5 November
2001
Ladies
and Gentlemen
It
is my pleasure to present to you the annual report of the Medical Benevolent
Association of NSW for the year ending 30 June 2001.
The
annual overview of the business of the Medical Benevolent Association always
fills me with respect and gratitude for the foresight and wisdom of the
Councillors of bygone years. This
Association is not the sort of charity that just distributes money and material
goods to the needy. Referrals due
to psychiatric illness have increased seven-fold in recent years. More
and more medical organisations and individual doctors are referring distressed
colleagues to our counselling service. Our
social worker spends an increasing amount of her time as a confidential
counsellor within the bounds of her profession. Sixty
years ago our predecessors on this Council saw this need and employed a
part-time almoner. We have now had
a full-time social worker for thirty-seven years. Without
the foresight of previous Councillors the Association today would not be able to
meet the great need of the profession for a skilled, confidential counselling
service as well as financial help.
Previous
Councils of the Medical Benevolent Association also worked hard to accumulate
and preserve our financial reserves. This
year saw a 31% decrease in our donation income. This led to our first annual loss since the very small deficit
of 1997 but we are not complacent about it. Opportunities to increase our income are discussed at every
meeting. We could not be more
vigilant in controlling our expenditure. Thanks
to the wisdom and planning of previous Councils and the generosity of
benefactors our work can continue without any letting up.
At
the end of June this year two hundred and eighty-four individuals were receiving
assistance from the Medical Benevolent Association. Eighty-five
of these were doctors. One hundred
and sixty-three beneficiaries were adults, one hundred and four were student
dependents of doctors and seventeen were pre-schoolers. We
administer two trust funds.
The
Medical Benevolent Association would be remiss if after 105 years of development
all it did was to apply dressings to the financial and emotional wounds of
beneficiaries. A great deal of our
energy and money is devoted to prevention. It is very gratifying to see medical organisations, individual
doctors, the Medical Board of NSW and the Doctors Health Advisory Service of NSW
refer doctors for counselling at a stage when prompt action can keep them
working, save their marriages and help many of them cope with pressures that
would otherwise overwhelm them. This
truly is great work on behalf of the medical family of New South Wales and the
ACT. It is appropriate here for me,
on behalf of the Medical Benevolent Association, to thank Mrs Mary Doughty AM
for her unceasing dedication and skill in providing this counselling service as
well as performing her increasingly complex role of Executive Secretary.
The
Medical Benevolent Association is completely comfortable with the modus operandi
it has developed, namely to provide assistance to beneficiaries via a social
worker. We plan to continue this
successful formula.
The
Association's commitment to prevention is also expressed in the distribution of
over 20,000 copies of an updated version of our Take Care brochure this year. We
publicise our informative and attractive website and continue our support of the
Doctors' Mental Health Implementation Committee. Mrs
Doughty takes every opportunity to speak to professional groups about our work. We
maintain great interest in and admiration for the work of the Doctors Health
Advisory Service of NSW and encourage them to refer doctors to us. The
Association supports Mrs Doughty in her regular attendance at educational and
skills development programs.
The
wise decisions taken by previous Councillors include their choice of
professional advisers. Dr Wines
will mention these by name in his Treasurer's Report. I would like to make particular reference to the contribution
of Mr Mark Kelly of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu. The Medical Benevolent Association has onerous obligations
under the corporations law, Charitable Fundraising Act and tax legislation. For
some years Mark has provided us with untold hours of unpaid professional counsel
on these matters. His advice has
been vital to the preservation of our Authority to fundraise. Mark
has been a true friend to the Association and the medical profession and we wish
him success and happiness in the new professional direction he has chosen.
The
Association continues to receive generous support from the NSW Branch of the AMA.
They include an appeal for
donations to us with their annual membership renewal notices. They
provide a meeting room and office facilities. It
would be very difficult for the Association to function efficiently and
economically without the AMA's help.
The
NSW Medical Board also provides valuable help to the Medical Benevolent
Association by provision of its mailing list. Our relationship with the Board and the AMA in no way
compromises the confidentiality which must always be paramount in our dealings
with beneficiaries. We are deeply
appreciative of the generosity of our donors. They provide the means by which we meet our beneficiaries'
needs. They include many
individuals as well as the groups, associations and organisations which are
listed in our annual report.
I
also give my thanks to the Executive and Directors of the Association. The
Association cannot function without their time and wisdom. Their
contribution costs them time away from their practices and families. They
carry great responsibility in the governance of a public charity and the
stewardship of a venerable organisation that must be preserved for future
generations. Particular mention must be made of three Councillors who have
each given more than twenty years of service to the Association. I
refer to Doctors Joy Vautin, John Newlinds and Peter Duke. As
a psychiatrist, Joy has been a particularly valuable resource person and has
given many hours of her time to liaising with treating psychiatrists on behalf
of beneficiaries. She was also a
valued member of the DHAS panel during its formative years. John Newlinds took
on extra responsibility as Honorary Treasurer within his second year as a
Councillor and retained this position for ten years before serving as President
for five years until 1996. I am
privileged to be associated with such men and women in the service of our
colleagues and their families.
Richard
Herlihy
President
5 November
2001
Mr
President, Ladies and Gentlemen
I
have pleasure in presenting the audited financial statements for the financial
year ended 30 June 2001.
The
past financial year proved a difficult one for the Association. We ended the year with a loss of
$31,889 compared with a profit of $38,024 the previous year. However,
around $20,000 of this loss was due to a substantial part of our social worker's
salary for June 2000 and the mailing expenses for the June 2000 appeal being
accounted for in July 2000. The
final result was greatly assisted by the refund of $21,239 for imputation
credits from our shares.
The
main cause of the loss, apart from the accounting anomaly, was a 31% reduction
in donation income. The two appeals
of the previous financial year provided $56,290 (57%) more than the single
appeal of this financial year. We
are considering reinstitution of the Christmas appeal for 2002. Donations from supporting organisations were down by $9,602
(24%). Income from our investment
portfolio was unchanged except for the refund of imputation credits.
Payments
to beneficiaries decreased from $247,973 to $221,653. Other
expenses included:
Appeal
Expenses of $33,100 ($12,850 from the previous financial year)
Accountancy Fees of $5,812
Auditor's Remuneration of $2,400
Insurance of $6,022 (Directors/Officers Liability & Worker's Compensation)
Portfolio Management Fee of $18,401
Printing/Stationery/Publications of $9,729 (including the Take Care Brochure)
Social Worker's Wages/Expenses of $74,375 (of which $6,798 were for the
previous financial year. Actual
wages/expenses for the Social Worker this year were $67,577)
The
Annualised Rate of Return on our Investment Portfolio with Westpac Investment
Management Limited was Income 5.3% and Growth 5.66% - a total of 10.96%.
The
overall economic environment presents bodies such as the Medical Benevolent
Association of NSW with ongoing difficulties when planning for future
commitments and liabilities. Donations
received satisfy only part of the continuing monetary requirements of
beneficiaries. We must persist in
our efforts to increase our financial reserves so that we can continue our level
of activity in spite of increasing demands for our services and the expected
adverse investment environment.
While one's
own family and its dependents must take priority, those with considerable assets
and others without family commitments could give consideration to making a
codicil to their Will (see the Take Care Brochure distributed with the Annual
Appeal letter or www.mbansw.org.au).
We
owe a great debt of thanks to Gary Scarr of Westpac Investment Management
Limited, to Dennis Mattiske/Bill Nussbaum of HLB Mann Judd and to Mark Kelly of
Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu for their professional assistance to me and the
Association during the year.
Mary
Doughty continues to serve the Profession, our Beneficiaries and the Association
with great skill, enthusiasm and compassion.
Mr
President, I put this report to you and move its adoption.
Robert Wines
Honorary Treasurer
5 November
2001
Each
year, at this time, the MBA does a review of all its beneficiaries. In this way it is possible to look at the needs of each
person, both the financial assistance and the counselling support given. Of the 161 family units currently being assisted, 62 units are new
referrals.
As I
look at these cases, I note that the role of the MBA’s social worker as a
confidential counsellor grows every year; sometimes
this takes the form of an in-depth telephone discussion about the problem, after
which the caller decides he/she can manage the situation and does not need
follow-up. However, where possible,
I take a telephone number and make a follow-up call at a later date to make sure
that the problem has been resolved or is, at least, under control. More often the person wants a face-to-face discussion on a continuing
basis and often this leads to a referral to a psychiatrist for medical
supervision.
I am
sure that the reputation of the MBA as a confidential counselling service is now
well known and accepted by the medical community. Thanks to Evan Rawstron/ Alison Reld/ Anne Scahill, the referrals from
the NSW Medical Board have increased and have been good referrals. As always, there is an upsurge of calls after the annual appeal letter is
mailed - usually from doctors themselves. There
have been some referrals from the DHAS (NSW) in the past few months but the
percentage is very small when compared with the total number of calls to the
Service.
I
have continued to have worthwhile discussions with the Victorian MBA and that
body is now making much more use of its social worker. The Queensland MBA has indicated that it sees any counselling role as
belonging to the DHAS in Queensland and, under its constitution, it cannot help
where the spouse/family is separated from the doctor.
Since
the MBA of NSW's telephone number has appeared in some of the national medical
publications, there have been occasional interstate enquiries, which have been
dealt with by telephone advice. I
would like to say how important I think it is that the MBA of NSW has generously
accepted this advisory role.
I
have attended workshops/seminars as part of my continuing education. I
recently attended the national social work conference in Melbourne and, earlier
in the year, some important Branch discussions about the future of the AASW. These meetings always
provide the
opportunity to talk about the work of the MBA in NSW, as well as to discuss
ideas and working methods with other social workers. It
is interesting that no social worker in the other states is aware of the
existence of an MBA in that state but is aware of the pressures facing the
medical profession.
The
Divisions of General Practice are showing considerable interest in the
Association's work and have made several referrals. Some
of their Newsletters now carry the MBA’s telephone number on a regular basis,
as does NSW Doctor, RAGGP (NSW) Newsletter and the Medical Observer.
In
June of this year, I was guest speaker at a luncheon for the Order of Australia
Association and was asked to speak about the work of the MBA of NSW. Travelling around NSW is providing an excellent opportunity to
speak about the latter and the role of social workers in general.
I
want so say thank you to all the staff of the NSW Branch of the AMA who are most
generous with help and advice and always make me feel most welcome. I would like to pay tribute to the Councillors of the MBA who
give so generously of their time and advice and are completely non-judgemental
in their discussions about the beneficiaries.
Mary
Doughty AM
Social
Worker/Executive Secretary
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Medical Benevolent Association of New South Wales. All rights reserved.
Citation suggestion:
Medical Benevolent Association of NSW, Annual Report 2000-1 (http://www.dmh.org.au/mba/report_2001.htm)
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Last revised: 03 May 2004 05:24
