UEMS Section of SurgeryUEMS Section of Surgery
The division of Breast Surgery is part of the UEMS Section of Surgery. This division operates in close collaboration with the European Society of Breast Cancer Specialists (EUSOMA) and the European Society of Surgical Oncology (ESSO). The UEMS Division of Breast Surgery advises on issues related to training and professional practice in breast surgery in Europe, for the benefit of training in breast surgery and patient care.
The main objective of the UEMS Division of Breast Surgery is to promote and support the highest standard of care in breast surgery in Europe through high quality education, training and accreditation. For this, the Division has a Curriculum and a Syllabus.
The knowledge of the breast surgeons is evaluated and certified via the European Board of Surgery Qualifications (EBSQ) examinations in Breast Surgery, organised by the Division (UEMS), which grants to the successful candidates the title of Fellow of the European Board of Surgery in Breast Surgery.
1. Introduction
The Division of Breast Surgery is part of the UEMS Section of Surgery. The Division operates in close collaboration with European Society of Breast Cancer Specialists (EUSOMA) and the European Society of Surgical Oncology (ESSO). The Division advises on issues related to training and professional practice in breast surgery in Europe, for the benefit of training in breast surgery and patient care.
2. Title
The Division will be known as the Division of Breast Surgery of the Section of Surgery of the UEMS.
3. Composition
3.1 The Division will include up to 2 representatives that is national delegates, from each country that is a member of the UEMS through its National Medical Association. The nomination has to be done following official communication of the relevant National Medical Association with the UEMS and as well as the Executive Committee of the Division. All competent national surgical societies involved in breast surgery in a certain country will be able to nominate, through the formal approval of their National Medical Association, national representatives to the Division of Breast Surgery. If there are more than two societies involved in breast surgery in a certain country the nominations can be done in rotation since each National Medical Association can nominate up to two representatives in the Division of Breast Surgery.
3.2 The Division will also have one representative from EUSOMA and one representative from ESSO, appointed by the EUSOMA and ESSO Boards. These ESSO and EUSOMA representatives will also be members of the Executive Committee of the Division, presenting the views of EUSOMA and ESSO to the Executive Committee and to the members of the Division and vice versa. They will also forward copies of the documents produced by the Division to the EUSOMA and ESSO Boards.
3.3 The tenure of the national representatives in the Division of Breast surgery (including the representatives of EUSOMA and ESSO) shall be for 4 years, renewable only once. Following completion of their term, the members of the Division and the representatives of EUSOMA and ESSO are responsible for ensuring their succession following consultation with their professional organisations and EUSOMA and ESSO respectively. This is to ensure proper representation of all countries and EUSOMA and ESSO at any given time.
3.4 The Division shall elect an Executive Committee from its members, which will include a President, a Vice President, a Secretary, a Webmaster, and a Treasurer. The representatives of EUSOMA and ESSO will also be ex-officio members of the Executive Committee, even if not contributing in the aforementioned positions
3.5 The tenures of the President, the Vice President, the Secretary, the Webmaster and the Treasurer will be for 4 years, renewable only once.
3.6 Election of Executive Committee members: The Secretary will notify members of the Division of an impending vacancy one year in advance and ask for nominations at the same time. Any nomination should be proposed and seconded by two members of the Division. The new Executive Committee members are elected in the meeting of the Division.
3.7 The President of the Division shall attend meetings of the Speciality Section of Surgery of the UEMS as ex-officio members. If the Chairman cannot attend the meeting, the Chairman can authorise any other member of the Executive Committee to represent the Division.
3.8 The Division may appoint working groups to prepare draft documents or recommendations on specific topics for consideration by the full Division.
3.9 Any examiner candidate must be nominated/proposed by at least one member of the executive committee and seconded by another member of the executive committee member. After an appropriate nomination, the candidate will only become an examiner after the approval of the executive committee.
4. Objectives
The main objective of the Division is to promote and support the highest standard of care in breast surgery in Europe through high quality education, training and accreditation. For this the Division has a Curriculum and a Syllabus. The knowledge of the breast surgeons is evaluated and certified via the European Board of Surgery Qualifications (EBSQ) examinations in breast surgery, organised by the Division.
5. Accountability
5.1 The Division of Breast Surgery shall report to the UEMS Management Council through the UEMS Section of Surgery.
5.2 Relations with any organisation or institution outside the UEMS shall be in accordance with the Rules of Procedure of the Division, the UEMS Section of Surgery and the UEMS.
6. Functioning
6.1 The Division shall have a meeting at least once per year. The date and place of the meeting is to be decided at the end of the previous meeting. Extraordinary meetings can be called by the Executive Committee or following the request of one or more members and approval by the Executive Committee. The minutes of all Division meetings shall be forwarded to the UEMS Section of Surgery.
6.2 Meetings shall be organised in such a way that will allow the maximum possible number of members to attend and to entail the minimum of expense.
6.3 Meetings may be attended by the President, the General Secretary of the UEMS or a nominated deputy who shall be a member of the Management Council. Meetings may also be attended by the President of the UEMS Section of Surgery or the President of the EBS or a nominated deputy who is a member of the Executive of the UEMS Section of Surgery. The Chairman of the Division of Breast Surgery should be informed beforehand in all cases.
6.4 The agenda shall consist of subjects proposed by the Executive Committee of the Division, the members of the Division, officers of the UEMS Section of Surgery, the President or the Secretary General of the UEMS.
6.5 The agenda shall be circulated to the members and the Secretary General of the UEMS, and the UEMS Section of Surgery at least 1 month before the meeting.
6.6 The minutes of the meetings shall be circulated to all members of the Division, the President and Secretary of the UEMS Section of Surgery, the General Secretary of the UEMS and the Management Council of the UEMS within 1 month of the meeting.
7. Financing
7.1 The Division is financed by the fees of the applicants for the two parts of the accreditation process: eligibility and examination.
The national representatives invited to contribute as EBSQ examiners, will have their travel, accommodation and other possible expenses reimbursed by their national organisations if they are not reimbursed by a third party, such as their hospital or university. When the Division meeting is organised separate from the EBSQ examination, the national organisations are responsible for their representatives’ travel and accommodation expenses.
The Division can be also be financed by any legal financial benefits for its contribution to various professional/ scientific activities (i.e. meetings, publications). The Division can accept legal public (i.e. EU bodies, national government bodies, professional/ scientific organisations) or private (i.e. gifts, contribution by the commercial sector) contributions/ donations. A financial contribution/ donation to the Division can only be accepted under the strict rule that is offered in order to help the Division to achieve its objectives and without any obligation of the Division towards the body(ies)/ organisation(s)/ person(s) offering the contribution/ donation.
7.2 The Division holds a bank account in Euros in Belgium under the UEMS account. The Treasurer and the Chairman are the 2 authorised users of the account. In order to facilitate international transactions, the account must have an International Bank Account Number. The Treasurer and the second nominated user of the account have to present at the annual meeting of the Division a signed report of the account as well as copies of the bank statements of the account. The Treasurer and the second nominated user must also forward each annual report to the Treasurer of the Section of Surgery of the UEMS.
8. Voting
8.1 Each national representative as well as each Executive Committee member including those representing EUSOMA or ESSO, has one vote.
8.2 The voting procedures are described in the articles 14,15,16 of the UEMS Rules of Procedure.
9. Organising the Division and its Executive Committee
The current Breast Surgery Working Group Executive Committee will be the first Executive Committee of the Division and should organise the election of the next Executive Committee according to 3.5-3.7 not later than within 3 years from upgrading from a Working Group to a Division.
10. Future Amendments
The Rules of Procedure as well as the Certification (Part 1-Eligibility, Part 2-Examination) Process can be amended following relevant suggestion by a member of the Division. The proposed amendment has to be approved by 2/3 (two thirds) of the national delegates which are represented at the time of the discussion of the amendment and providing that 50% +1 of the national delegates of the Division are present.
