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President's Report4 November 2002 Ladies and Gentlemen It is my pleasure to
present to you the Annual Report of the Medical Benevolent Association of New
South Wales for the year ending 30th June 2002. It is intended that
this report should be more than an accounting to the doctors of New South Wales
and the ACT for the activities of their Association and the Stewardship of the
funds entrusted to it. This report also allows a public restating
of the Association’s aims and methods. It is proper that these be publicised
and examined regularly, and that comment be invited, so that we can be sure that
our actions meet with the approval of those whom we represent. We have no right
to expect your continuing support if we have not invited your frank opinion of
what we are doing. WHAT WE ARE The Medical Benevolent
Association is an incorporated body with a Board of seventeen directors. Its aim is to provide assistance to needy
doctors and their families and anybody else in New South Wales and the ACT whom
the Board deems to be worthy of assistance under its constitution. We have a
License to Fundraise under the Charitable Fundraising Act, 1991. The Board is
responsible for a considerable sum of invested money which has come from
donations and bequests, with additional funds from investment. We operate and
report in accordance with the Corporations Act, 2001, and the Charitable
Fundraising Act, 1991. WHAT WE DO The Medical Benevolent Association exists
to alleviate suffering in doctors and their families. Around sixty years ago it
was realised
that it was necessary for a trained person to be interposed between the Board
and the beneficiaries because of the special skills needed the time demanded by
the work and the fact that many doctor beneficiaries were reluctant to reveal
their problems directly to other doctors. For the past thirty-eight years this
special role has been filled by Mrs Mary Doughty AM, a social worker of vast
wisdom and experience. Mrs Doughty
assesses the needs of potential beneficiaries and makes recommendations to the
Council which then decides what help is to be given. Increasingly in recent years, assistance is
non-financial. Mrs Doughty provides a great deal of tactful, confidential counselling.
This is done without trespassing on the areas properly reserved to treating
professionals. The Medical Benevolent Association believes
that it has an obligation to try to prevent or at least to mitigate the
circumstances that give rise to distress for doctors and their families. Mrs
Doughty takes every opportunity to speak to doctors and their spouses and to
medical organisations
about the pressures of professional life and how to cope with them. We continue
to distribute our brochure “Take Care”. Our very informative website remains
in service and, the last time I looked, it had been accessed almost one thousand
times. THE PAST YEAR At our latest annual
review of beneficiaries, two hundred and sixty three individuals were receiving
assistance from the Association. Sixty eight of these were doctors, one hundred
and fifty were adults, ninety seven were student dependents of doctors and
sixteen were preschoolers. Two trust funds were administered. Almost $225,000
was given to beneficiaries. I believe that we will be able to continue
to provide all necessary assistance to beneficiaries at the same level as in
recent years, for the foreseeable future. This presupposes that there is
reasonable stability in demand and the means available to satisfy it. Over the
fairly brief period from 1988 until 1996, beneficiary numbers more than doubled,
to 332 persons. In the six years since then they have stabilised
to a fairly narrow range in the mid to upper two hundreds. Expenditure on
beneficiaries is now less than what it was during the earlier dramatic growth
period. Over the past five years it has ranged from $225,000 to $254,000
annually. Over the last five years or so we have had an average annual surplus
of income over expenditure of $32,000. These are heartening
numbers but we are not complacent. Beneficiary numbers might return to their
previous rate of increase. The buoyant investment climate of recent years is now
no more. Individual donor numbers have dropped to half of what they were only
four years ago. Fortunately, the generosity of these individuals increased, so
that this year's annual appeal provided a healthy total. We are concerned about the shrinkage in our
donor base. An organisation
such as ours has only a few options for fundraising. We have been extremely
fortunate with a couple of large bequests in the past and we have taken measures
to raise the awareness of doctors to this method of giving. We are aware that
acquiring bequests is recognised as the most difficult area of fundraising for
charitable organisations. As ever, rigorous examination is applied to every item
of expenditure. THE FUTURE The Association is
planning for the future. Mrs Doughty has foreshadowed her retirement, probably
in 2004. Steps will be taken to ensure a smooth transition of her social work
responsibilities. We are already moving to assign her secretarial and
administrative responsibilities to a new employee who will be chosen soon. We
expect that employing a person who is trained for the administration role should
allow us to update our methods. We have been extremely fortunate to have Mrs
Doughty fill both the social worker and executive secretary positions for some
years but now we must face the reality that, in this increasingly regulated and
technological environment, it is too much to expect one person to have all the
varied skills needed for both jobs. There will be some additional expense
involved in these matters but overall the move is accepted as being a natural
and necessary evolution of the roles. I have to thank a
number of organisations and individuals for their wonderful contributions to our
work. 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 and organisations which are listed in our
annual report. The Association receives generous support from the NSW Branch of
the AMA which provides a meeting room and office facilities. An appeal for
donations to us is included with the annual membership renewal notices. We would
be much less efficient and economical without the AMA’s help. The NSW Medical Board
provides valuable help by making available its mailing list. We could not afford
the time and money to acquire and update our own list and they are very
expensive to buy. Our relationship with
the Board and the AMA in no way compromises the confidentiality which must be
paramount in our dealings with beneficiaries. The Honorary Treasurer’s report
will mention by name those professional firms which guide us in financial and
legal matters and on whom we directors rely so much. Mrs Doughty has served
the doctors of New South Wales and the ACT, and this Association, for yet
another year. She certainly isn’t planning retirement because of flagging
energy or diminishing skill. We are ever mindful of the debt owed to her
for her service above and beyond duty’s call. Last in order of
mention, but not in merit, are the members of the Council of the Association.
The wisdom they bring to our deliberations is essential to the Association’s
proper function. The responsibilities of a director of a public charity are
great. The Medical Benevolent Association is currently undergoing a major
revision of its administration, as well as planning for the replacement of the
social worker who has served it during its fourfold growth since 1964. This
requires directors to donate a great deal of time in addition to that which they
were already giving. The only reward they will have is the privilege of serving
their colleagues. I thank them for their generosity and all of you for your
support.
Richard Herlihy
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Appeal Expenses |
$21,404 |
Accountancy Fees |
$6,074 |
|
Auditor's Remuneration |
$3,360 |
Insurance - D&OLI/Worker's
Compensation |
$7,770 |
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Portfolio Management Fee |
$16,875 |
Social Worker's salary |
$63,912 |
Payments to beneficiaries were
$205,315 - down from $221,653 last year.
Obviously the difficult world market situation is of concern but we would hope for long term gains.
Continuing
effort is required to encourage our colleagues to donate and to consider the
Association in their Wills.
As for every year, we
thank Gary Scarr of Westpac Investment Management Limited, Dennis Mattiske and
Bill Nussbaum of HLB Mann Judd for their professional assistance and Mary
Doughty for her tireless service to the Association and its beneficiaries.
Mr President, I put
this report to you and move for its adoption.
Chris Dalton
Honorary Treasurer
November 2002
This year has
again been a busy one for the Association’s social worker. Although the amount
gifted to beneficiaries has dropped, the counselling role continues to grow.
A portion of this time
is spent in the telephone discussion with doctors and their families in regional
areas of NSW and the ACT and also with interstate calls where that State’s
Medical Benevolent Association does not have a social worker. On the other hand,
I do think that acceptance by the profession of impairment and illness has grown
and that, except in regional areas, many more doctors are prepared to accept
psychiatric care and counselling in their local area. I think this is a major
improvement in the medical attitude to illness of whatever kind.
In the regional areas
there continues to be a resistance to seeking help within the immediate
community and a great desire for confidentiality, especially where there is
impairment relating to either psychiatric illness or substance abuse.
The provision of a
confidential locality and the acceptance by medical colleagues that they have a
problem plays a major role in helping doctors and their families to unburden
themselves and look to the future.
Councillors are always
concerned about the needs of tertiary students and give as much help as they can
in that area. The aim is to help such students and their families to become
independent from the Association once they have obtained their degree or
completed their training and are in employment. There are one or two instances
of this in the current caseload.
Every opportunity to
speak with medical colleagues about the role of the Medical Benevolent
Association has been accepted. I recently attended the Fellows’ Day of the
Australian Society of Anaesthetists and the Dubbo Plains Division of General
Practice Seminar weekend. One of the anaesthetists made the telling remark that,
if you do not make time for family activities, they do not hate you - you become
irrelevant in their lives. After many years of saying much the same thing to
doctors, this remark made a great impact on me.
Mary Doughty AM
Social Worker/Executive Secretary
Copyright
© 1998-2004.
Medical Benevolent Association of New South Wales. All rights reserved.
Citation suggestion:
Medical Benevolent Association of NSW, Annual Report 2001-2 (http://www.dmh.org.au/mba/report_2002.htm)
[date accessed]
Last revised: 03 May 2004 05:17
