Educational Event Endorsement

The UK and Ireland Neuroendocrine Tumour Society (UKI NETS) aims to promote research, education, training and best clinical practice across a multidisciplinary area in the field of endocrine tumours. UKI NETS has amongst its members leading endocrinologists, gastroenterologists, oncologists, surgeons, radiologists, nuclear medicine physicians and pathologists to promote multidisciplinary collaborations. The UKI NETs name is synonymous with commitment to educational excellence and a multidisciplinary approach – in practice this means ensuring that the UKI NETS name is used to the best overall advantage of the charity, while safeguarding against damage or loss of value.

Requests for endorsement and co-badging of meetings signifies a commitment on the part of the organisers to honour the aims and objectives of UKI NETS in terms of education and promotion of excellence in clinical care. In return, endorsement acts as a ‘kitemark’ of educational suitability for attendees interested in neuroendocrine tumours and provides the organisers with access to the UKI NETS membership and marketing channels (website, mailing list etc) to publicise their event.

It is in the interests of UKI NETS to endorse a range of educational events around several geographical regions in UK and Ireland. This will promote the development of a regional education and training structure and help disseminate and develop good practice. At present there is no fixed ‘ideal’ number of events that could be endorsed each year although this aspect of the policy will remain under close review.

It is important that UKI NETS has criteria and operational procedures in place that will ensure that the support that it provides is appropriate. This document will help you to determine whether your educational event is suitable for endorsement and gives details of the procedure that will be followed to grant that endorsement. Requests for endorsement should be made via the chair of UKI NETS in the first instance who will involve the education and training subcommittee as appropriate.

General Criteria

Requests for endorsement will only be considered if the following criteria are met:

  1. The proposed event fits within UKI NETS aims, policies, strategies and values as outlined on the UKI NETS website and in associated documentation
  2. The event must be relevant to a significant proportion of the Society’s membership or be in line with the UKI NETS charitable aims
  3. The event organisers should be able to demonstrate that the learning outcomes align with those of the UKI NETS education curriculum once this has been developed and publicised
  4. The event organisers must be able to demonstrate that the event was developed by an academic faculty without undue commercial / pharmaceutical influence
  5. The proposed event will meet a need that can be clearly identified and which will not conflict with any UKI NETS event. Consideration may need to be given not just to the event proposed but also to existing endorsed events in terms of balance of content, geographical location and other relevant aspects
  6. Members of UKI NETS and the general public will likely perceive the proposed event to confer an adequate level of public benefit
  7. The event is not likely to generate complaints or criticisms against UKI NETS
  8. UKI NETS will consider requests to endorse specific meetings or series of meetings – organisations as a whole would not usually be endorsed
  9. UKI NETS must have been approached early enough to have had input where necessary into the arrangement of the event or to have approved the proposed learning outcomes, content, presenters and / or programme. Therefore the meeting programme, including details of topics, speakers and sources of sponsorship must be made available for review. Endorsement will generally only be given after discussion by the relevant subcommittee (please note that committees convene 3-4 times per year)
  10. UKI NETS reserves the right to revoke endorsement

Procedures for endorsement of events

Only if the above criteria are met will UKI NETS proceed as follows:

  1. Details of the event will be reviewed by the education and training subcommittee who will decide whether the event should be endorsed
  2. If the event is repeated over a number of years, endorsement will need to be obtained annually
  3. UKI NETS will advertise the meeting accordingly

Additional notes

UKI NETS will not at this time:

  • Grant CME or CPD credits directly although these can be sought from other relevant bodies such as the RCP
  • Endorse existing award-bearing courses (professional or otherwise)
  • Sponsor meetings financially but for some meetings ( eg pathology) where external sponsorship may be difficult, then funding would be considered on application to the education committee chair.