MINUTES OF FUTURE OF SURESEARCH MEETING

Tuesday, May 11th, 2010 

Present:

Paul Roberts (Chair/mins), Paul McDonald (Research Manager B&SMHFT), Duncan Purslow, Dave Howes, Adrian Fisher, Jerry Tew, Barbara Norden, Dave Blastock, Janie Greville, Stephen Jeffreys. 

Apologies:

Annie Lloyd, Peter Downes, Alex Davis, Paul Ormerod 

Invited Guest Paul McDonald

Paul outlined the support he hoped to be able to offer Suresearch post October 2010. He was prepared to offer accommodation for full Suresearch monthly meetings and a number of possible venues on Trust property were mentioned-Uffculme in Queensbridge Road  Moseley, Barbary in Vincent Drive, Selly Oak and Fairbridge in Digbeth where it is expected that WMRN will move to later in the year from Radycliffe House, Hagley Road, Edgbaston. Free  refreshments would be available too. Accomodation for the smaller sub-group meetings was also sought.

He would also look into the possibility of a work station being available at Fairbridge for our use and also administrative support. The question of the Suresearch website being incorporated into and supported by the Trusts loop was unlikely. The support of travel expenses to meetings was even more unlikely-they are currently estimated at £1200 per annum though it was suggested these could be reduced plus its carbon footprint if they were only paid for public transport apart from exceptional circumstances. 

In return for the resources on offer Paul would require involvement of Suresearch in Trust research. He pointed out the potential income stream in Trust research and highlighted the involvement of Kris Bennington in the Super Eden study. 

Research Projects

Jerry Tew outlined the potential for raising income in SS instigating research projects and evaluation. Currently SS involvement in Research comes on the back of UoB research proposals(amongst others) and relies on the University filter which is not the best way to go forward. SS previous involvement in research has relied heavily on the work of Ann Davis and others. If SS were to be in the position to respond to tenders it would be essential to be a fully constituted organisation. 

What sort of Organisation? 

A brief discussion ensued on the importance of SS deciding on what sort of organisation it will be in the future. Although the  urgency of the situation was pointed out others counselled patience as SS immediate future in terms of its practical functioning is likely to be clarified soon and SS would not necessarily need to be a constituted organisation by Oct 2010 to continue. The need for income streams however small were essential to support the voluntary work undertaken currently for example on the website and administration, the latter which  would become a major issue post Oct 2010 with the withdrawal of current staff support from CEIMH. Promotion of Suresearch would be made easier if it was a fully constituted organisation, locally based and with a proven track record. 

The idea of ‘nesting ‘ with local MIND or RETHINK was suggested but it was felt unlikely that either organisation would be prepared to offer this arrangement. The practicalities of running a CIC with 110 members were raised which would inevitably entail a two tier structure and a core of directors which some felt was undesirable. 

Adrian was asked to investigate the make up of the current membership in terms of Sevice users & Carers/ professionals/ academics, etc to ascertain how many members might be interested in a greater involvement in a business sense. 

It was suggested that Colin Gell should be invited to a meeting to relate the success of the CIC he is involved in. 

It was agreed that a full discussion of these issues would take place at the monthly meeting of July 7th to be notified of at the June meeting. 

Promotional DVD 

There was a report back on the DVD meeting of April 28th and the draft sketch Barbara had written was looked at, congratulated on  and briefly discussed. The need for professional advice on how a promotional dvd might look was suggested and it was agreed to approach Tarsem for guidance.Shortage of  time meant the DVD working party agreed to meet Friday May 21st at 10.30 at CEIMH to follow up these proposals. 

Jobs Needed to be done for Suresearch to continue as a functioning organisation post Oct 2010 

There was no time for the meeting to revisit the list of essential tasks Duncan had written up previously and it was held over to the next meeting. 

Suresearch E-Mail account and administrators 

Again these items were held over to the next meeting. 

NB: Draft Minutes, yet to be approved.

Date of Next Meeting

Thursday June 10th at 10.30 at CEIMH

 

SJ & DAB-P (14th May 2010)