Welsh Springer Spaniels Australia

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Health Issue Policy

                                                                                          WELSH SPRINGER SPANIEL CLUB of NSW 

HEALTH ISSUES POLICY

2009 

CONTENTS.

 

1. Preamble    

2. Committee Members  

3. The Health Issues Committee 

    3.1 Composition of the Committee 

    3.2 Convenor & Vice Convenor Duties  

    3.3   Committee Member Duties     

    3.4 Term of Service on Health Issues Committee     

             3.4.1   Committee Members   

             3.4.2   Convenor                    

    3.5   Frequency of Meetings          

 

1. PREAMBLE   

At the General Meeting of the WSSC of NSW held following the Championship Show on Easter Sunday 12/4/2009 at Erskine Park, a discussion was held on Health Issues by all present. Following this, a committee was elected (a) to review the position of Health Issues in the Welsh Springer Spaniel within Australia, (b) to come up with a list of recommendations for appropriate health tests to be carried out by Australian breeders of the Welsh Springer Spaniel, (c) to make recommendations for any restrictions the club should require from its breeder members and (d) to constantly review these recommendations by accessing and discussing any new information, tests or technologies which become available in the future.

The committee would have a convenor to arrange meetings, access and circulate information, request and co-ordinate recommendations from committee meetings.

 

2. COMMITTEE MEMBERS ( 2009 ). 

(alphabetically)

CORNISH, Bruce (Qld)

CROZIER, Sylvia (NSW)

ELLIS, Robyn (Tas)

GILBERT, Kylie (Vic)

MARSCHALL, Beth (S.A)

MEAGHER, Debbie (NSW)

 

Convenor :

CROZIER, Bill (NSW)

Vice-Convenor:

CORNISH, Bruce (Qld)

 

3. THE HEALTH ISSUES COMMITTEE

3.1 Composition of the Committee.

There are presently 2 clubs in Australia specifically representing the Welsh Springer Spaniel. They are (1) the Welsh Springer Spaniel Club of NSW and (2) the Welsh Springer Spaniel Social Club of South Australia Inc.

The WSSC of NSW is the only Affiliated club of the two, holding Affiliation with Dog NSW.

It would be an ideal situation if there were several affiliated Welsh Springer Spaniel clubs situated around the various states of Australia. Every state club would then have representation on the Health Committee, such as occurs in the U.K situation. However, there are insufficient breeders and owners of Welsh Springer Spaniels who are also ANKC members in the various states to accommodate this situation.

The best alternative is to have members of the WSSC of NSW, who are resident in various Australian states and who are also financial members of their own state bodies. This was deemed by the club meeting to give acceptable state representation.

The extra committee representative from NSW follows U.K convention, since NSW is the state of affiliation of the club.

 

3.2 Convenor and Vice-Convenor Duties.

The Convenor of the Committee will have the following duties :

(i) to convene meetings of the committee;

(ii) to chair those meetings;

(iii) to arrange for minutes to be taken;

(iv) to co-ordinate the recommendations of the committee and present those recommendations in a suitable form;

(v) to contact other similar Health Issues groups to gain and share information;

(vi) to access materials on Health Issues and send to committee members;

(vii) to update the club Health Issues Policy document, whenever appropriate;

Additionally, the convenor will not vote on any issues, but may take part in any discussions, with the exception of any “tied vote” situation where the convenor may exercise his/her casting-vote.

A Vice-Convenor will be chosen. Their role will be to carry out the above-listed convenor’s duties should illness, death, misadventure, or some other circumstance prevent the originally-chosen convenor from continuing in this role.

 

3.3 Committee Members’ Duties.

It is the duty of all chosen committee members :

(i) to evaluate all Health Issues material sent to them; if necessary, to access any further material to assist in this evaluation;

(ii) to return an answer, or vote on any issue with minimum delay to the convenor;

(iii) to refrain from publicly discussing information of a private or unauthorised nature;

(iv) to come up with guidelines for club members for the breeding of sound, health Welsh Springer Spaniels free from hereditary diseases;

(v) to ultimately formulate, maintain and update as necessary, a Health Issues Policy for the club.

 

3.4 Term of Service on Health Issues Committee

3.4.1 Members of the Committee.

(i) A member of the committee would be expected to serve for a term of 3 years, whereupon they may accept renomination for further term(s);

(ii) If, for any reason, a committee member resigns during this 3 year term, or ceases to remain a financial member of the WSSC of NSW, or of their state control body,

they will be replaced by another financial member (of both the club & the state control body) nominated by members present at the next general meeting of the club;

(iii) If, for reasons of insufficient time before the committee member would have served the 3 year term, a replacement committee member cannot be replaced, the reduced committee will still continue to function until the term expires.

 

3.4.2 Convenor of the Committee.

(i) would be expected to serve for the 3 year term of the committee;

(ii) to ensure equity, the convenor of the committee should be chosen from club membership in different states each term, wherever practicable;

(iii) in the event of the convenor being unable, for whatever reason, to continue in this position, the position and duties of convenor would be carried out by the vice-convenor for the remainder of the 3 year term of the committee.

 

3.5 Frequency of Meetings of the Committee.

Because committee members are widely dispersed throughout Australia, it is impracticable to have frequent face-to-face meetings of all members. It will be sufficient for the committee to interchange ideas and discussion via electronic, telephone and postal means.

It would be expected that a formal meeting would be held at least every 3 years to allow club members to nominate and vote in the Health Issues Committee at a General Meeting of the club, preferably one where a maximum attendance would result, such as the one following the Easter championship show.

The convenor will require committee members to indicate their recommendation or vote on a specific issue from time to time, however a response by electronic or postal mail would be sufficient in such a case.