FEAPA President's Report, September 2009

The past year has been another very busy one for FEAPA and progress has been made in many areas including constitutional change, conference management and the website. I will start by reviewing the constitutional changes as these are the most important.

Changing FEAPA into a Society

Following discussions at the Advisory Panel (AP) meeting in Athens the constitution working party amended the draft statutes of the proposed European Society of Paediatric Anaesthesia to reflect the wishes of the AP members. These proposals were then discussed at a meeting of the Executive committee on 7th July in Amsterdam and further changes were made before sending the draft to the Dutch attorneys to be translated into Dutch and registered with the Dutch legal authorities. After further input from the attorneys the main changes agreed were:
1. Nominations for membership of the Executive Board of ESPA (EB) can be made by the Executive Board and by any ordinary member of the society
2. A maximum number of two members of the EB will be allowed from each country
3. All members of the Executive Board of ESPA will be elected by the membership either at the AGM or by electronic voting
4. The appointment of the president will take place not earlier that 1 year before he takes up office during which he will be designated president elect and vice president. The president will remain on the EB for 1 year after office when he will be designated immediate-past president and vice president.
5. The office of president will be 2 years after which he may not be re-elected
6. Non EB members may be invited to attend and speak at EB meetings
7. No quorum will be required for an AGM although a majority of 2/3 would be required to change the statutes
8. The ESPA accounts will be professionally audited

It was felt that the above measures would make the proposed society more democratic and transparent as well as limiting the time any person could spend on the EB in line with expressed wishes of the AP.
The final statutes of ESPA were put to the vote at a meeting of the European Advisory Panel meeting on Wednesday 9th September in Warsaw at which 23 national societies were represented. Following a discussion of the statutes led by Dr Nigel Turner, the following motions were proposed, seconded and passed unanimously:
1. To accept the statutes of ESPA
2. To dissolve FEAPA and transfer its residual funds to ESPA
3. To appoint trustees to oversee the dissolution of FEAPA and the transfer of its funds.
The following persons were then appointed to act as trustees: Dr Marcin Rawicz (President of FEAPA), Dr Nigel Turner (Treasurer) , Dr Krister Nilsson (Executive Committee member) and Dr Mary Broustas (Advisory Panel Representative).

Accordingly, at the opening ceremony of the FEAPA Congress 2009, I was able to announce the launch of ESPA and invite delegates to join as Founding Members. Founding Membership in all membership categories (active, affiliate, trainee) is offered free of charge to all eligible applicants during the first financial year of ESPA (i.e. up to 30 June 2010). Following that time a small annual fee of 30 Euros/annum will be payable. Membership benefits include the right of active members to propose and elect the members of the Executive Board of ESPA, a reduced subscription rate for the journal Pediatric Anesthesia and a reduced registration fee for Annual ESPA Congresses. By the close of the congress over 160 application forms had been received and we hope to get many more via our online form before the expiration of the free Founding Membership offer.

FEAPA Congress 2009, Warsaw

The FEAPA Congress in Warsaw, September 10-12th, was attended by almost 400 delegates and altogether 42 countries were represented. The venue itself was excellent and the city of Warsaw was an wonderful setting for the meeting. In addition to an excellent scientific programme, we were treated to a splendid social programme including virtuoso violin and cello performances by the Young pupils of the Polish Children's Fund and excellent folk dancing by the Polish Children's Dancing Group. In addition, delegates had the opportunity to attend the Gala Dinner at the cabaret Theatre Sabat. Overall, we enjoyed quite lavish entertainment and hospitality from our Polish hosts for which we have to thank Dr Marcin Rawicz and the members of the Local Organising Committee.

ESPA Congress 2009, Berlin

On 15-17th May 2009, I and other members of the FEAPA Executive Committee attended a meeting of the Congress Committee in Berlin to meet members of the Local Organising Committee for the ESPA 2009 Congress in Berlin, including Dr Karin Becke, Dr Judith Giest, Dr Evjenia Toubekis and Dr Jochen Strauss. At that meeting we conducted an inspection of the venue, the Langenbeck-Virchow-Haus, discussed outline scientific and social programmes for the congress and reviewed a draft contract between ESPA and the LOC. Our impression was that Berlin will be an excellent venue for our congress next year.

Website changes

The new FEAPA/ESPA website came online at http://www.feapa.eu in February 2009 for which we have to thank Dr Marcin Rawicz, our webmaster and the new President of ESPA. Visitors to this new site will readily appreciate that it is more sophisticated than our old website as it includes provision for restricted areas for members, subcommittees, e-learning, discussion etc. The website also includes a section for annual congresses with online registration which can be used for all future congresses.

Links with other societies

In July 2009 I was contacted by Dr Jay Deshpande of the Society for Pediatric Anesthesia (SPA) of the USA, confirming their interested in organising a joint meeting between ESPA and SPA in Europe in 2013. A proposed International Assembly of Pediatric Anesthesia should provide yet another opportunity for ESPA/SPA cooperation. This meeting, which is intended to mark the 25th Anniversary of SPA, will be held in Washington D.C. in October 2012, immediately before the ASA meeting.

Closing remarks

As this is the last President's Report I will write, I would just like to say it has been a pleasure and an honour to have served as president of FEAPA for the last four years. It has been challenging at times, especially initiating and getting acceptance for changing FEAPA into a society; but it has been enjoyable as well.
I would like to take this opportunity of thanking all the Executive Committee members for their support during this time. So my thanks go to Pervin Bozkurt for her considerable time and effort as Secretary, to Nigel Turner for his diligence as Treasurer and for liaising with the Dutch lawyers over the ESPA constitution, Francis Veyckemans who has done an outstanding job as Chair of the Scientific Committee, Ton Schouten for untold hours of superb work as Chair of the Congress Committee, Claude Ecoffey for his calming presence and thoughtful council, Krister Nilsson for his work on the Education Committee, Olli Meretoja for creating the first draft of the ESPA constitution and Josef Holzki, for turning the FEAPA around financially in 2005 and helping with sponsorship for our annual congresses. Last, but by no means least, I want to thank Marcin Rawicz who has been a stalwart of FEAPA for many years, worked tirelessly as secretary from 1997-to 2005 and organised the FEAPA Congress in Warsaw 2009. It gave me great pleasure to install him as President of FEAPA and ESPA at the end of the congress and I wish him all the best for his term of office.

George Meakin,
Immediate Past-President of FEAPA
Vice-President of ESPA
19th September 2009