on medical interventions involving
new and emerging technologies.
Without the RANZCR Interventional
Radiology Standing Committee, the
College will be unable to advocate and
advise regulatory and funding bodies
as comprehensively as it should into the
future.
This is an issue to which your Board
and the Faculty Council have given
much thought. I trust the conclusion we
have reached and the decision we have
made to address it will meet with your
approval and would encourage your
involvement.
Yours sincerely,
Dr Greg Slater,
RANZCR President
July 2016
“We remain committed
to an evidence-based
culture focused on
patient outcomes and
equity in access to
high-quality care.”