Update from the Chairman 23rd July 2021

23 July 2021

Dear Members

This message comes as a plea to all of you to help address some of the main comments/complaints which I am being contacted about on a regular basis.

Many members are concerned that open trials are being advertised on Facebook before they go on the ISDS website or advertised via national press. There is then the accusation (whether justified or not) that the entry is already full before the necessary official notification is given. It would alleviate this perception if organisers made sure that the official notification was posted before or at least simultaneously with the Facebook posts.

Members are also concerned about the backlog of work in the Society Office which currently runs at around five weeks. In a past update I indicated that a previous investigation into the backlog revealed that approximately 80% of the paperwork submitted to the office was incorrect and/or incomplete. This results in the staff member having to begin a process of investigation to ascertain the problem and then engage with the Member to correct the issues. Therefore 80% of processes are taking many hours of staff time and the reality is that this backlog is NOT GOING TO BE REDUCED WITHOUT YOUR HELP. This backlog affects all members and clearly we must cut the faulty submission rate to benefit all members.

A disturbing effect of the above issue is that the office staff are being subjected to unacceptable phone calls of an abusive nature from some members. This is clearly totally unacceptable and will not be tolerated. No matter how irate you are about delays, staff should not have to deal with any unpleasantness. Please be aware that all calls to the office are recorded and any inappropriate behaviour will be treated very seriously.

Kind Regards

Ian Fleming

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