Read the highlights of key issues discussed at the RACP Board meeting on 24 May 2024.

The Board, comprising a number of new and existing Directors, met in Sydney on Friday, 24 May for a half-day Board Induction Program followed by a Board meeting.

Induction included education around our charity requirements under legislation, and our director duties, including in relation to workplace health and safety.

The Board received and accepted the resignation of Dr Sharmila Ramessur Chandran from her position as an elected member director and subsequently appointed Dr Nick Buckmaster to the Board to fill the casual vacancy.

Dr Chandran remains on the Board as President-elect of RACP.

We reiterated our commitment to the Board behaviours, aligning ourselves to the strategy and the values of the organisation, and the need for Directors to focus on the interests of the RACP rather than any sectarian or personal interests.

We discussed the way we would interact with the Board’s sole employee – our Interim CEO Steffen Faurby – and work with him in his delivery of the business of the RACP.

We were joined by Simon Rumore from Peakstone Global with whom we have been working since June 2023 and who supported our governance work over the last few months. He also provided observations on the Board meeting.

The Board met key team executives of the RACP and heard of challenges and opportunities in their areas and their advice on how the Board could help with guidance on those issues.

In the Board meeting we focused our discussions on our education projects, our IT projects, member services, and KPIs and timelines for those. It’s very exciting to see some of the work around the Training Management Platform being delivered and the support for the new curricula being developed. The Board was advised of the positive feedback from the AMC Accreditation Team on the content and quality of our submission.

It is acknowledged that much of the governance streamlining we need to do in the College is now also driven by external legislation, compliance, and regulatory directives.

The Board acknowledges that members may feel concern around the coalescing of committees and standardisation of reporting lines that have been recommended under the governance review.

Importantly however, if we resolve to pursue this option, it will ultimately result in better transparency, accountability, oversight and sustainability, and expediate decision making processes for members.

The Board discussed the new Reporting Framework for our Risk platform and the risk appetite of the new Board and our updated financial reporting for the Board.

It was heartening to hear of the significant progress on the Indigenous Strategic Framework and the great governance work from our Māori Health Committee.

We also discussed the need for an overarching governance strategy for our many strands of governance work and noted the need to fill the open vacancies for members on the Governance Advisory Group. This Group provides member input into the Board-Council governance review.

We debated establishing a Governance Committee, to progress these governance items to the Board.

We were pleased to hear of the significant initiatives management have undertaken in workplace safety for employees and opportunities for upskilling in this area.

Directors also discussed proposed governance education through a variety of education programs on risk, finance, workplace health and safety and other topics.

The next board meeting is scheduled for 21 June 2024.

Kind regards,

Professor Jennifer Martin
RACP President