There is a rarely-used clause in the College Ordinances that allows a groundswell of members to force an Extraordinary meeting of the College. This process is normally reserved for urgent calls from the membership , usually in a crisis situation.
And to do this we only need to get 149 supporters
There are five steps
- We need to get the requisite number of signatures on our call for an EGM to discuss the Motions. Those signatures need to be entered into a form, together with names and College Reference Numbers here.
- . We only need 149 supporters. We think we can a lot lot more! And that should demonstrate to the College the strength of feeling within the anaesthetic community.
- We will submit those signatures. After that, they have 21 days in which to convene the EGM, which may well be held online.
- At the EGM, which is open to all College members with voting rights, we will propose and second our Motions. There will be speakers against, then a discussion and finally a vote. Hopefully we will get a convincing majority.
- But that is not the end of the matter. RCoA rules designate that an EGM is only advisory (unlike the rules in many other bodies) and the decisions from an EGM have then to be approved by the Council of the College. The Council is made up of elected doctors, and it is likely (but not certain) that they will take careful notice of our advice. So we will have to lobby those Council members. And if they don’t, they will have to justify that to the people that elected them..
- College Council meets once a month except during August.
If we get enough support for an EGM then it feels like Steps 2 and 3 would be superfluous, and that we could ask for them to skip straight to Step 5. But we can only consider asking for that if we get a landslide in Step 1. So please add your support for our call and share it widely.