About Us

ABOUT US

PRIMARY CARE SURGICAL ASSOCIATION (PCSA)

The PCSA was established in 2012 by a group of GP’s with a special interest in primary care surgery. These doctors were doing similar work in isolation throughout the country, and so decided to come together in an effort to enhance the professional standards in this growing area of community based surgery. These doctors provide the standard procedures of the routine skin surgical repertoire such as simple excisions, cryosurgery, ingrown toenail surgery, etc, but also more complex procedures such as flaps and grafts, skin cancer work, vasectomies and superficial orthopaedic work, in the office/community setting.

The following are the aims and objectives of the PCSA:

• To promote the provision of appropriate surgical services in primary care settings to the highest standards
• To further education and training needs of practitioners working in this area
• To work with other professional organisations to develop guidelines for validation and appraisal
• To act as an advocacy group for its members
• To be a forum for the exchange of views, information and resources

The PCSA has currently over a hundred members. We held a very successful inaugural scientific meeting in April 2012 in Limerick, where we had over a hundred and twenty doctors in attendance. At the Limerick meeting we officially launched the association and elected a committee. The second scientific meeting and AGM was held in Galway on the 19th and 20th April 2013, and was again a huge success. Our third  scientic meetign and  AGM wa s held in Cork on April 11th and 12th  2014 and saw the inauguration of the Ross  Ardill prize for Research or Audit, as well as workshops and lectures from  local and international speakers.

Although the association is still in its early years, we have already developed a number of activity streams:

• Liaison with the HSE with a  view to moving appropriate surgery to the community setting.
• Liaison with the private health insurers to ensure  fair terms for community based  surgical providers.
• Development of an accreditation process  with the ICGP  for community based  surgery, especially aiming for the  quality  assurance of skin cancer  work.
• Enhancement of  postgraduate  GP training in skin surgery and procedural medicine through the GP training programmes, the National Association of GP Training Porgramme Directors and the ICGP.
• Development of a community based  surgical audit tool in collaboration with the iPCRN.
• Building links with other disiciplines, including surgery, plastic surgery, dermatology and  pathology, with the ultimate aim of integrating GP surgeons wioth local MDTs.
• Development of  guidleines for community surgical practice, for example , to date: Surgical hygiene; Skin cancer diagnosis and management; Suspicious pigmented lesion diagnosis and management.

COMMITTEE

Dr Joe Devlin – Northern Ireland Representative

PROCEDURES

PROCEDURES THAT COULD EASILY BE TAKEN OUT OF THE HOSPITAL SETTING AND PERFORMED IN COMMUNITY INCLUDE:

• Ingrown toenails
• Sebaceous cyst
• Lipomas
• Small non melanoma skin cancers
• Assessment of suspicious pigmented lesions
• Warts
• Verrucas
• Ganglions
• Carpal tunnel syndrome
• Removal of implanons
• Vasectomy

CONSTITUTION

Constitution

of

Primary Care Surgical Association

Ireland

Name
The name of the Association shall be the Primary Care Surgical Association, hereinafter called the PCSA.

Background
Traditionally, General Practitioners(GPs) in Ireland have provided surgical services for their patients in the community. Very often, it has fallen to these GPs to do this work in isolation, without the support of colleagues engaged in similar surgical practice. The Primary Care Surgical Association(PCSA) was established in 2012 by a group of GPs with a special interest in surgical procedures in primary care to support doctors, GPs and others in the provision of  these services in the community, and enhance professional standards in the area of surgery in primary care in Ireland. The PCSA held its inaugural meeting in Limerick in April 2012. A website has since been developed to encourage and promote communication among its members. It is accessible atwww.pcsa.ie

Objectives
The objectives of the PCSA are as follows:

•  to promote the provision of appropriate surgical services in primary care settings to the highest standards
• to promote training and education for doctors providing surgical services in primary care through a mentoring and accreditation process
• to work with other professional organisations to develop guidelines for aforementioned accreditation and ongoing appraisal
• to promote research and foster scientific publication in the area of surgical services in the community
• to develop and improve communication between primary care and other stakeholders in the area of community based surgery
• to act as an advocacy group for it’s members and promote awareness of the PCSA among GPs and other doctors on a national level
• to act as a forum for the exchange of views, information and resources among it’s members

In furtherance of the above objectives, the PCSA may obtain, collect and receive monies by way of grants, donations, subscriptions, training costs, bequests or other lawful methods provided that the PCSA may not engage in any form of permanent trading. The PCSA may award scholarships or bursaries as approved by the committee to such persons and on such terms as the committee shall from time to time decide.

Membership
The PCSA shall be non-political and non-sectarian in character and the following will be eligible for membership;

• Any doctor in good standing who currently holds membership with the Irish Medical Council (IMC) or General Medical Council (GMC) of the United Kingdom.

Membership procedure:

• A doctor wishing to become a member shall complete an application process through the PCSA website or by post as described on the website. On verification of the doctor’s registration and receipt of the membership subscription, membership shall be granted.
• The committee shall fix the rate of the subscription fee and the subscription year shall run from January to December.
• Subscriptions shall be payable in January each year.
• A member shall have access to the membership section of the website.
• A member who is more than one year in arrears shall cease to be a member of the PCSA.
• Fully paid up members of the Association of Primary Care Surgeons (UK) shall automatically become non-voting members of the PCSA.

Committee
The PCSA shall have a committee consisting of Chairperson, Secretary, Treasurer, Membership Secretary, Webmaster, and a number of other members as decided from time to time. The committee shall be elected every year at the AGM.

The committee shall meet formally on a number of occasions throughout the year and shall remain in regular contact throughout the year –written, spoken or electronic – for the purpose of ongoing discussions pertinent to the PCSA. Smaller sub-committee meetings may be held from time to time as deemed necessary for the objectives of the PCSA and information gathered at such meetings shall be disseminated to all committee members.

Minutes of full, formal committee meetings shall be kept by the secretary at such meetings and shall be circulated to all committee members thereafter.

The committee shall report to the members of the PCSA and other attendees at the AGM.

Finance
All monies raised by or on behalf of the PCSA shall be applied to further the objectives of the PCSA, including the payment of legitimate out-of-pocket expenses to members of the PCSA engaged upon approved business of the PCSA. The treasurer shall keep proper accounts of the finances of the PCSA. The accounts shall be presented at the AGM by the Treasurer. The financial year shall run from January 1^st to December 31^st. A bank account has been opened in Allied Irish Bank, Ashe St, Tralee and shall be maintained there until such time as the committee may decide to use an alternate bank. The committee shall authorise the Treasurer to sign cheques on behalf of the PCSA.

Alterations to this Constitution
Any alteration of this constitution shall receive the agreement of not less than two-thirds of the committee.

Dissolution
If the committee decide by a simple majority that for any reason it is necessary or advisable to dissolve the PCSA, the PCSA shall be so dissolved. The committee shall then transfer any remaining funds, after satisfaction of all debts, to another charitable institution of their choice.

Agreed on May 29^th,  2014

MEMBERSHIP BENEFITS

PRIMARY CARE SURGICAL ASSOCIATION

Benefits of  membership

Annual conference with hands on workshops.

Access to  a members only discussion forum on our  web site with like minded colleagues to  discuss interesting  or  challenging  cases.

Access to our surgical audit  tool. Joint honorary membership with the Association of Surgeon in Primary Care in the UK  (ASPC):  www.aspc-uk.net Have a say on drawing up and  developing  our guidelines  on various topics such as “Management of suspicious skin lesions “  and “ Decontamination of  reusable  surgical  instruments”

Be represented  by  PCSA committee members  in meetings with  HSE ,  private health insurance companies and the NCCP  in negotiating better terms and  conditions for  community based  surgery by  our members .

Mentoring for members.

Dr. Ross Ardill
Ross had been a founding member of the PCSA, we shall miss greatly. Think of his contribution as you use this website. May he rest in peace.