President's Report 2020
Dear Colleagues

At the end of the presidential triennium it is timely to reflect on what has been achieved, and also what goals and challenges lie ahead.  From the outset, I have viewed this as a joint presidency between Dr Simon Thibault and myself and it gives me a great deal of satisfaction to have, in some way, set the path for our first ‘home-grown’ president.

Even though my role came at short notice, it has been a great honour to serve the College.  When I started, the ACP end-goal had always been AMC recognition.  As I leave, I can’t say that we are any closer but we are, I hope, a better College through improvements in Governance and strengthening of the key elements that underpin any well-functioning College: (1) education and training (2) service to members and (3) service to community.  The College ultimately serves the community through our role as educators and trainers and support offered to our diverse membership.

In the area of Education & Training and Membership Support:

·       Training Modules & TEQSA:  The ACP training modules – the linchpin of the ACP training program - have undergone revision and expansion and will be going through TEQSA application process, under the auspices of ACD as Higher Education Provider.  I particularly thank Bob Corderoy for his input and guidance with TEQSA requirements as well as all the module contributors.  Having our courses TEQSA approved will be the focus for the next 12 months and we have enlisted our new educationalist, Ms Amanda Morris, to help facilitate this.  I am very pleased that all the modules are accessible to all ACP Fellows as a benefit of membership and will also attract CPD points.  The modules have also been launched internationally through our partnership with UIP. 

·       Ultrasound rebate access:  This is the defining issue for current and future presidencies and until the matter is satisfactorily resolved.  The fact that FACP graduands cannot access relevant vascular ultrasound rebate for their patients is a glaring injustice that needs urgent rectification.  We have been in dialogue with the Health Department and MSAC.  To ensure we are suitably accredited, we are collaborating with ASUM to review and renew our US training curriculum, as well as getting our courses TEQSA-compliant.  One of the things I am most proud of is fostering a culture of collaboration such as with the ACD and more recently ASUM through Dr Simon Thibault’s fine effort.  We move further and faster with the strategic allies and we are indeed “stronger together”. 

·       Governance and processes: We are well on track with our 5-year plan to modernize College Governance.  The ACP Board of Directors meet 3 times a year and a smaller management team meet monthly to keep College moving in the right direction.  College has been working on a raft of policies and procedures necessary for good governance and Dr Simon Thibault will be releasing them during his presidency.  As ACP’s first Dean of Education,  Simon has also formulated a series of work-based assessment to further improve the quality of our education and training, which will greatly benefit all trainees and supervisors. 

·       Phlebology Advocacy & Advancement Committee: It is now evident that we need such a body within phlebology. Modern Phlebology is a multi-disciplinary specialty and all the diverse strands of expertise is distilled in ACP graduands through our vigorous and purposeful training program.  The Phlebology Advocacy & Advancement Committee (PAAC) was formed in early 2020 to promote education and research in phlebology and provides advice and assistance to the Australian and New Zealand Governments, regulatory authorities and the industry in matters relating to standards, new developments, reimbursement issues and medico-legal opinions. I hope this committee will continue to gain traction with relevant external agencies.

As a College we handled the COVID-19 pandemic as well as can be expected with a measured and calibrated approach.  The Pandemic is not over but in ANZ we have been spared the worst and we now have a good handle on the crisis and have learnt to live and work with it.  ACP produced a ‘Venous & Lymphatic Triage & Acuity Scale’ to assist Phlebologists categorise and triage patients according to urgency levels.  As we return to some form of normality there will be lasting changes to the way we practice and the way we conduct our meetings and conferences.  As we speak, the final format of the 2021 ACP conference is still being developed and likely to be a hybrid FF-zoom meeting, but whichever way it ends up, I’m sure it will be the right way to go.

As I step into the Past-President role, I would like to thank all the Board Directors for their industry and counsel over the last 3 years.  The College Board is very reliant on a few talented and hardworking office bearers working tirelessly for so long and it is very heartening to see younger Fellows stepping up.  As such, I look forward to supporting our new President Dr Simon Thibault and his stewardship of ACP over the next few years.  Finally, we are indeed fortunate to have the stalwarts – Zivka Nichols and David Connor – keeping the College in such great order.  

With Kind Regards, 

Dr Adrian Lim

President, Australasian College of Phlebology