It has been obvious that something has been going badly wrong with RCSLT since 2020. Not just from the evidence of self-flagellation in 2020 as part of BLM-derangement syndrome that swept the globe in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, then committing to EDI as the guiding force of the organisation, and on top of that the insidious influence of gender identity ideology.
"Inclusion" might be the current watchword but "engagement" and "accountability" have gone right down the pan.
At the 2022 AGM the outgoing Chair, Mary Heritage, said:
"Right back at the start of my term in early 2021 we held a mirror up to the RCSLT Board – in the form of a report from Kiki Maurey. She told us uncomfortable truths. The Board of RCSLT appears to its members as elitist, exclusive, old fashioned (fusty dusty, I think she said). Surely not us? Well yes, an uncomfortable message from our members. No wonder the Board membership had remained white and female and ‘mature’ for so long.
We acted fast – a 5-year vision, changes to the Memorandum and Articles, a new process of nomination and selections to replace elections, promoting diversity, a new Vision and a set of core Values that we hold one another to account for."
Worth mentioning that to produce her report Kiki Maurey interviewed only 19 RCSLT members, of whom only four were not Trustees or staff members. One of the interviewees is quoted as recommending that the then Board should be "less stuffy, dusty and remote". It is not mentioned whether this interviewee was a Board Member (Trustee), a member of staff or an "ordinary member".
So how has that "accountability" worked out? How enthusiastically did members embrace the opportunity to change things? How has the profile "at the top" changed?
RCSLT (96% female membership) has swapped CEO Kamini (ticks diversity box and is an SLT) and Chair Mary for CEO Steve (mature, white, male nurse) and Chair Sean (mature, white, male, queer).
Forgive me if I am less than impressed by this start at ensuring that the leadership of RCSLT is not only decidedly unrepresentative of the membership but that I am also expected to celebrate the replacement of mature females, "stuffy, dusty and remote" by nature apparently, with - what? Mature white males? Presumably "fresh, sparkling and approachable"? Really?
Including "queer" Sean, wearing his T-Shirt representing an organisation whose CEO has described lesbians as "sexual racists" and which demonises the vast majority of the population who recognise the reality of biological sex?
How are members responding to this more "approachable" Board?
The November 2021 AGM (Zoom) tabled a series resolutions proposing to dramatically alter the governance of RCSLT, as recommended by Kiki Maurey.
For example, to replace the democracy of elected representation with a Board comprised of appointees. These would be selected by a panel (The Nomination Committee?) whose membership would be appointed by Board, with the Board Chair also being the Chair of the Nomination Committee.
Despite this, the 2021 AGM was attended by a grand total of 36 "ordinary members" with voting rights. (Another 16 voting members were either Trustees or members of RCSLT staff.) This was down from 313 "ordinary members" with voting rights at the 2017 AGM in Glasgow.
In the figures below, "other RCSLT members with voting rights" means ordinary members with voting rights who were neither Trustees nor staff who were also RCSLT members:
2017 - Glasgow
313 other RCSLT members with voting rights attended
2018 - Cardiff
97 other RCSLT members with voting rights attended
2019 - Nottingham
230 other RCSLT members with voting rights attended
2020 - Zoom
70 other RCSLT members with voting rights attended
2021 - Zoom
36 other RCSLT members with voting rights attended
2022 - Zoom
20 other RCSLT members with voting rights attended
(Another 22 voting members were either Trustees or members of RCSLT staff)
So by the 2022 AGM the number of Trustees and Staff with voting rights outnumbered the "ordinary members" attending.
RCSLT 96% female membership has mutated from a democratic organisation run by its elected members into an organisation run by appointees with The Chair, a middle-aged white man, overseeing and gatekeeping. Alongside the new middle-aged white male CEO.
With that in mind, and everything in this article indicating that members are both unhappy with the current situation and cowed into submission by an oppressive culture, fear of censure by RCSLT and sanctions by HCPC, it is worth emphasising that membership of RCSLT is entirely voluntary.
The article states:
"Speech and language therapists can be members of any organisation they wish outside of HCPC and RCSLT"
The last two words should be omitted as the only requirement to practice is membership of HCPC.
As also mentioned, SLTs "usually join groups that help them with their continuous professional development or for peer support, to develop guidance in their area of specialism"
Non-members can subscribe to RCSLT Bulletin, SLT Services can subscribe to or may have access to Research Journals via employing organisations or local University Depts.
It is perfectly possible to keep up to date and fulfil the CPD requirements of HCPC registration without being a member of RCSLT.
Professional indemnity insurance can be bought from other agents.
"The majority of RCSLT’s income is generated through membership fees, which account for 82% of total income"
2022 AGM minutes
Just for comparison, the 2017 AGM minutes (attended by 313 ordinary members in Glasgow) and the 2022 AGM minutes (attended by 20 ordinary members on Zoom):
The remark from the religious woman is so troubling. The idea that small c conservatives are bigots is everywhere. People are too frightened to state views that were totally mainstream - or at least, not particularly controversial - only a few years ago. This is not what a liberal democracy looks like.
It has been obvious that something has been going badly wrong with RCSLT since 2020. Not just from the evidence of self-flagellation in 2020 as part of BLM-derangement syndrome that swept the globe in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, then committing to EDI as the guiding force of the organisation, and on top of that the insidious influence of gender identity ideology.
"Inclusion" might be the current watchword but "engagement" and "accountability" have gone right down the pan.
At the 2022 AGM the outgoing Chair, Mary Heritage, said:
"Right back at the start of my term in early 2021 we held a mirror up to the RCSLT Board – in the form of a report from Kiki Maurey. She told us uncomfortable truths. The Board of RCSLT appears to its members as elitist, exclusive, old fashioned (fusty dusty, I think she said). Surely not us? Well yes, an uncomfortable message from our members. No wonder the Board membership had remained white and female and ‘mature’ for so long.
We acted fast – a 5-year vision, changes to the Memorandum and Articles, a new process of nomination and selections to replace elections, promoting diversity, a new Vision and a set of core Values that we hold one another to account for."
Worth mentioning that to produce her report Kiki Maurey interviewed only 19 RCSLT members, of whom only four were not Trustees or staff members. One of the interviewees is quoted as recommending that the then Board should be "less stuffy, dusty and remote". It is not mentioned whether this interviewee was a Board Member (Trustee), a member of staff or an "ordinary member".
https://www.rcslt.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/RCSLT-Board-Report-March-2021-Kiki-Maurey.pdf
So how has that "accountability" worked out? How enthusiastically did members embrace the opportunity to change things? How has the profile "at the top" changed?
RCSLT (96% female membership) has swapped CEO Kamini (ticks diversity box and is an SLT) and Chair Mary for CEO Steve (mature, white, male nurse) and Chair Sean (mature, white, male, queer).
Forgive me if I am less than impressed by this start at ensuring that the leadership of RCSLT is not only decidedly unrepresentative of the membership but that I am also expected to celebrate the replacement of mature females, "stuffy, dusty and remote" by nature apparently, with - what? Mature white males? Presumably "fresh, sparkling and approachable"? Really?
Including "queer" Sean, wearing his T-Shirt representing an organisation whose CEO has described lesbians as "sexual racists" and which demonises the vast majority of the population who recognise the reality of biological sex?
How are members responding to this more "approachable" Board?
The November 2021 AGM (Zoom) tabled a series resolutions proposing to dramatically alter the governance of RCSLT, as recommended by Kiki Maurey.
https://www.rcslt.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/RCSLT-AGM-draft-minutes-Nov2021-amended-220322.pdf
For example, to replace the democracy of elected representation with a Board comprised of appointees. These would be selected by a panel (The Nomination Committee?) whose membership would be appointed by Board, with the Board Chair also being the Chair of the Nomination Committee.
Despite this, the 2021 AGM was attended by a grand total of 36 "ordinary members" with voting rights. (Another 16 voting members were either Trustees or members of RCSLT staff.) This was down from 313 "ordinary members" with voting rights at the 2017 AGM in Glasgow.
In the figures below, "other RCSLT members with voting rights" means ordinary members with voting rights who were neither Trustees nor staff who were also RCSLT members:
2017 - Glasgow
313 other RCSLT members with voting rights attended
2018 - Cardiff
97 other RCSLT members with voting rights attended
2019 - Nottingham
230 other RCSLT members with voting rights attended
2020 - Zoom
70 other RCSLT members with voting rights attended
2021 - Zoom
36 other RCSLT members with voting rights attended
2022 - Zoom
20 other RCSLT members with voting rights attended
(Another 22 voting members were either Trustees or members of RCSLT staff)
So by the 2022 AGM the number of Trustees and Staff with voting rights outnumbered the "ordinary members" attending.
RCSLT 96% female membership has mutated from a democratic organisation run by its elected members into an organisation run by appointees with The Chair, a middle-aged white man, overseeing and gatekeeping. Alongside the new middle-aged white male CEO.
https://www.rcslt.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Nominations-Committee-Terms-of-reference-4-Mar-2022.pdf
Thanks for nothing, Kiki.
With that in mind, and everything in this article indicating that members are both unhappy with the current situation and cowed into submission by an oppressive culture, fear of censure by RCSLT and sanctions by HCPC, it is worth emphasising that membership of RCSLT is entirely voluntary.
The article states:
"Speech and language therapists can be members of any organisation they wish outside of HCPC and RCSLT"
The last two words should be omitted as the only requirement to practice is membership of HCPC.
As also mentioned, SLTs "usually join groups that help them with their continuous professional development or for peer support, to develop guidance in their area of specialism"
Non-members can subscribe to RCSLT Bulletin, SLT Services can subscribe to or may have access to Research Journals via employing organisations or local University Depts.
It is perfectly possible to keep up to date and fulfil the CPD requirements of HCPC registration without being a member of RCSLT.
Professional indemnity insurance can be bought from other agents.
"The majority of RCSLT’s income is generated through membership fees, which account for 82% of total income"
2022 AGM minutes
Just for comparison, the 2017 AGM minutes (attended by 313 ordinary members in Glasgow) and the 2022 AGM minutes (attended by 20 ordinary members on Zoom):
2017 AGM - Glasgow - 313 members
https://www.rcslt.org/wp-content/uploads/media/Project/Governance-documents/agm-minutes-2017.pdf
2022 AGM - Zoom - 20 members
https://www.rcslt.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/AGM-OCT-2022_Minutes-for-acceptance-at-2023-AGM_DRAFT.pdf
I hope RCSLT members subscribe to your Substack, Preston.
Far as I can see, he's only mentioned Lesbians once on twitter, and that's when he thought he might get brownie points for doing so.
https://twitter.com/SeanPert/status/1518864243751325697
The remark from the religious woman is so troubling. The idea that small c conservatives are bigots is everywhere. People are too frightened to state views that were totally mainstream - or at least, not particularly controversial - only a few years ago. This is not what a liberal democracy looks like.