A review of the structure of RCPI Council has taken place and a series of changes of far-reaching changes to Council's remit, membership, elections, roles and committees will come into effect next year.
These changes are designed to ensure that we can operate more effectively and provide a better service for our members.
The changes were approved by Council on 21 June 2019 and were developed as part of the RCPI Governance Implementation Programme.
This marks the most far-reaching series of changes to Council in recent times and is a significant milestone for the governance implementation programme. We are moving towards a Council of mostly elected members, and one that is representative of all of our Faculties and Institutes. On behalf of Council, I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of those involved in the Governance Implementation Programme. This includes the members of the Governance Improvements Working Group and the Governance Oversight Group, in particular Ms Emma Cuddihy, Programme Manager for the Governance Implementation Programme.
Professor Donal Reddan
Treasurer, Royal College of Physicians of Ireland
The following changes to Council membership have been approved and will come into effect next year:
The elections for the President and Council members (now referred to as Ordinary Councillors) will take place within a shorter timeline.
The next election for the President-Designate will commence in March 2020 with a call for nominations. Ballots will open in May 2020 and will close in July. This will reduce the President-Designate term from 10 months to three months before they become President in October 2020.
The same timeline will apply for Ordinary Councillor elections.
In March next year, a call will be made for 12 Ordinary Councillors representing all Faculties/Institutes within the College. All Fellows in good standing will be able to vote for candidates in all categories, regardless of their specialty. To ensure good succession planning, for the 2020 election only a third of elected Ordinary Councillors will serve for two years, a third will serve for three years and the final third will serve for four years and this will be determined by a draw after the election. This is to ensure that by 2022 (and every year thereafter) there will be an election for four seats every year.
In order to be eligible to run for election, all candidates must hold FRCPI.
If you are a Fellow of a Faculty (or Member of the Institute of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists) and don’t already hold FRCPI but are interested in becoming a Fellow or running for Council, we invite you to apply for Fellowship.
Anyone approved for Fellowship by March 2020 will be eligible to be included on the ballot, provided all other required criteria have been met.
A new committee structure has been agreed.
Previously, there were 38 committees, working groups and policy groups all reporting directly to Council.
Under our new By-Laws, any committees with a financial or operational remit have been realigned under the Executive Board.
Committees reporting to directly to Council are either in place or in development and will include:
There will be further updates on the new committee structures later this year.
In line with all of the changes outlined above, we have also developed terms of reference outlining the specific duties of Council as the Governing Body of RCPI and the role of Council members.
You can view the new terms of reference below.
We have also included in the By-Laws more detailed information on the duties and responsibilities of the President, Registrar, Treasurer, College Vice-President, Censors and the CEO.
Finally, the new By-Laws include an important section on matters reserved/delegated. This section clarifies what decisions Council reserve and which matters they delegate to the Executive Board.
We have developed terms of reference outlining the specific duties of Council as the Governing Body of RCPI and the role of Council members.
As part of this series of changes, we are making changes to the By-Laws relevant to Council. The relevant new By-Laws are available to view here.
The Governance Implementation Programme is ongoing, with further changes underway over the coming year.
This will include
We will keep you updated on further significant developments. If you have any questions about the Council review or any of the governance programme changes please don’t hesitate to contact us.
Professor Donal Reddan is the Treasurer of the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland. Dr Reddan is a Consultant Nephrologist, General Physician and clinical lecturer at Galway University Hospital. He is also group Clinical Director for medicine at the SAOLTA (WNWHG) group. A graduate of UCD he completed post-graduate training in Dublin, a residency in General Medicine at AGH Pittsburgh and a fellowship in Nephrology at Duke University Medical Center, Durham North Carolina. He also completed a Masters in health sciences at Duke University Medical Center and served on faculty as an Assistant Professor in the division of Nephrology and at the Duke Clinical Research Institute. He has been involved in the design and implementation of a number of important clinical trials in chronic kidney disease. He has over 80 peer reviewed publications and has published extensively in the area of CKD associated anaemia, CKD associated cardiovascular risk and contrast induced acute kidney injury.