European Pressure Ulcer Advisory Panel: Review 4,2

EUROPEAN PRESSURE ULCER ADVISORY PANEL CHARITY

Report and Financial Statements for the year ended 30 June 2002
Charity Number: 1066856 Company Number: 3438264

Contents of the Financial Statements for the year ended 30 June 2002, are as follows: Directors' Report Statement of Financial Activities Balance Sheet Notes to the Accounts Accountants Report Part 1. DIRECTORS' REPORT The directors who are also trustees present their report together with the accounts for the year ended 30 June 2002. *Review of the Business and Future Developments* The company is limited by guarantee and is a registered charity (registration number 1066856). The charity's objectives or its mission statement are to provide the relief of persons suffering from or at risk of pressure ulcers, in particular through research and education of the public. The charity reported net outgoing resources of £6350 for the year. There was an exceptional loss on the annual conference of £5969. Subscriptions received in advance during the year amounting to £21797 have been carried forward. *Mission Statement* The European Pressure Ulcer Advisory Panel's objective is to provide the relief of persons suffering from, or at risk of pressure ulcers, in particular through research and education of the public. *Risk Management* The trustees have identified the major risks which the charity faces and are taking steps to mitigate those risks. *Reserves Policy* It is the policy of the charity to maintain unrestricted funds, which are the free reserves of the charity, at a level which equates to approximately six months unrestricted expenditure. This would provide sufficient funds to cover management and administration and support costs and cover publication expenses. The trustees are researching ways to meet this objective. *Directors* The directors in office at 30 June 2002, all of whom served during the year unless otherwise stated, were:
*Executive Committee:*
Marco Romanelli, President		Italy
Denis Colin, Vice President		France
Michael Clark, Recorder		England
George Cherry, Secretary/Treasurer		England
Christine Cherry, Business Administrator		England
Christina Lindholm		Sweden
Joan-Enric Torra I Bou		Spain

Trustees:
Sue Bale		Wales
Bridgitte Barrois		France
Andrea Bellingeri		Italy
Gerry Bennett		England
Mark Collier		England
Theo Dassen		Germany
Carol Dealey		England
Tom Defloor		Belgium
Jacqui Fletcher		England
Katia Furtado		Portugal
Finn Gottrup		Denmark
Laszlo Gulacsi		Hungary
Jeen Haalboom		The Netherlands
Ruud Haalfens		The Netherlands
Keith Harding		Wales
Helvi Hietanen		Finland
Germain de Keyser		Belgium
Agnes Jacquerye		Belgium
Maarten Lubbers		The Netherlands
Sylvie Meaume		France
Zena Moore		Eire
Elia Ricci		Italy
Terance Ryan		England
Anne Witherow		Northern Ireland
*Report of the Charity* The activity over the last year has continued to expand on work done in 2001 and has reflected the Charity's objective both through research working groups and dissemination of knowledge on pressure ulcers through its journal, the EPUAP Review (three issues per year), and the EPUAP web-site: <www.epuap.org> along with EPUAP Guidelines for the prevention and treatment of pressure ulcers. Our annual meeting held in September 2001 in Le Mans, France had as its theme 'Education experiences we can share'. The scientific content of the programme along with the educational aspect was of high standard and with educational merit. It was the first time that we had a joint meeting with a national organisation the French Society PERSE. Our local organiser Dr Denis Colin was an excellent host and as president of PERSE encouraged cross fertilisation of ideas between the European Pressure Ulcer Advisory Panel and the French members of PERSE. Professor Gerry Bennett retired as Recorder of EPUAP and the charity is grateful for all of his hard work, enthusiasm and guidance since its founding. Professor Bennett continues to be an active Trustee. The highlight of the meeting was the presentation by our president Dr Marco Romanelli of Pisa Italy awarding Dr Barbara Braden from USA the Lifetime Achievement Award. Dr Braden has been a pioneer in developing a tool for measuring risk analysis for potential pressure ulcer development which is being used world-wide. At this meeting we were fortunate to have Hilary Scott, Deputy Health Service Ombudsman give a presentation on her experience for the past two years which has been in investigating complaints about the National Health Service, service provided by hospitals and family practitioners and ambulance services in England, Scotland and Wales. She claborated on her talk by writing an article for the charity's publication the EPUAP Review. The EPUAP has been fortunate since its inception to have many active and hard working trustees and to acknowledge all of these would take more space than this report allows. However, Mike Clark our new Recorder and Editor of the Review should be thanked particularly with regard to the EPUAP working groups who will present their findings at our 6th Annual Open meeting to be held in Budapest, Hungary and the theme of that meeting in September 2002 will be 'Pressure ulcers - a quality of care indicator'. A brief summary of this gigantic task follows. Many of the major projects undertaken by the European Pressure Ulcer Advisory Panel are managed through dedicated Working Groups with participation from several trustees and other key scientific and clinical personnel. In the period covered by this two working groups have been active - the first developing a plan for a pilot pressure ulcer prevalence survey across European hospitals, the second prepared a statement on behalf of the EPUAP upon the uses and limitations of current methods for identifying patients who are at risk of developing pressure ulcers. The prevalence group met on four occasions during 2001/2002; while the risk assessment group met once. These face-to-face meetings were supplemented by numerous e-mail and telephone communications. From these meetings EPUAP planned and executed a major pilot survey of the prevalence of pressure ulcers across hospitals within five European countries (Belgium, Italy, Portugal, Sweden and the United Kingdom with over 5000 patients included in this survey). The risk assessment group prepared a statement which was discussed, and accepted, by the participants at the 5th Open Meeting of the EPUAP. While many members of the Society contributed to the work of the two working groups special mention should be made of the contribution of Dr Tom Defloor (Belgium) and Ms Gerrie Bours (Netherlands), both were key members of the two working groups and contributed greatly to the analysis and reporting of the pressure ulcer prevalence data. Christina Lindholm of Stockholm, Sweden has co-ordinated the PEPUS study which is a Pan European study for the prevalence of pressure ulcers in patients sustaining fractured hips and will present the preliminary findings in Budapest. Lastly, a major brainstorming meeting was held in Oxford by the trustees in January where the majority of the trustees attended. Professor Keith Harding was the facilitator and prior to the meeting a questionnaire was sent to all trustees regarding what they through was the present status of the EPUAP. The mission statement was analysed as to whether or not the Panel had met its objective. In general it was thought that the panel was on course but more attention should be paid to the education of the public. Four task groups were set up and trustees volunteered for specific groups. The areas were Administration, Education, Activities and Profiling. Task leaders were asked to submit options with priorities for years 1, 3 and 5. A time scale was made and the final report was to be made by September 2002 at the 6th Annual Meeting to the Panel to be held in Budapest, Hungary. The EPUAP Business Office continues to serve as a very essential part of the charity, particularly by the work of Christine Cherry, a trustee and founder member, who is assistant editor of the Review and been actively involved in all the meetings. Jane Green our secretary in the office is also a key individual in liaising with members and dealing with enquiries. Our major financial support continues to come from our Industrial Corporate sponsor as well as the subscription fees from our members. Grants given by Smith & Nephew for our prevalence study work enabled the study to be truly European. This report has been prepared in accordance with the special provisions of Part VII of the Companies Act 1985 relating to small companies. BY ORDER OF THE BOARD