Author: Richard Evans, CEO
October and November bring regional study days and Annual General Meetings (AGMs) for the Society of Radiographers.
Most weekends in these two months there is an event to attend for me, the president and other senior officers. The days provide members with CPD and opportunities to meet colleagues from their part of the UK.
The AGM part of these proceedings is an important meeting of the regional committee; or in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland a meeting of the National Council with the members that elect them.
All SoR members are allocated to a region according to their workplace. Regions and countries are supported by a full-time regional or national officer, an employee of the Society.
The Regional Committee or National Council, by contrast is a group of members who volunteer in the role; SoR members who commit to supporting our professional body and trades union in their area.
The activities of these committees and councils include forming the core of the delegations to the Annual Delegates Conference. They work to propose and debate resolutions about SoR policy and then hold UK Council to account for acting upon those motions that are carried.
The committees and councils also take part in adjudicating the entries for Radiographer of the Year and Radiography Team of the Year.
They convene local meetings for members; managers, students and accredited representatives often benefit from the efforts of committee and council members. It takes tremendous commitment to and love for your profession to serve on a regional committee or national council. All members are eligible to do so.
UK Council and all of the employed officers are very much aware of what it means to go above and beyond the day job to volunteer for the SoR.
We all know how tough it is at work. Free time is precious. Everyone deserves time for family and social life. It means a lot to also give time for the Society. They deserve all of our thanks.
I hope that as many members as possible will be supporting their local study days this autumn. I will be attending several and look forward to meeting you there.
Come along, if only to see what it is all about...and try not to switch off for the AGM part. These are our local leaders. They are also our colleagues and friends. Give them all the support you can.
It would be good to begin to find ways to work with our regional and national networks more than we do at present, to make the SoR more effective.
This could be essential if the organisation of healthcare becomes more regionally devolved in England. If we are to do this successfully, committees and councils need to be supported by members who want to make a difference for radiography and for the SoR.
Everyone has something to offer.