PICS Council is pleased to publish the latest Constitution, as adopted at the last Annual General Meeting in Cambridge 2009.

Printable version available here

Article 1: Name and registered office

The name of the Society is the Paediatric Intensive Care Society (PICS).

The registered office of PICS will be:
Paediatric Intensive Care Society
c/o Association of Anaesthetists of Great Britain & Ireland
21, Portland Place
London
W1B 1PY

Article 2: Objects

a .To promote the exchange of information among people who have special experience in the field of paediatric intensive care (by organizing regular scientific meetings, forming study groups and networks, participation in advisory Councils of other societies, organization of symposia at other national and international meetings, and through joint publications of members' work in the Pediatric Critical Care Medicine Journal and other journals.

b. To encourage progress in the field of intensive care in childhood; to foster training and further education in the field of intensive care and research, particularly in the fields of basic research, and clinical care;

c. To carry out co-operative studies in the UK in the field of diagnosis, management and treatment of critically ill infants and children;

d. To provide further education in the field of paediatric intensive care by organizing meetings for this purpose, including annual scientific meetings, training programmes and educational workshops

e.To make fellowship and travel awards and to foster the official publication of scientific proceedings and other materials

f.To carry out any other measures to support the promotion of paediatric intensive care, as determined by the Annual General Meeting.

g.To provide specialist advice.

Article 3: Members and Honorary Members

a. Individuals or national paediatric and intensive care organisations can be members of the Society. Applications for membership shall be supported by at least one existing member and submitted to the secretary for processing. The secretary will then submit the applications to the Council members for approval.

b. Members will pay an annual subscription, payable by direct debit, the level of which will be authorised by vote at the Annual General Meeting. The membership of an individual or an organisation can be terminated by an announcement at the Annual General Meeting to that effect. Any member who fails to pay his or her annual subscription for two successive years will receive written notification from the Treasurer that failure to pay all outstanding subscriptions within six months will terminate their membership. Non-paying members may also forfeit certain benefits of membership (e.g. journal subscriptions) at an earlier time, as agreed by the Council.

c. Individuals who have achieved distinction in their work for PICS and/or in the field of paediatric intensive care can be offered honorary membership if they have retired from active practice. Proposals for honorary membership will be presented by the Council to the Annual General Meeting to be voted on. Honorary membership includes PICS membership without subscription to a Journal. Honorary members are excused from any membership fee but may subscribe to society journals through the society if they wish.

Article 4: Annual General Meeting

The Annual General Meeting is convened by the President of the Society. If the President is prevented in any way from this task, the Council will choose one of its members as the President's substitute. The Annual General Meeting will normally be held once yearly, during the Annual Scientific Meeting of the Society. Notification together with the agenda will be given in writing to members at least two months before the date of the Annual General Meeting. All members will have the opportunity to make suggestions for discussion at the Annual General Meeting.

The Secretary is responsible for the preparation of the minutes of the Annual General Meeting, which shall be signed by themselves and by the President of the Society.

The functions of the Annual General Meeting include:

a. Authorisation of the Council to deal with matters pertaining to the Society that require attention between Annual General Meetings;

b. Ratification of the Council's election of officers;

c. Appointment of one auditor to check the Treasurer's report;

d. Accept and approve the audited accounts;

e. Determination of the annual membership subscription rate or rates;

f. Determination of the place of the next Annual General Meeting;

g. Other matters consistent with the aims of PICS and defined in The Objects of the Society in Article 2;

Article 5: Council

Composition of the Council

The Council will consist of three officers - the President, the Honorary Secretary and the Honorary Treasurer (the Executive Committee) - and six other members. There shall be four nursing representatives, also open to other PIC related disciplines, an four medical representatives.

There shall be a minimum of one each of Nursing, Paediatric and Anaesthetic categories; call for nominations will reflect these minima. There will be two trainee medical representatives. All members of the Council should have been members of the society for a year prior to the closing date for that election to Council.

In addition, other members may be invited to attend Council meetings, including the Chair of the PICS Study Group Executive, the Chair of the Education and Scientific Committee and the organiser of the forthcoming annual meeting.

Attendance records of elected representatives at Council meetings will be made available at the Annual General Meeting.

Elections

a. Council members are elected by the members of the society following nominations by individual members as described in Article 8.

b. The term of office for all elected Council members is normally six years. Council members remain in office until re-elections are held.

Officers

a. The Council have three officers; President, Honorary Secretary and Honorary Treasurer. These will be elected by and from the Council membership. All appointments by election from within Council will be subject to ratification by the AGM.

b. The term of office for the posts of President, Secretary and Treasurer are three years but incumbents may stand for re-election after one term; but no more than two consecutive terms as an officer can be held. It may be that a term of office may extend the time spent on Council. Members who have served on the Council previously may be re-elected to Council after a minimum period of four years off Council.

c. The posts of President and Secretary should not change in the same year. With the agreement by vote of the Annual General Meeting and the agreement of the individual concerned, adjustment of the length of term of office of a maximum of one year may be made in order to avoid the situation of a simultaneous change.

d. Past Officers of the Society. The immediate Past President and Secretary may be co-opted to remain on Council up to one year to aid continuity.

Tasks of the Council Members

a. Council should meet at least four times a year.

b. The President will chair the Annual General Meeting and is responsible to the Society for carrying out decisions taken at the Annual General Meeting. For any special or general purposes, the President may delegate matters normally dealt with by themselves as President to any member of the Council.

c. The Secretary is entrusted with the administrative duties of the Society.

d. The Treasurer is entrusted with financial matters. They shall produce accounts annually to the thirty-first of March, which will be available for independent examination by an external auditor

.
e. The Council can install committees for certain tasks; committee members are nominated by the Council; the term of office of committee members is normally three years with the possibility of reappointment for one term.

f. If the President, Secretary or Treasurer resign or are prevented in any way from completing their term of office, the Council will elect one of the other Council members to this position. This new post-holder will then assume a new three year period, subject to ratification by the subsequent AGM.

Article 6: Education and Scientific Committee

The Society will have an Education and Scientific Committee which will be responsible for supervising the Programme for the Annual Scientific Meeting and vetting scientific papers for meetings of the Society and also applications for study/travel grants. The committee will consist of two medical members and two nurse members, the Chair of PICS-SG, and the trainee representative(s) (either one or two depending on current number in post). All members of this committee will be elected by all members of PICS by ballot. The maximum term of office on this commitee will be four years. The chair will be elected by and from the membership of the E & S Committee and may be co-opted onto Council.

Article 7: Paediatric Intensive Care Society Study Group (PICS-SG)

The Society recognises that there is a broader, public health and research dimension to our
professional work in individual member PICUs. Therefore, the purpose of the PICS-SG is to:

a. Survey national paediatric intensive care practice (through audit),

b. Acquire new knowledge by structured observation (through audit),

c. Improve patient care by testing clinical hypotheses (through randomized controlled
trials, RCT).

The Society considers that these three approaches are valid tools that can be used to inform
and educate those involved in the field. Special interest groups within PICS-SG will, by
necessity, be at various stages in this process. Some groups may need to start with national
audit in order to identify areas within their field that are appropriate for RCT. Others will be
able to take-on RCTs almost immediately.

All members of PICS are eligible to join PICS-SG. The Chair of PICS SG will be elected by
and from the membership of PICS-SG and may be co-opted onto PICS Council as needed.
The term of office of PICS-SG will be for fours years, renewable by vote at a plenary meeting
of PICS-SG.

Article 8: Elections, Constitutional Change and Voting

Elections

Elections will be conducted by secret ballot.
Amendments to the Articles of the Society

a. The Annual General Meeting constitutes a quorum for this purpose, if at least 25 members
are present. Decisions on amendments to the Articles of the Society shall be ratified only if
at least two thirds of all votes cast are in favour. Votes will normally be taken by a show of
hands but may be taken by secret ballot at the discretion of the President.

b. Votes conducted by mail (whether by paper or electronic media) will only be considered
valid if at least one-tenth of the current members respond; decisions on amendments to
the Articles of the Society shall be ratified only if at least two thirds of all the votes cast are
in favour. The Council will communicate the procedures for all such votes (deadline for
voting, recipient of votes, person(s) who will count the votes and procedure of announcing
the result of voting) to the members in advance.

c. If members wish to challenge the elections and appointments of officers by Council, then
the quorum in Article 8.a above will apply.

Conduct of the Society's Affairs

a. The Annual General Meeting constitutes a quorum for these matters, no matter how many
members are present. Votes will normally be taken by a show of hands (but may be taken
by secret ballot at the discretion of the President) except elections, which will normally be
conducted by secret ballot. In the event of an election becoming necessary, the candidate
receiving the largest number of votes will be selected. In the case of a tie, the President
shall have the casting vote.

b. Votes conducted by mail (whether by paper or electronic media) will only be considered
valid if at least one-tenth of the current members respond. The Council will communicate
the procedures for all such votes (deadline for voting, recipient of votes, person(s) who will
count the votes and procedure of announcing the result of voting) to the members in
advance. Any decisions shall be taken on the basis of the largest vote. That is, for
example, if more members vote in favour than against, then the decision will be in favour,
even if the combined number of those against and those abstaining is more than half of
those present. In the event of a tie, the President will make the casting vote.

Article 9: Non-profit-making character

a. PICS exclusively and directly pursues non-profit-making objectives.

b. Any funds must be used for the purposes of the Articles of the Society.

c. Any funds should be used for these purposes within a reasonable time period as proposed
by the Council and approved by the Annual General Meeting, allowing for the need to
maintain a reasonable reserve fund to protect the Society's interests and liquidity.

d. Members of PICS shall not receive any profit, shares or any other financial benefits from
the funds of PICS in their capacity as members, apart from travel expenses where this is
appropriate. If they cease to be members or if the Society is dissolved, membership
subscription fees previously paid shall not be reimbursed, and members shall not
otherwise be entitled to the assets of PICS. No person will be awarded administrative
expenses against activities other than those directly related to the business and objectives
of PICS, nor receive disproportionately high or unrelated remuneration of any other kind.

e. All officers of PICS work in an honorary capacity. Commercial business in their capacity as
officers of PICS is not permitted.

f. If PICS is dissolved, or if its purposes otherwise become invalid, all assets shall be
assigned to a similar body, which shall use them exclusively and directly for non-profit
making purposes. The decision regarding which body will be the recipient of these residual
assets will be decided by Council at the time.

Article 10: The Society's Website

The PICS Website (www.ukpics.org.uk) is owned and run by PICS. It is a vehicle of
communication for its members and as a showcase to other Societies and disciplines and to
the general public.

Administration:

a. The website is bound by the rules of this Constitution and responsible to PICS
through its Council.

b. The Webmasters who administer this Website are responsible to the PICS Council for
the administration and content of the site.

Subscription

Access to the 'Members Areas' of the Website will be open to members of PICS 'in good
standing' only and others at discretion of Council. Failure to pay PICS membership fees will
result in the administrators blocking that individual's access to the Members Areas.

Responsibility

Members who breach the rules of the Society laid out in the Constitution or who otherwise
bring the Society into disrepute via their conduct on the website will be denied further access
to the Members' Areas.

Article 11: Clinical Excellence Awards Sub-Committee

As part of the ACCEA initiative by the Department of Health, the society is able to support the
nomination of consultant members for national clinical excellence awards. As such the
society needs a sub-committee of consultant members who already hold awards and one
member without an award, with a chairman, to rank applicants.

The features of this committee will be:

• It should consist of 3-5 members, according to prevailing Department of Health
  guidance
• It should have a chairman whose tenure will be for no more than four years
• The chairman should be responsible for ensuring the appropriate procedures take
  place during the application and ranking process
• Members of the committee should be known to PICS members and should serve no
  more than four years and should not be applying for an award during their tenure
• Completion of an annual report to council
• Ensure Council is informed of changes in application process procedures.