Dear ESTD-UK members and supporters,
I am happy to to update you on recent developments concerning the ESTD-UK Steering Committee and the wider association.
Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM)
You may recall that an Extraordinary General Meeting was scheduled for February. This was postponed after two UK-based members of ESTD, Samantha Merry and Juline Mauger, came forward to offer support. They brought with them a proposed Transition Plan they had written to address the issues that prompted the EGM.
Steering Committee Membership
We’re pleased to let you know that Samantha and Juline have now formally joined the Steering Committee. They have taken on administrative roles, including supporting office-holding committee members (such as the Chair and Treasurer). This will help ensure that responsibilities and knowledge are distributed more widely among Committee members, ensuring continuity through any future changes.
I should tell you also that Kathryn Livingston has now stepped down as our paid administrator. We are grateful for all she has done and for her valuable input in the history of ESTD-UK.
Transition Plan
The Committee has now formally adopted the Transition Plan. The immediate priority is to stabilise and strengthen our governance arrangements. Meaningful progress is being made behind the scenes, but this will take some time to implement. In these initial stages, we appreciate your patience and will share more detail in upcoming communications.
Looking Ahead
Moving forwards, the Steering Committee is committed to ensuring that all major decisions are made in consultation with ESTD-UK members. Two key areas of focus will be renewing the vision for the association going forward; and the mechanism for ensuring that we continue to have the highest possible level of clinical expertise and input to the Committee. And once we have sorted out the basics in the Transition Plan, we will be inviting additional members to join the Committee to help fill specific skills gaps.
Communicating with you
For now, we ask that you kindly hold off on sending us suggestions or proposals. There will be opportunities to engage more fully soon. In the meantime, our ESTD-UK website is now up and running once again: we hope to revamp it in the not too distant future. We now also have an ESTD-UK page on LinkedIn. Please do ‘follow’ us, both for info that may be of interest and because growing our network there will help to promote our shared interests.
We hope you will be with us for this next chapter in ESTD-UK’s history. Thank you for your ongoing support!
Wanda Dobson,
Chair of ESTD-UK Steering Committee
April 2025