12 May 2021
Graham Lee provides the latest update from the Health and Care board.
The Health and Care board met on 22 April and, while we move towards the end of the session, the overriding feel from the meeting was a focus on looking to the future. Naturally we continue to progress and receive updates on some of the usual suspects, including:
- The developing engagement plan with the Sustainability Board,
- The heroic level of output coming from the Research sub-committee.
But we were also able to devote a fair amount of time to, as chair of the Life Long Learning sub-committee, my favourite topic of conversation – the future of how we deliver CPD. The pandemic has thrown the traditional way of delivering this up into the air and, while the thoughts this time last year may have been “we’ll just go back to normal”, it’s clear that there’s a desire within the Health and Care Board – and across the whole of the IFoA – that we shouldn’t just fall back into that without proper thought. An openness to explore different options around our CPD offering is going to be key, and as always, we will be looking to our members to help shape this.
As well as the future of CPD, we haven’t forgotten about the present – with two health and care sessions delivered so far this year, updates as part of the Actuarial Innovation in the Covid-19 Era, and our May session open for booking. We are looking to deliver monthly webinars throughout 2021, and the call for speakers is currently open for sessions to be run as we enter the second half of the year.
I mentioned the Research sub-committee in passing, but a single line just doesn’t do the job. We have seen:
- The Product Research Group, and the cross-practice Changing Nature of Employment and Product Development working party both nearing the publication of their final findings
- The Mental Illness cross-practice working party, only set up in December, delivering the March webinar session
- The Diabetes working party preparing to release a summary of exciting research into Covid-19 and Diabetes
And these are just the ones reaching a delivery point, with several more currently active or with terms of reference being finalised.
To help us maintain momentum we’re looking to trail the use of a volunteer community group. This will be a group that we engage with regularly and who we’ll turn to first when a new working party is established or other opportunities present themselves. Watch this space as this will be launched shortly.
If this has helped whet your appetite for the work of the Health and Care board, and you’d like to know more, Chris Reynolds’ piece in the latest edition of The Actuary is a great summary of everything we do.