Dear Colleagues,
This is my last President’s report. While it will be a relief to hand over things to Sze Ting’s capable hands, the role of president has grown considerably over the years. We hope to have a presidential team in place where the vice president and president work together on a range of initiatives (as Sze Ting and I have) and the Immediate past president (moi) will continue to drive key aspects of their presidency. So you aren’t quite rid of me yet. Hence, when I discuss achievement of the last 2 years, know that Sze Ting has been an equal contributor.
I hope to see many of you this week at the ANZSNM Annual Scientific Meeting as well as our Fellows’ Dinner and AGM. Feel free to stop me and ask any burning questions you have. Best done with a beverage in hand.
I would ask that you all try and attend the AGM and that you take the opportunity to encourage any non members you work with or know to join the AANMS so that we can continue the good work.
There is so much active at the moment. Feel free to pick and choose whichever items are of interest to you.
- Indexation Campaign
- Department of Health
- Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources
- ANSTO
- Lutetium PSMA MSAC Application
- Theranostics
- RACP
- Strategic Planning
- Social Media
- ARTnet
Indexation Campaign
We are pushing ahead with our indexation campaign both pre and post caretaker mode.
Since my last report we have been involved in the following meetings:
- Lunch and then dinner with Mark Butler (shadow Health Minister) and Peta Murphy (Labor Senator)
- Meeting with Greg Hunt’s Senior Adviser
- Dinner with Katy Gallagher (Shadow Minister for Finance)
Please take the time to review the Political Engagement Workshop on Indexation in the Member Portal as this will be particularly important post election. Any question please email gm@aanms.org.au
Department of Health
The General Manager and I were in Canberra two weeks ago to meet with the Department of Health, Diagnostic Imaging team. While we meet monthly to discuss issues of interest, this is the first time we have had a face to face meeting with them since the pandemic began. They advised us to keep pushing indexation, even in caretaker mode. They are very positive in our relationship and good supporters of our specialty.
We have established a solid relationship with the Department of Health team and have been invited to meet with the Secretary (Brendan Murphy’s) First Assistant Secretary after the election.
Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources (DISER)
As you would be aware the Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) has conducted an audit on ANSTO, of which we contributed to as part of the consultation process.
The results of the ANAO report were tabled in Parliament today and The Auditor-General made six recommendations to ANSTO, including:
- ANSTO to develop a new enterprise-level plan that is reflective of their environment, is risk-based, incorporates asset performance expectations and results, and is regularly reviewed.
- ANSTO to develop an asset management or disposal plan for Building 54.
- Establish a governance and risk arrangements for the disposal of the High Flux Australian Reactor.
- Prioritise the development and finalisation of maintenance strategies and plans for Building 23.
- Establish an enterprise-level performance framework
- Amend public performance measures to reflect the importance of nuclear medicine to the achievement of ANSTO’s purpose.
We requested a meeting with DISER to discuss nuclear medicine in general as well as the results of this report and have a meeting with them next Friday 20 May.
ANSTO
I have accepted a committee position on ANSTOs New Medical Manufacturing Project Advisory Board which conducted its first meeting 08 April 2022. This board is to provide independent review and advice to ensure that the needs and interest of the healthcare sector, including the nuclear medicine community are reflected in the product offerings and design of the new medical manufacturing facility.
We have also met with the new CEO of ANSTO and are setting up regular meetings with their Executive. We want to keep close relationships with ANSTO to ensure they continue to provide a comprehensive range of agents to address current and future needs for our community.
Lutetium PSMA MSAC application
This continues to work its way through the system. We submitted the assessment Report for the MSAC 1686 LuPSMA i&t process in February for consideration by the Evaluation sub committee in March and MSAC consideration in April and now have the opportunity for further consultation in June. We are currently working on draft item descriptors and I will cover this in more detail at the AGM.
Theranostics
The AANMS Theranostics Committee has conducted its inaugural meeting and formed a Sub-Committee to put together a training and case library course content.
We are planning a Theranostics certification course to be conducted in August of this year – launched at the ANZSNM ASM – watch this space
Please see the recently published article in the JNM highlighting Theranostics in Australia.
RACP
We continue our work with RACP on a number of fronts:
- Having NM considered as part of the core training
- Ensuring we are part of the curriculum review process this year to include Theranostics training as part of NM curriculum
- To support Radiation Oncology’s access to NM training via the same 2 year pathway open to radiology trainees under the CJCT
Strategic Planning
The Board got together in Sydney in April to review and update our rolling strategic plan. The completed actions from the last twelve months are as follows:
1. Professional Development
- The Theranostics Working Group has been established. It is now called the Theranostics Committee
- Established a Working Group to pull together formal representations to RACP
- Stressed importance of continued engagement with the RACP and RANZCR
2. Representation
- MSAC applications are listed on the Member Portal and updates provided via the Presidents Comms
- Establishment of a formal strategy to promote NM
- The relationship with DOH is now well-established with regular meetings. DOH value AANMS’ input
3. Organisation Standards and Quality
- Implementation of the business plan
- Finalisation of risk assessment
- Implementation of Board annual review and feedback, Board skills training. This was discussed and agreed the Board skills training conducted last year should be conducted annually
4. Engagement
- A Member Survey was conducted in August 2021 and the workforce data survey is currently still live with moderate response received. We are considering including workforce data questions as part of the annual subscription process. We will continue to conduct annual member surveys or more often if required to inform our direction
- Member Portal up and running
5. Research and Innovation
- Systems and structure have been put in place for ARTnet, including an updated agreement
- We are currently running ARTnet’s first strategic planning session
Social Media
A key ingredient to our campaigning is our social media platforms.
AANMS has two twitter accounts – 
AANMS and Theranostics AANMS and well as our LinkedIn account. Click the link to join.
We now have almost 800 Twitter followers. If you are on either Twitter or LinkedIn please take the time to find, like and share our posts. All of the likes, shares and retweets help.
ARTnet
We have begun a strategic planning process with ANZSNM as part of the ARTnet joint venture reviewing and mapping our vision, mission and strategic direction for the next five years. This is an innovative and exciting space in clinical research and we are looking forward to future opportunities.