May 2003

Mission statement

The World Union of Wound Healing Societies encourages a global approach to education, research and health care delivery in order to achieve optimal outcomes for patients with wounds.

Specific goals
1. To improve patient centred care by encouraging global cooperation in wound healing clinical practice, education, research and delivery of wound care.
2. To encourage research into all aspects of wound healing by developing global cooperation between wound healing societies, governments, health agencies and industry.
3. To improve the clinical practice, delivery of treatment and outcomes in wound treatment by developing global policy and protocols that can be used by wound healing societies, governments, health agencies and industry.
4. To enhance education in wound healing by developing policy, programs and initiatives that can be used or adapted for use worldwide.

Principles of formation of the WUWHS

The following principles were agreed as important principles in the formation of the WUWHS
1. The WUWHS is an affiliation of existing societies and is not another society or association in its own right.
2. The activities of the WUWHS are open to any interested individuals and there is no direct ﾒmembershipﾓ of the WUWHS.
3. The WUWHS will address issues from a global perspective and will be complimentary rather than competing with the activities of existing societies.
4. The objectives of the WUWHS will be addressed by forming commissions to addresses issues from a global perspective, by facilitating World Wound Healing Congresses and by making information and outputs available to interested societies or individuals.

Structure

In order to coordinate and manage its activities, the WUWHS will have five Office Bearers and will have a Board.

Office Bearers

The Office Bearers will be

Chair - The Chair will be the convener or if that person is unable to accept the position, a representative of the society or societies that had been the host of the previous World Wound Healing Congress. The position will be held until the next World Congress.

Deputy Chair - The Deputy Chair will be the convener or if that person is unable to accept the position, a representative of the society or societies that will be the host for the next World Wound Healing Congress. The position will be held until the next World Congress and the handover will occur at that World Congress.

Secretaries - There will be two secretaries, one from the host society or societies of the Chair and one from the host society or societies of the Deputy Chair. They will act as joint secretaries, their positions will be confirmed at the Board meeting that is held at the World Congress. The positions will be held until the next World Congress.

Treasurer - The position of Treasurer will be determined by the Board at its meeting that is held at the World Congress. Expressions of interest for the position will be called before the meeting of the Board.

Board

The Board membership will comprise the Office Bearers of the WUWHS and two representatives of interested societies who wish to participate in the WUWHS. The societies should be formally set up and may be national or multinational societies. The Board will oversee and determine the activities of the WUWHS including the formation and activities of Commissions, the host societies and conveners for World Wound Healing Congresses, and other activities as deemed appropriate. A meeting of the Board will be held at each World Wound Healing Congress, and the objective would also be to have an annual meeting of the Board, which would most likely occur in conjunction with annual conference of one of the participating societies.

Finances

There will be no membership subscriptions to the WUWHS, and there will be no direct financial implications to existing societies. In order to conduct the activities of the Commissions or other activities of the WUWHS, funding may be sought from Governments, Health Agencies, Industry or other parties. These funds will be held in an account by the WUWHS and will be administered by the Treasurer. The account will ideally be set up in such a manner that it is regarded as not for profit and is therefore not subject to taxes.
The accounts will be audited annually and a statement of accounts will be presented to the Board on an annual basis, in accordance with good financial practice.

Funds that are raised for the activities of a specific Commission will be administered in a Separate ﾒcost centerﾓ within the account and will be available to that Commission. A record of costs and expenses for all such cost centers will be maintained by the Treasurer and will be included in the annual report to the Board. Any unexpended funds that remain in a cost center when a Commission has completed its activities may be used for other activities at the discretion of the Board.

Commissions

Commissions will be multinational, multidisciplinary working parties that will form from time to time as deemed appropriate by the Board of WUWHS.

The process for forming a Commission will be as outlined in this document and may be varied at the discretion of the Board.

The initial step in forming a Commission is the preparation of Terms of Reference of the proposed Commission. The Terms of reference will contain information that includes - Objectives and aims, method and timetable to achieve objectives, proposed outcomes, proposed membership and Chair, and an indication of any funding that will be needed and the proposed sources of that funding.

The Terms of Reference will be circulated to members of the Board for their comment, indication of level of support and suggestions for any other members. The terms of Reference will in most instances be circulated through the Newsletter, and comment from individuals will also be accepted. Comments will be directed to the proposed Chair of the Commission, who will then prepare a final version of the Terms of Reference for consideration by the Board. The timeframe for submission of the final document will be no less than 3 months from the submission of the initial Terms of Reference.
Indications of support will then be sought from the Board and a decision will be made regarding the formation of the Commission. Any dispute regarding decisions about formation of Commissions may be discussed at the annual meeting of the Board.

Commissions will be expected to provide regular reports of their activities for publication in the Newsletter of the WUWHS, and will be required to provide a report for the annual meeting of the Board. At the completion of its objectives a Commission will make its outputs available to the WUWHS. It may decide to formally complete its activities, or it may propose new aims and objectives that will then be submitted for consideration by the Board.

Commissions are expected to be active and working towards achieving their goals and objectives in a timely manner. Where there is no ongoing activity by a Commission over a period of 12 months, the Board may after discussion with the Chair of the Commission decide to suspend or disband the Commission, depending on the likelihood of future activity.

World Wound Healing Congress

World Wound Healing Congresses will be held every four years. The WUWHS Board will determine select both the Convener and the society or societies that will act as host of the World Congress. The selection will be made following a call for submissions of interest from societies to act as host. The call for submissions will be made prior to the preceding World Congress, and the decision will be made and announced at that Congress

The Chair of the WUWHS will call for submissions at least 6 months prior to the preceding World Congress. As a minimum the submissions will be required to contain the following information -
Proposed host society or societies
Proposed Convener
Planned dates, location and venue
Anticipated number of participants
Estimate of registration costs.
Additional information may be provided if this is available.

The society or societies will be given an opportunity to present their proposal to the WUWHS Board prior to the decision being made. The successful candidate will be asked to make a short presentation on the meeting prior to the close of the Congress.

About this document

The WUWHS Structure and Function document has been developed and refined from discussions at meeting of the WUWHS Board, that were held in September 2000, September 2001, and September 2002. This document represents the collective opinions expressed at those meetings. The document will continue to be modified as deemed appropriate by the Board of the WUWHS.

Michael Stacey

Chair
WUWHS
May, 2003