2010 Annual Report - Association of Surgeons of Great Britain and
Transcription
2010 Annual Report - Association of Surgeons of Great Britain and
2010 ANNUAL REPORT Association of Surgeons of Great Britain and Ireland Association of Surgeons of Great Britain and Ireland 2010 ANNUAL REPORT CONTENTS page Welcome from the President, Professor John MacFie 2 Document A AGM Agenda 4 Document B Minutes of the 90th Anniversary AGM held on Thursday 15th April 2010 11 Document C President’s letter to all ASGBI Fellows, February 2011 19 Document D Election of Fellows 24 Document E Citations for Honorary Fellowship in support of: • Surgeon Vice Admiral Philip Raffaelli • Mr Keith Rowland • Mr Philip Truskett 29 Document F Summarised preliminary Financial Statements to 31st December 2010 32 Document G Report from the Education and Training Board 33 Document H Report from the Scientific Committee 34 Document I Report from the International Development Committee 35 Document J Report from the Nominations Committee 36 Document K Report from Website Management Group 37 Document L Report from the UEMS Monospecialist Committee in General Surgery 38 Document M Report from the Federation of Surgical Specialty Associations 39 Document N Report from the SAC in General Surgery 40 Document O Report from CORESS 41 Document P Report from The Surgical Foundation 42 1 WELCOME FROM THE PRESIDENT Welcome to the Association’s 2010 Annual Report. The 2011 AGM marks an historic milestone: ASGBI is embracing the modern electronic age! We have developed an “app” for use with smart phones, which will be operational from May this year. We will continue to develop Surgical TV at the Bournemouth Congress. We hope that our newsSCANNER epublication, which goes out on the first Friday of every month, will be welcomed and valued by our members. Many of our papers, such as those apposite to this year’s AGB will no longer be circulated as hard copy, but will be available on the website. We have streamlined submission and review of abstracts and e-publication, through the BJS, of accepted abstracts. Lastly, and most importantly, our website under the direction of Nick Markham and Emmanuel has had a major revamp. It is now extremely user friendly. Take a look. All ASGBI publications, such as the Newsletter and the Issues in Professional Practice booklets, are available there. The success of this website is manifest by the fact that we occasionally receive up to 250,000 hits per month. We have truly entered the electronic age! 2010 saw a very successful 90th Anniversary Congress in Liverpool with over 1,000 delegates despite volcanic ash and a global economic recession. We hope for even more registrants for 2011 in Bournemouth. Our modest financial operating surplus as a membership company is gradually growing and, as such, our ability to provide tangible membership benefits will increase. For details, please see my letter which was sent out to all Fellows in February 2011, attached as Document C. With our new status as a membership company, we are able to forge exciting and mutually beneficial links with a wide range of Academic Partners, Professional Partners, Commercial Partners and Charity Partners to compliment the positive and important relationships we have with the healthcare industry through our Corporate Patrons; we are most grateful to them all for their on-going support. 2 So much positive activity, across so many fronts, would not be possible without the input of a large number of people, and I would like to conclude by thanking, most sincerely, the Executive Board, Council, members of all our committees and the Association’s dedicated team of staff for their immense contributions during 2010. ASGBI is in extremely good health, and as relevant, exciting and st innovative for 21 Century Surgery as when the Association was founded in 1920! Professor John MacFie President INTERNATIONAL SURGICAL CONGRESS of the Association of Surgeons of Great Britain and Ireland Wednesday 11th to Friday 13th May 2011 Bournemouth International Centre 3 Document A Association of Surgeons of Great Britain and Ireland 2011 ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING 8.00am to 9.00am, Friday 13th May 2011 Tregonwell Hall, Bournemouth International Centre AGENDA Document 1. WELCOME FROM THE PRESIDENT Introductory remarks from the President, Professor John MacFie Fellows present are asked to declare any conflicts of interests or loyalties. PART I: 2. REPORT FROM THE PREVIOUS YEAR DEATHS To record, with deep regret, the deaths during the past year of the following Fellows: Major General N C Rogers Mr R C Shepherd Mr H I Tankel Mr S W Hosking Mr M Abdel-Fattah 3. Kidlington Wareham Glasgow Poole Dunfermline MINUTES OF THE PREVIOUS ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING Doc B To receive the Minutes of the AGM held in Liverpool on Thursday 15th April 2010 PART II: 4. ASGBI MEMBERSHIP COMPANY PRESIDENT’S REPORT Doc C 4 5. HONORARY OFFICERS AND MEMBERS OF COUNCIL 5.1 Appointment of Officers to the Executive Board To note that the following Officers have been appointed to the Executive Board of Directors: Professor J N Primrose Mr H Ghadially Mr I Anderson Mr D Baker 5.2 Vice President (2011 and 2012) Lay Finance Director Director of Emergency General Surgery Honorary Editorial Secretary Officers demitting from the Executive Board To note that the following Honorary Officers are demitting office, at the conclusion of their term: Mr M G Wyatt Mr E Kiff 5.3 Honorary Editorial Secretary Honorary Membership Secretary Members of Council demitting office To note that the following Members of Council are demitting office, at the conclusion of their term: Mr R Bliss Mr K Mitchell 5.4 Northern Scotland Members appointed or elected to Council To note that the following have been appointed or elected to Council: Mr F C T Smith President President President President 6. CORESS Programme Director Association of Surgeons in Primary Care British Association of Day Surgery British Association of Surgical Oncology British Hernia Society ELECTION OF FELLOWS Doc D To approve the election of the following as Fellows of the Association: 6.1 Full Fellows 6.2 1st Year Consultant Fellows 6.3 Associate Fellows 6.4 Affiliate Fellows 6.5 Corresponding Fellows 6.6 Non General Surgical/Related Fellows 5 7. NOMINATIONS FOR HONORARY FELLOWSHIP Doc E To note the conferment of an Honorary Fellowship on: Surgeon Vice Admiral Philip Raffaelli Mr Philip Truskett Mr Keith Rowland 8. DESIGNATED SOCIETIES To note the conferment of Designated Society status upon the Swedish Surgical Society 9. 10. HONORARY TREASURER’S REPORT 9.1 Preliminary Financial Statements for 2010 9.2 To approve Ford Bentall LLP as the Association’s Auditors for 2011 9.3 Subscriptions for 2012 Doc F HONORARY SECRETARY’S REPORT 10.1 To confirm the appointment of the following for a further year: President: Vice President: Honorary Secretary: Honorary Treasurer: Director of the Scientific Programme: Director of Emergency General Surgery: Director of Informatics: Lay Finance Director: 10.2 Professor John MacFie Professor John Primrose Mr John Moorehead Mr Paul H Rowe Professor Lord Ajay K Kakkar Mr Iain Anderson Mr Nicholas I Markham Mr Hoshang Ghadially Reconfiguration of the Executive Board To note that the roles and responsibilities of members of the Executive Board have been revised to reflect the status of the Association as a membership company, and that the new reconfiguration of the Executive Board would now be as follows: President Vice President Honorary Secretary Honorary Treasurer Director of Education Director of the Scientific Programme Director of Informatics Honorary Editorial Secretary Honorary Membership Secretary Lay Finance Director Chief Executive 6 President Vice President and Director of the Scientific Programme Director of Operations and Company Secretary Director of Education Director of External Affairs Director of Informatics Director of Communications Director of Professional Practice Director of Emergency General Surgery Director of Finance Chief Executive 10.3 Term of office of members of the Executive Board To note that current ‘best practice’ in the not-for-profit company sector is that all Directors are equal and should, thus, serve identical terms of office. That, therefore, the term of office for all members of the Executive Board has been standardised at a maximum of four consecutive years. The ‘Presidential’ term of office will remain unaltered at a total of four years; two as Vice President followed by two as President. 10.4 Presidents of specialty associations and societies on ASGBI Council To note that, to better reflect the Association’s function as an umbrella federation of general surgical specialty associations and societies, the Presidents of the following societies have been invited to become members of Council: Association of Surgeons in Primary Care British Association of Day Surgery British Association of Surgical Oncology British Hernia Society 11. 12. REPORTS FROM COMMITTEES OF COUNCIL 11.1 Education and Training Board Doc G 11.2 Scientific Committee Doc H 11.3 International Development Committee Doc I 11.4 Nominations Committee Doc J 11.5 Website Management Group Doc K REPORTS FROM EXTERNAL COMMITTEES 12.1 UEMS Monospecialist Committee in General Surgery Doc L 12.2 Federation of Surgical Specialty Associations Doc M 12.3 SAC in General Surgery Doc N PART III: REPORT FROM CORESS Doc O PART IV: REPORT FROM THE SURGICAL FOUNDATION 13. REPORT ON THE FOUNDATION’S ACTIVITIES 13.1 90th Anniversary Fellows 13.2 TSF Board of Trustees Doc P 7 13.3 14. Knife Injury Project and Consensus Statement PRIZES AND AWARDS 14.1 Moynihan Travelling Fellowship 2011 To note that the Moynihan Travelling Fellowship for 2011 has been awarded to: Mr Graham MacKay (Glasgow) 14.2 Association of Surgeons of Great Britain and Ireland Prizes To note that the Association Prizes for outstanding performance at the Intercollegiate Examination in General Surgery have been awarded to: Mr Jurgen Mulsow for June 2010 Mrs Deborah Jane Nicol for September 2010 Mr Timothy James Underwood for February 2011 14.3 John Farndon Prize 2010 To note that the John Farndon Prize for 2010 has been awarded to the following paper published in the British Journal of Surgery: M Gatt and J MacFie Randomised clinical trial of gut-specific nutrients in critically ill surgical patients Combined Gastroenterology Research Unit, Scarborough Hospital, and the Postgraduate Medical Institute, University of Hull 14.4 Overseas Surgical Fellowships 2011 To note that the 2011 Overseas Surgical Fellowships have been awarded to: Miss Kat Driscoll Mr Andrew Stevenson Mr Chris Houlden Mr Rish Parmar Miss Emma Stromer Mr Kenneth Walker 14.5 Visit to Malawi Visit to Malawi Visit to Zambia Visit to Malawi Visit to Malawi Visit to Burma International Bursaries 2011 To note that the 2011 International Bursaries (for overseas surgical trainees to attend the 2011 Congress) have been awarded to: Dr Muleledhu Andrew Dr Kumar Vaibhaw Dr Sergiy Kharchenko Dr Muma J.K. Nyagetuba Dr Randima Nanayakkara Dr JASB Jayasundara Uganda India Ukraine Kenya Sri Lanka Sri Lanka 8 Dr Grace Wafula Dr David Linyama Dr Rae Oranmore-Brown Dr Ademola Tolulope Adebanjo Dr Justina Seyi-Olajide Dr Japhet Ngerageza Dr Oswald Harrison Dr Joel Bikoroti Dr Edmond Ntaganda PART V: 15. Liberia Zambia Zambia Nigeria Nigeria Tanzania Papua New Guinea Rwanda Rwanda ANY OTHER BUSINESS MOTIONS FROM THE FLOOR Full and Associate Fellows are invited to submit any motions, by Friday 22nd April 2011, to the Honorary Secretary at the Association’s offices. 16. DATES OF THE NEXT INTERNATIONAL SURGICAL CONGRESS To note that the next International Surgical Congress of the Association of Surgeons of Great Britain and Ireland will be held in Liverpool from Wednesday 9th to Friday 11th May 2012, when the theme will be: PART VI: IMPORTANT NOTES 17. In accordance with the provisions in the Association’s Memorandum and Articles of Association, notice of the 2011 Annual General Meeting has been distributed by email to Full Fellows, Associate Fellows and Corresponding Fellows of ASGBI, being those eligible to attend the AGM. 18. This Agenda and all individual accompanying papers are available to view and download from a restricted access area of the ASGBI website at: www.asgbi.org.uk/agm User name: agm2011 Password: moynihan (all lower case) 9 19. Additionally, the Association’s 2010 Annual Report, which includes this Agenda and all accompanying papers in one composite document, is available to view and download at: www.asgbi.org.uk/en/publications/annual_reports.cfm 20. A number of hard-copies of this Agenda and all accompanying papers will be available in the Tregonwell Hall on Friday 13th May 2011 for Fellows attending the AGM. Mr John Moorehead Honorary Secretary Professor Nicholas P Gair Chief Executive April 2011 Association of Surgeons of Great Britain and Ireland 35-43 Lincoln’s Inn Fields, London, WC2A 3PE Tel: 020 7973 0300 Fax: 020 7430 9235 Email: [email protected] A Company limited by guarantee registered in England 6783090 10 VAT No. GB 944 3070 34 Document B Association of Surgeons of Great Britain and Ireland MINUTES OF THE 90th ANNIVERSARY ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING held at 4.00pm on Thursday 15th April 2010, in Hall 2N at the BT Convention Centre, Liverpool 1. WELCOME FROM THE PRESIDENT Received: A welcome from the Vice President, Professor John MacFie. Noted: That the President, Professor Michael Horrocks, was unable to attend the AGM, or the 2010 International Surgical Congress, due to the continuing serious illness of his wife. Agreed: That the AGM sent their thoughts, at this difficult time, to the President and Mrs Horrocks. 2. REPORT FROM THE PRESIDENT Received: An oral report, in the absence of the President, from the Vice President. Noted: That this AGM marked an historic milestone, as it was ninety years since the inaugural Annual General Meeting was held in London, at the Royal College of Surgeons of England, under the Presidency of Sir John Bland-Sutton. That 2009 had also been the Association’s first full year operating under the revised governance structure which, as approved by the 2008 AGM, had seen a split of activities into a membership association, able to provide tangible membership benefits to Fellows, and a charitable foundation, delivering a range of public-benefit activities relating to the provision of surgical education. That, with the new status as a membership company, the Association was now able to forge exciting and mutually beneficial links with a number of Academic Partners, Professional Partners and Commercial Partners to compliment the positive relationships already in place with the healthcare industry through the Corporate Patrons, and that ASGBI was most grateful to them all for their on-going support. That a very successful Patient Safety Consensus Conference had been held in October 2009, and the resulting Consensus Statement launched at this Congress. 11 That the Association had participated fully, through the Education and Training Board, in the consultation around revalidation. That the Newsletter and website continue to evolve apace and were both vital parts of the Association’s communications strategy to ensure that Fellows are informed, educated and entertained. That a new series of informational booklets, under the heading of Issues in Professional Practice, had been initiated and that the next title in the series - produced in partnership with SARS had also been launched at the Congress. Agreed: That so much positive activity, across so many fronts, would not be possible without the input of a large number of people, and that, on behalf of the President, the Vice President thanked the Executive Board, Council, members of all committees and the Association’s dedicated team of staff for their immense contributions during 2009. That ASGBI was in very good health, and looked forward to the next ninety years. 3. DEATHS Noted: With deep regret, the deaths, during the preceding year, of the following Fellows: Professor M Allgower Mr C J Cahill Mr H A Haxton Surgeon Vice Admiral I L Jenkins Mr T S Matheson Mr G Querci Della Rovere Honorary Fellow, Switzerland Surrey Perthshire London York London Fellows stood in silence in memory of the deceased. 4. MINUTES OF THE PREVIOUS ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING Received: The Minutes of the Association’s AGM held in held in Glasgow on Thursday 14th May 2009, distributed as Document A. Noted: Agreed that the Minutes were a true and accurate record of the 2009 AGM. 5. HONORARY OFFICERS AND MEMBERS OF COUNCIL Noted: That the Honorary Secretary, Mr Jonathan Pye, was demitting office, at the conclusion of his term of office, at the 2010 AGM: Agreed: That Mr Pye should be thanked for his contributions to the Association during his term of office. Noted: That the following Members of Council were demitting office, at the conclusion of their term of office, at the 2010 AGM: Mr J Armitage Mr R Blackett Mr M Greaney Mr M A Khan Mr O Klimach Mr F C T Smith Affiliate Fellows Representative Wales Mersey Associate Fellows Representative Wales South Western 12 Agreed: That the above Elected Regional Representatives should be thanked for their contributions to the Association during their term of office. 6. ELECTION OF FELLOWS Received: A list of all those Full Fellows, Affiliate Fellows and Associate Fellows elected to membership of the Association, by Council, during the preceding year. Agreed: That the list of elections to the various categories of Fellowship of the Association were ratified by the AGM. 7. RETIREMENTS AND RESIGNATIONS Received: A list of all retirements and resignations from membership of the Association during the preceding year. Agreed: That the full list of Fellows elected by Council and ratified by the 2010 AGM, as well as the list of retirements and resignations, would be published in the 2009 Annual Report accessible via the ASGBI website at: http://www.asgbi.org.uk/en/publications/annual_reports.cfm 8. HONORARY TREASURER’S REPORT 8.1 Financial Statements 2009 Received: An oral report and presentation from the Honorary Treasurer, Mr Paul Rowe, and copies of the preliminary Financial Statements for the accounting period 1st January to 31st December 2009, distributed as Document B. Noted: That the Association had returned a modest, but significant, operating surplus in 2009 (around 3% of annual turnover) which was a positive direction of travel, especially as, with a small deficit the previous year, this represented a movement of +6% in the Association’s financial affairs. That a number of cost-reduction and income generating measures had been implemented. That the Honorary Treasurer commended the draft 2009 accounts to the AGM. Agreed: That, following proposing and seconding from the floor, the motion to approve the preliminary Financial Statements for the accounting period 1st January to 31st December 2009 was carried. 8.2 Subscriptions for 2011 Received: An oral report and presentation from the Honorary Treasurer. Agreed: That the proposed increases in annual subscription rates for 2011, in line with the current rate of inflation, were approved. 13 8.3 Appointment of Auditors for 2010 Agreed: That Ford Bentall LLP should be appointed as the Association’s Auditors for 2010. 9. HONORARY SECRETARY’S REPORT 9.1 Elections or appointments by Council Received: An oral report from the Honorary Secretary. Noted: The following elections or appointments by the Executive Board, approved by Council: Honorary Secretary: Mr John Moorehead 9.2 Confirmation of appointments for the following year Agreed: That the following appointments by the Executive Board were confirmed for the following year: President: Vice President: Honorary Treasurer: Honorary Editorial Secretary: Honorary Membership Secretary: Director of the Scientific Programme: Director of Education: Director of Informatics: Honorary Archivist: Professor Michael Horrocks Professor John MacFie Mr Paul H Rowe Mr Michael G Wyatt Mr Edward S Kiff Professor The Lord Kakkar Mr Iain Anderson Mr Nicholas I Markham Mr Michael K H Crumplin 9.3 Regional Boundaries Received: An oral report and a presentation from the Honorary Secretary. Noted: That the Association’s regional boundaries, set a number of years ago, were now seriously out-of-date, as they did not correspond with any other accepted regional boundaries. That, following considerable discussion, Council had accepted the Executive Board’s recommendation that the Association’s Regional Boundaries be redrawn to correspond to those of the Strategic Health Authorities. That this would entail a very small amount of disruption and realignment of Fellows and Link Surgeons, but would bring considerable clarity to many who were recorded as being in multiple (SHA, ASGBI, etc) Regions. That, over a period of four years (the term of office of Elected Regional Representatives on Council), the issue of any displaced Regional Representatives would be ironed-out. Agreed: That the proposal to realign the ASGBI regional boundaries to those of SHAs was approved. 10. PRESENTATION FROM THE HONORARY MEMBERSHIP SECRETARY Received: An oral report from the Honorary Membership Secretary. 14 Noted: That, in tandem with the realignment of the Association’s Regional Boundaries, the Honorary Membership Secretary had over-hauled the Link Surgeons Network. All Link Surgeons had been contacted, and – where vacancies existed – a number of new appointments made. Elected Regional representatives on Council had been encouraged to maintain communication with Link Surgeons in their Region. Agreed: That the Link Surgeon Network was a vital part of the Association’s communications cascade and that an efficient system could be most effective in the inter-face between the Executive Board and the membership. That, on behalf of the AGM, the Vice President thanked the Honorary Secretary and the Honorary Membership Secretary who had both put a significant amount of work into the detail of the realignment of the Regional Boundaries and the revitalisation of the Link Surgeons Network. 11. NOMINATION FOR HONORARY FELLOWSHIP Received: An oral report from the Vice President, and a citation in support of Professor John R T Monson, distributed as Document C. Noted: That, on the recommendation of Council, the AGM was asked to ratify the award of Honorary Fellowship on Professor Monson. Agreed: That an Honorary Fellowship of the Association should be conferred on Professor Monson. 12. REPORTS FROM COMMITTEES OF COUNCIL Received: The following written reports from Committees of Council: 12.1 Education and Training Board Document D 12.2 Scientific Committee Document E 12.3 International Development Committee Document F 12.4 Nominations Committee Document G 12.5 Website Management Group Document H 12.6 Confidential Reporting System in Surgery (CORESS) 13. REPORTS FROM EXTERNAL COMMITTEES Received: The following written reports from external committees: 13.1 UEMS Monospecialist Committee in General Surgery Document J 13.2 Federation of Surgical Specialist Associations Document K 13.3 SAC in General Surgery Document L 15 Document I 14. REPORT ON THE SURGICAL FOUNDATION Received: A presentation from the Honorary Secretary, as Chairman of the Shadow Board of Trustees, and a written report distributed as Document M. 14.1 Knife Injury and Street Crime Noted: That the Foundation was working with the Metropolitan Police and the Home Office to investigate how the surgical profession might engage with the ‘social’ management of knife injuries. That it was hoped that a joint Consensus Conference of this issue would be held in the Autumn. 14.2 90th Anniversary Fellows Noted: That members of the Association were invited to donate £90 to the Foundation to become one of a limited number of ninety ‘90th Anniversary Fellows’. That each 90th Anniversary Fellow would receive a commemorative pin badge. That, with Gift Aid, it was hoped that this initiative would raise just over £10,000 for the Foundation. 14.3 ASGBI Trading Ltd Noted: That, following the formation of the new membership company in January 2009, and the resultant separation of the Association’s charitable and member-benefit activities, the need for a separate Trading Company had diminished. That ASGBI Trading Ltd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of The Surgical Foundation, had, therefore, been subsumed into the Foundation and a couple of the Directors integrated into the Trustee Board. That ASGBI Trading Ltd would, however, remain as a dormant company, in case it was ever required by the Foundation for the delivery of fundraising events or other similar activities. That this was common practice within the charitable sector. 15. PRIZES AND AWARDS Received: An oral report from the Vice President. 15.1 Moynihan Travelling Fellowship 2010 Noted: That the 2010 Moynihan Travelling Fellowship had been awarded to Mr G Garcea from Leicester. 15.2 Association of Surgeons of Great Britain and Ireland Prizes Noted: That the Association’s Prizes for outstanding performance at the Intercollegiate Examination in General Surgery had been awarded to: 16 Mr M S Duxbury for June 2009 Mr E MacDonald for September 2009 Miss L J Whisker for February 2010 15.3 John Farndon Prize 2009 Noted: That the John Farndon Prize for 2009 had been awarded to the following paper published in the British Journal of Surgery: Randomized clinical trial of Entonox versus midazolam–fentanyl sedation for colonoscopy S Maslekar, A Gardiner, M Hughes, B Culbert and G S Duthie (Cottingham) 15.4 Overseas Surgical Fellowships 2009 Noted: That the 2009 Overseas Surgical Fellowships had been awarded to: Mr S Sinha (to visit South Africa) Mr R Gardner (to visit Malawi) Ms C Grimes (to visit Ethiopia) 16. MOTIONS FROM THE FLOOR Noted: That Full and Associate Fellows had been invited to submit any motions from the floor, by Thursday 8th April 2009, but that no such motions had been received. 17. DATES OF THE NEXT INTERNATIONAL SURGICAL CONGRESS OF THE ASSOCIATION OF SURGEONS OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND Noted: That the next International Surgical Congress of the Association, with the theme “21st Century Surgery”, would be held in Bournemouth from 11th to 13th May 2011. 18. PRESENTATION FROM THE DIRECTOR OF EDUCATION Received: An oral report and presentation from the Director of Education. Noted: That an electronic survey of the Association’s membership, on Emergency General Surgery, had recently been conducted. That the Director of Education presented the preliminary results of the survey. Agreed: That the full results of the survey should be published in the ASGBI Newsletter and used to inform the Association’s direction of travel and future strategy on this important issue. 19. ANY OTHER BUSINESS Noted: That no other items of business had been received. 17 20. CLOSING REMARKS Noted: That, in closing the 2010 Annual General Meeting, the Vice President reiterated the Association’s sincere wishes to Professor and Mrs Horrocks, and thanked all those who had stood in to help Chair sessions and symposia during the Congress. 18 Document C Association of Surgeons of Great Britain and Ireland TO ALL FELLOWS OF ASGBI February 2011 Dear Fellow The strength of any society is in its membership, and engagement and communication with members should, therefore, be a priority. Thus, as incoming President of the Association, I thought that I would write to all Fellows to keep you abreast of our significant achievements to date and the exciting plans for the future. First, however, I would like to extend a very warm welcome to John Primrose who has been elected as the Association’s Vice President for 2011 and 2012, and who will become President for 2013 and 2014. As many of you will know, John is Professor of Surgery at Southampton and returns to the ASGBI Executive Board having previously served with distinction as our Director of Education. I would also like to pay tribute to our immediate past President, Mike Horrocks, who guided the Association during a period of considerable personal strain. The Association is in good health. It is now two full years since we made the considerable move from being a charity to becoming a company with an affiliated charitable foundation. There have, of course, been teething problems, but I am delighted that The Surgical Foundation (our charitable arm) now has its own clearly defined Articles of Association, an independent Trustee Board, and is forging ahead with a number of exciting initiatives including the successful Knife Injury project. The Association of Surgeons of Great Britain and Ireland, as a membership company, is now able to pursue an agenda of providing tangible benefits to our Fellows (outwith the confines of charity law) to ensure that we offer best value for your subscription. It is worth listing here a number of our achievements since the change in governance which took effect on 1st January 2009. 1. The ASGBI annual International Surgical Congress has seen a steady increase in the number of abstracts submitted and the number of delegates attending. A Congress Daily Newspaper and Surgical TV have been introduced to enhance the Congress. With regards to membership benefits, we now offer a 10% discount to ASGBI Fellows registering for the Congress and the registration fees themselves have been frozen (ie. no increase) for the past two years. We are most grateful to Ajay Kakkar, Director of the Scientific Programme, for all his efforts. 19 2. Under the expert guidance of Mike Wyatt, our Honorary Editorial Secretary, the Association’s excellent Newsletter has continued to grow (36 pages in 2008; 52 pages in 2009; 64 pages in 2010; 72 pages in December 2010). This quarterly publication informs, educates and entertains readers with a wide selection of articles, case studies and reports. 3. The Association has introduced a series of Issues in Professional Practice. Four titles have been published so far: • • • • Guidelines for the Implementation of Enhanced Recovery Protocols. The Place of Research and other Educational Experience in UK Surgical Training (published jointly with SARS). Surgeons and Employment Law. The Surgical Management of Patients with Acute Intestinal Failure. These have proved very popular, and are already being cited in the literature and used to inform discussion by the Department of Health and others. They are available to download from our website or we can send Fellows additional copies upon request. A number of other titles in the series are currently in various stages of production, and we would welcome suggestions for additional topics. 4. The Association held a Patient Safety Consensus Conference in October 2009, and published the resulting document Patient Safety: A Consensus Statement (sponsored by The Surgical Foundation) in April 2010. 5. In partnership with The Surgical Foundation and the Metropolitan Police, ASGBI held a Consensus Conference on The Management of Knife Injuries in November 2010. A Consensus Statement arising from this conference is now in the final stages of production. 6. The Surgical Foundation has incrementally increased the number of International Bursaries offered, by competitive application, to Surgical Trainees from the developing world to attend the ASGBI International Surgical Congress (2 in 2008; 6 in 2009; 16 in 2010). Paul Rowe, Chairman of the Foundation, has led this initiative with enthusiasm. 7. The Association celebrated its 90th Anniversary in 2010, and the ninety 90th Anniversary Fellows raised almost £5,000 for The Surgical Foundation from your generous support. 8. Nick Markham, our Director of Informatics, has overseen the continued evolution of the Association’s website and the development of micro-sites for all our conferences, regional pages and on-line registration and membership facilities. 9. We have recruited our maximum of eight Corporate Patrons, on whose support we very much rely. This has evolved into a true partnership for mutual benefit, and we are extremely grateful to the following for their continued support: 10. Alongside, and complementary to, our Corporate Patrons, we have also introduced new categories of Professional Partners; Academic Partners, Commercial Partners and Charity Partners. Again, these are proving most beneficial. 20 11. The distance-learning Postgraduate Certificate in Medical Education for Surgeons, offered by our Academic Partners the University of Dundee, has been an outstanding success with over 350 participants to date, four of whom have gone on to the Masters Degree. ASGBI Fellows are eligible for a 10% discount on tuition fees, which is a significant reduction and membership benefit. Further information can be found at: www.universityofdundee.ac.uk 12. As the day-to-day management of the Association is now the responsibility of an Executive Board of Directors, we have appointed a Lay Finance Director to better oversee our financial affairs. Mr Hoshang (Harry) Ghadially has now been with us for over six months, and we are grateful for his significant contributions to the work of the Board. 13. We have also appointed an Honorary Membership Secretary to the Executive Board, and Ed Kiff has overseen a revision of the Association’s regional boundaries and the updating of our Link Surgeons Network. 14. CORESS, the Confidential Reporting Scheme for Surgery, under the leadership of Frank Smith the Programme Director, has made steady progress and was formally launched, by Professor Sir Bruce Keogh, Medical Director of the NHS, as an independent pan-surgical charity at The House of Lords in June 2010. 15. Our Honorary Secretary, John Moorehead, has been maintaining our links with sister organisations both in the UK and abroad. These include our expanding list of Designated Societies and the Association of Anaesthetists of Great Britain and Ireland with whom we have held several joint Executive meetings. 16. In recognition of one of the common themes which bind members of the Association together, we have recently appointed Iain Anderson as the ASGBI Director of Emergency General Surgery and we look forward to implementing a number of initiatives around this vital component of our clinical practice. 17. Together with the Colleges and the other Specialty Associations and Societies, ASGBI has made significant contributions to the revalidation agenda. 18. Finally, though very importantly, the Association has achieved a moderate financial operating surplus for both of the first two years (2009 and 2010) operating as a membership company. This is important as we build reserves to allow us to continue providing a first class service to our Fellows. So, much has been achieved over the past two years. We have managed a period of significant change and brought ASGBI firmly into the 21st Century as a vibrant, successful and influential association. But what of the future? Well, the Executive Board and the Association’s staff had an extremely productive team meeting a week or so ago, followed by an Executive ‘Think Tank’, to finalise a number of initiatives for the next couple of years. Amongst our exciting plans for the future are: 19. A new, monthly electronic communication called newsSCANNER has been launched. This will grow into an on-line resource of consultations, surveys, reports and guidance necessary to our members’ professional lives. 21 20. In partnership with endosim, a new Professional Partner, the Association is launching a scheme for providing easy access for Affiliate Fellows and trainees to the LaproTrain surgical simulator at greatly reduced cost. This will be launched in the March Newsletter, and at the 2011 Congress in Bournemouth. 21. For the first time, the 2011 International Surgical Congress will see a number of parallel conferences being held in tandem with ASGBI. We look forward to welcoming delegates from the British Intestinal Failure Alliance (BIFA), the United Kingdom Medical Students’ Association (UKMSA), the Association of Military Surgeons (AMS) and the Association of Surgeons in Primary Care (ASPC). Our Congress is now one of the largest surgical conferences in Europe, and the 2011 Congress, 21st Century Surgery, is designed to have universal surgical appeal. Please take a look at the Provisional Programme which is available at: www.asgbi.org.uk/bournemouth2011 22. Congress venues to 2022. Our Chief Executive, Nick Gair, has negotiated some phenomenal cost-saving deals over the next decade with the conference centres in Glasgow, Harrogate and Liverpool. . Not only have these advance bookings secured the venues at much reduced costs (which will translate into membership benefits), but they also have secured agreement for additional host city incentives and support. A full list of dates and venues of future ASGBI Congresses can be found on the ASGBI website. 23. ASGBI Lecture Library. We are currently working on a project to allow Fellows to access, on-line, all lectures delivered at the ASGBI International Surgical Congress. We hope to backdate access to the 2005 Congress. 24. ASGBI Indemnity Scheme. We are in the early stages of discussion with a company which provides medical indemnity insurance. If negotiations proceed satisfactorily, we hope that this may become something which the Association will be able to offer as a membership benefit in the future. 25. ASGBI Inter-Deanery Matching Scheme. The Association has set up a computer-based matching scheme for SpRs who wish to swap their appointments. This would only apply to registrars in their first year. The scheme will be advertised for the first time in the March edition of the Newsletter. Time will tell whether this initiative is viable in the world of Schools of Surgery, Deaneries and national selection. 26. President's Fund. We are intending to establish a means by which registrars and their consultants can apply to the Association for a travelling grant up to the value of £1,000 to facilitate visits to other units. These bursaries would only be open to ASGBI members. The concept is to emulate the mission statement of this Association, articulated by Lord Moynihan: “the advancement of the science and art of surgery and the promotion of friendship amongst surgeons". Details will be published in the Newsletter. As you can see, the Association enters its tenth decade with much to be proud of; ASGBI is as relevant in 2011 as it was in 1920. All of this activity would not be possible without the hard work and commitment of a vast number of Fellows who contribute so actively to the Newsletter, to Congress, to Council and to all our Committees, as Link Surgeons or Regional Representatives; my heart-felt thanks to you all. I have mentioned the contributions of the Executive Board above, but I would also like to take this opportunity of thanking, most sincerely, our small but dedicated team of staff who work so tirelessly on all our behalf. 22 Most importantly, I would like to thank you, our Fellows. As I said at the beginning of this letter, our strength lies in your continued support. Please feel free to contact me direct on any matter of concern. I would be delighted to hear from you, and I can assure you of our attention. My ASGBI email address is: [email protected] Finally, I hope you agree that ASGBI has an important role to play in representing the interests of surgeons across all the general surgical specialties, and throughout Great Britain and Ireland. The Association exerts influence nationally and internationally, and our position is independent of the surgical Royal Colleges, though we often work in collaboration with all four. Unlike many other societies, all the Association’s members are medically qualified, and our membership embraces Full (Consultant), Associate (Staff Grade) and Affiliate (Trainee) Fellows, and we work hard to best represent the interests of all these groups, whose input is so vital to patient-centred surgical care. Thus, I would hope you feel that membership of ASGBI is of value. If so, please feel free to share this letter with any of your colleagues who are not currently members, and, to this end, I have taken the liberty of enclosing a number of Membership Application Forms. With very best wishes John MacFie President Association of Surgeons of Great Britain and Ireland 35-43 Lincoln’s Inn Fields, London, WC2A 3PE Tel: 020 7973 0300 Fax: 020 7430 9235 Email: [email protected] A Company limited by guarantee registered in England 6783090 23 VAT No. GB 944 3070 34 Document D FELLOWS FOR ELECTION AT THE 2011 AGM (1st April 2010 to 31st March 2011) FULL FELLOWS Mr Y Abdul Mr T S Gill Mr T Graja Mr L A Selvam Mr B Griffiths Dr G A Petralia Mr W D Neary Mr M Van Deman Mr A K Sharma Mr Z L Muras Mr J E Hartley Maidstone Stockton-on-Tees Dunmow Carmarthen Leeds London Bristol USA Prenton Wick Cottingham FULL FELLOWS - UPGRADED Mr M Rhodes Mr R T Skelly Mr K H Siddiqui Mr R M Anwar Mr A Menon Attleborough Coleraine Manchester St Neots Nottingham 1st YEAR CONSULTANT FELLOWS Mr M A Silva Birmingham 1st YEAR CONSULTANT FELLOWS - UPGRADED Mrs S B Williams-Jones Mr S J Mercer Mr S V Gurjar Mr A D James Miss T Irvine Mr J Kirkby-Bott Miss C Byrne Mr P F Thomas Mr J Arbuckle Mr T Edwards Mr R Muir Mr K P Murray Burton-on-Trent Winchester Stanmore Brighton Guildford Cowes London Nottingham St Albans Buckfastleigh Ayr Co Kerry 24 ASSOCIATE FELLOWS Mr M T Antony Mr S Basu Mr R Kanapathippillai Mr H H Marzook Mr E A Nael Frodsham Gloucester Hampton Huddersfield Stafford AFFILIATE FELLOWS (WITH BJS) Miss K Futaba Miss Z Bell Mr M R Hanief Mr H S Colvin Mr A E A I Elbakr Mr S Dalton Mr A Biswas Mr J Ahmed Mr M Barkeji Mr N Kansal Miss M Coats Mr M Masood Dr C L Donohue Miss A Durham-Hall Dr K Shah Dr S Walsh Dr Craddock Mr S Marla Dr Z Barber Mr S Durrani Mr D Sanders Mr Z Z R Hamady Dr F Welsh Mr O Warren Miss J Morgan Mr T Hall Dr H Joshi Dr K Teo Miss L Sreedharan Dr G J D Price Ms A Hanly Mr N Vig Dr R Chatha Dr C Harris Mr R Thomas Mr R Ricks Miss J Bhoday Mr R Wismayer Edgbaston Newtownabbey Richmond Sunderland Cavan Bristol Crewe Swansea Uxbridge Newcastle upon Tyne Guildford Leicester Athlone Sheffield Nottingham Dublin London Glasgow Littlemore Limerick Truro Leeds Wellington London Sheffield Bristol Leicester Cambridge Newcastle upon Tyne Manchester Minneapolis London Manchester Bangor Guildford Bristol London Arua 25 Miss C Boffa Dr M Kaya Dr A J Al Moosa Mr P Szatmary Mr L Gall Miss S Koshy Mr E Watts Mr U Parampalli Mr G Jones Mr C Evans Mr R Lunevicius Dr R Saunders Miss D G Y Adamson Mr O Mutlak Dr K Faizullah Mr O A Mownah Ms H Mohan Miss S Moug Miss A Kamocka Dr M Wilkinson Dr D T Burchette Mr T Manzoor Mr H Nageswaran Mr K K Sasapu Mr V C Halahakoon Dr M Mikhail Mr A Stearns S Mr M M Seenath Mr A Tzivanakis Mr N D'Souza Mr S M Jones Miss A Mainwaring Mr T Siddiqui Mr R P Owen Miss P Partlett Mr H Tuffaha Mr A Reid Mr N V Ladwa Mr A Riddell Miss J Watt Ms S Bathla Dr M Mortimer Winchester London Safat Liverpool Glasgow London Nottingham Bromley Datchet Beaconsfield London Manchester Stoke-on-Trent Hounslow Parkistan Stanmore Ireland Glasgow Brentford Ellesmere Birmingham Waterford Enfield Leeds Dudley Chelmsford Bury St Edmunds Birmingham Leamington Spa London Chester Cardiff Glasgow Liverpool Kingston-upon-Thames Maida Vale Newcastle upon Tyne Torquay Cowbridge Gourock West Kirby Cardiff AFFILIATE FELLOWS (MAILINGS ONLY) Miss E L Ball Mr C Giddings Miss K Stackhouse Elmswell London Oldbury 26 Miss A Abdelrahim Dr H Al-Saadi Mr E Fitzgerald Miss A Hainsworth Mr D Makki Dr J Ritchie Mr P Vaughan-Shaw Mr S Noor Mr I Lyons Miss T Aslam Mr A Stevenson Mr R K Safdar Mr R Sutaria Dr Z Khanzada Ms E L Aitken Dr D Bondin Miss E Stormer Mr M Khan Mr S Lorenz Mr S Senevirathna Miss A Wong Mr A Sastry Mr J Manners Mr P Naughton Mr D Hoare Mr S Sinha Dr K Argiris Dr O Turan Mr M S Reddy Mr R Marri Miss S K Richards Miss R S Lewis Mr J D Foster Miss H West Mr Z Hnaif Miss R R Singh Dr K Manley Captain P Page Dr D Kearney Mr S Khan Dr M W Khan Mr W Beasley Mr S Fleming Mr R Walter Mr M Hebbar Mr S Mcdonnell Dr K Eyramjyan Mr W Campbell Reading Cork London London Essex Sheffield Southampton Birmingham Colchester Newcastle upon Tyne Alresford Billericay Folkestone Bodelwyddan Glasgow Manchester Newcastle upon Tyne Leicester Exeter Gateshead Sheffield Bristol Southampton Clontarf Cardiff Plymouth Chelmsford London Leeds Burnley Swindon London Yeovil London Glasgow Leicester Wymondham Camberley Cork London Huddersfield Swansea London Torquay Worthing Oxford Yerevan Craigavon 27 Mr S Barry Miss C T Choh Mr A McBrearty Surg Lt Cmdr Roy Dr R Law Mr I Hamzah Miss H Poon Ms S K Gill Dr M Lupu Barnet Winchester Strabane Leicester London Nottingham Birmingham Windsor Cambridge RELATED FELLOWS SENIOR FELLOWS Mr C P Gibbons Swansea SENIOR FELLOWS (RETIRED FROM FULL FELLOW) Mr J N Johnson Professor H L Young Mr N M Koruth Mr C P Gibbons Mr P A Braithwaite Mr R J McFarland Surg Cmdr F H Rowland Professor I Taylor Mr P C Weaver Professor C G Marks Mr J G Palmer Mr W J Cunliffe Professor J A C Buckels Mr R B Stephens Mr J M Shennan Prescot Cardiff Aberdeen Swansea Cardiff Surrey Australia London Winchester Lickfold Carlisle Bedlington Birmingham Dublin Chester CORRESPONDING FELLOWS Mr C R Kapadia Mr C J Kelty Mrs R Abela Professor A J Awad Dr C Pup Dr A M H El-Kalla Professor P W R Lee Mr M J Ramdass Australia Australia Malta Baghdad Germany Saudi Arabia Malaysia Trinidad 28 Document E.1 Association of Surgeons of Great Britain and Ireland Citation in support of the conferment of an Honorary Fellowship of ASGBI on Surgeon Vice Admiral Philip Raffaelli QHP, BSc, MSc, MBChB, MRCGP, FFOM, FRCP Philip Iain Raffaelli was born on 24th November 1955 in Kirkcaldy, Fife. He is a GP and the current Surgeon General of the British Armed Forces. Admiral Raffaelli joined the Royal Navy as a cadet in 1976, while studying medicine at Edinburgh University. He joined the RN Submarine Service and worked as a Medical Officer from 1979, working for a time on submarines. In 2007, he became the head of the Royal Navy Medical Service, the Medical Director General (Naval), as a Surgeon Rear Admiral, before assuming the position of Surgeon-General on 22nd December 2009, taking over from Lieutenant-General Louis Lillywhite. Admiral Raffaelli was appointed as an Honorary Physician to the Queen in 2005, and later as a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians. He is also a Governor of the University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust, and an appointee to the court of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. Admiral Raffaelli has also agreed to become Patron of the embryonic Association of Military Surgeons. 29 Document E.2 Association of Surgeons of Great Britain and Ireland Citation in support of the conferment of an Honorary Fellowship of ASGBI on Mr Keith Rowland Keith Rowland is European Sales and Marketing manager of Cook Medical’s Surgery Division, which has established a specialist market niche for biomaterials in hernia repair, reconstructive and colorectal surgery. Keith gained a BSc (Hons) in Biochemistry and Physiology from the University of Leeds in 1981 and began his career as a Medical Physics Technician in Renal Dialysis at Charing Cross Hospital and then as a Medical Laboratory Scientific Officer at St Helier Hospital in Carshalton, Surrey. Keith has worked for Cook Medical since 1984, as Regional Technical representative; Product Manager Urology Products; Divisional Manager Urology Gynaecology and IVF Products; Marketing Manager; Head of Sales and Marketing before being promoted to his current post in 2001. Keith is a Chartered Marketer, a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing, a Freeman of the Worshipful Company of Marketors and a Freeman of the City of London. He is Chairman of the Chartered Institute of Marketing Medical Marketing Group. Cook Medical were one of the founding Corporate Patrons of ASGBI, and Keith has been a tremendous advocate and supporter of the Association. 30 Document E.3 Association of Surgeons of Great Britain and Ireland Citation in support of the conferment of an Honorary Fellowship of ASGBI on Mr Philip Truskett Phil Truskett is a General Surgeon with an interest in Upper GI Surgery at the Prince of Wales Hospital, Sydney where he is a senior staff specialist. He has had a major interest in surgical training at both an undergraduate a post graduate level. He was the supervisor of General Surgical training for many years at the Prince of Wales Hospital, and now sits on the Board in General Surgery. He is also a member of the Court of Examiners for General Surgery. Over the past 10 years he has taken an active role in both the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons and General Surgeons Australia. He is the current President of General Surgeons Australia, and a College Councillor. He is Chairman of the EMST (ATLS) Committee and the Skills Education Committee. His major focus at the moment is the balance of workforce and service provision of Emergency Surgery to our community in our current clinical environment. There are major advantages that flow from increasing subspecialisation, but equally there are considerable problems that can develop particularly as it relates to Acute Care provision. This is particularly true in regional and remote Australia and New Zealand. These issues need to be addressed at a professional level. As a result, he has been involved in the design and assessment of models of care to try and address these competing issues. The Prince of Wales was the first hospital in Australia and New Zealand to establish an Acute Surgery Unit in 2005. This model of care is now spreading through these two countries. He also has a major interest in food and a keener interest in wine. 31 Document F PRELIMINARY FINANCIAL STATEMENTS TO 31st DECEMBER 2010 SUMMARISED INCOME & EXPENDITURE for the period 1st January to 31st December 2010 INCOMING RESOURCES £ Subscription income Salary recharges to other organisations Membership and administrative services to other organisations Corporate and Commercial Sponsorship International Surgical Congress (Liverpool) 446,022 435,373 120,055 211,631 396,986 ________ 1,610,067 Total Incoming Resources RESOURCES EXPENDED ASGBI subscription expenditure (BJS, etc) Salary costs of other organisations ASGBI staff salary and employment costs ASGBI office accommodation, administration, publications and website ASGBI educational activity International Surgical Congress (Liverpool) Finance costs and bank and credit card charges Total Expenditure GROSS OPERATING SURPLUS (DEFICIT) 100,032 435,373 333,591 254,471 74,526 357,887 10,764 ________ 1,566,644 ________ 43,423 ======= Mr Paul H Rowe Honorary Treasurer Association of Surgeons of Great Britain and Ireland Ltd 35-43 Lincoln’s Inn Fields, London, WC2A 3PE Tel: 020 7973 0300 Fax: 020 7430 9235 Email: [email protected] A Company limited by guarantee registered in England 6783090 32 VAT No. GB 944 3070 34 Document G REPORT FROM THE EDUCATION AND TRAINING BOARD The Board considered how well current training and assessment prepares trainees for emergency surgery. There is a concern that some new trainees struggle with unselected emergencies, and one consideration has been to define numbers of emergency laparotomies needed to complete training. Related to this is the desire of trainees to train as sub-specialists to an extent which may not match present requirements for service delivery, particularly in district hospitals. Consequently, several modifications to training and assessment have been discussed including greater separation of assessment in emergency surgery from specialist surgery and modifications of the curriculum to include, for example, trauma surgery. With the development of trauma centres, changes to trauma care will affect many established surgeons, and the Board agreed the need to define the trauma capabilities expected of a consultant general surgeon, to increase the number of related learning opportunities and develop training pathways for general surgeons in trauma. The ASGBI survey of Emergency Surgery was reviewed prior to publication in the Newsletter. This survey was completed by 354 surgeons in 162 Trusts, with the aims of improving outcomes for patients, (given that 90+% of surgical mortality stems from emergency practice) and to support surgeons in delivering emergency care as it is considered to be stressful, ignored and underresourced. The results showed that only 55% of surgeons believe they are able usually to care well for their emergencies; that there are common problems across hospitals including a lack of support encompassing juniors, radiology (where only 19% have a comprehensive interventional service out of hours), beds and theatre (where 55% report inadequate emergency access). Existing pressures in the NHS work against emergencies and in favour of elective cases, and there is a need for standards which will provide central support for surgeons who find themselves unable to argue the case for emergency surgery effectively at local level. The lack of professional leadership on standards in emergency surgery in comparison with elective surgery is clear and, while ASGBI has contributed significantly to recent generic RCS (England) work on standards, the need for further specialty specific work in the coming year by ASGBI in this area is clear. The Emergency Surgery service needs to be properly defined, funded and supported and the key issue of adequate theatre access must be addressed. The importance of Training Fellowships continues to grow and the related issues have been considered, in particular how they should relate to CCT. The question of how tomorrow’s surgeons acquire procedural skills was considered. Training is limited by hours and greater use of skills labs, supplemented with associated e-learning (a “skills spiral”), could help make training more efficient. Unfortunately, there is no cohesive national strategy for this, and a network of skills labs for regular easy access and e-learning material pre and post course and integrated to ISCP would be the ideal. Time for training may lie outside the 48 hour working week. The Board has reviewed the portfolio of Association booklets in the Issues in Professional Practice series, noting the very favourable reviews which these booklets have received from members and recording thanks to the authors. The ASGBI Professional Partnership with Healthcare Events continues to provide short generic courses, mostly focussed around management and revalidation at a discount for members. ASGBI collaborates closely with three Academic Partners. That with the Centre for Medical Education at the University of Dundee is best established, and the Postgraduate distance learning course has 357 registered participants. Feedback has been positive with the course meeting educational needs and being value for money. There is a discount for juniors and for ASGBI members. Iain D Anderson Director of Education 33 Document H REPORT FROM THE SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEE The Scientific Committee has met regularly over the past twelve months and has developed the programme for the ASGBI 2011 International Surgical Congress in Bournemouth. Working with the President, the committee has developed a programme around the theme of 21st Century Surgery. Our objective has been to ensure that we deliver a meeting of broad interest to general surgeons; and those with an increasing subspecialist interest; provide colleagues with an opportunity to meaningful pursue their continuing professional development; and allow all attendees to participate in discussions about broader political issues facing surgical practice in the United Kingdom and Ireland. These, we hope, will be delivered within the context of ‘fellowship’ as envisaged by the founders of the Association. This year we have 26 symposia, and plenary sessions and invited lectures, the programme also includes 17 short paper sessions. Following on from the success of the previous two years, we have included the format of ‘Meet the Expert’ sessions, with the specialty associations continuing to provide experts from their own fields, presenting techniques and approaches to clinical decision making to small groups. The Scientific Committee is exceedingly grateful to the 115 abstract reviewers, who between them have performed a thorough evaluation of 941 abstracts submitted for presentation at this year’s congress. Eight abstracts have been accepted for presentation in the Moynihan prize session, with 162 additional abstracts accepted for oral presentation. There will be 72 e-poster abstracts presented in the e-poster of distinction sessions, and an additional 470 hard copy posters presented for the duration of the three days. This represents an acceptance rate of 76%. In addition 15 DVD presentations were submitted for consideration of which 7 will be selected to compete for the DVD prize. The Scientific Committee have also been responsible for the selection of the 2011 Moynihan Travelling Fellow. As on previous occasions, a number of excellent applications were reviewed by members of the committee and, following short-listing and interview, Mr. Graham MacKay was awarded the 2011 Fellowship. At a recent meeting of the ASGBI Executive Board, it was decided that the Vice-President should take responsibility for the organisation of the International Surgical Congress in the two years prior to assuming the office of President, including Chairmanship of the Scientific Committee of the Association. The post of Director of the Scientific Programme will, therefore, be disbanded with effect from this AGM. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all members of the Scientific Committee, the Executive Board, Council and Fellows of the Association of Surgeons and Great Britain and Ireland for their continuing commitment to the delivery of an outstanding International Surgical Congress. Professor the Lord Kakkar Director of the Scientific Programme 34 Document I REPORT FROM THE INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE The Overseas Fellowship Group has changed its name, but not its purpose. The main thrust of our work has always been to assist in the training of surgeons in less privileged parts of the world, largely in sub-saharan Africa, hence our location at HOST [Help with Overseas Surgical Training] on the ASGBI website. We now have a Director, Bob Lane, and a Chairman of the committee, currently myself with Olujimi Coker taking a year's sabbatical in Lagos to help organise Endoscopic services. Two members of this committee, Lord Ribeiro and Sir Eldryd Parry, were honoured in the New Year's list and our congratulations join with our thanks for their support during the year. During the last year we have run basic surgical skills courses in Hawassa [Ethiopia] on two occasions, Gaberone [Botswana], Maputo [Mozambique] and Blantyre [Malawi]. A further course was scheduled for Abidjan in the Ivory Coast, but had to be cancelled for political reasons at very short notice! The courses encompass basic surgical skills as taught in the UK to which we have added other elements which are likely to be needed in the areas where we teach. We also usually spend extra days on-site visiting Hospitals, giving lectures, doing ward rounds, running short anastomosis workshops and sometimes performing demonstration surgery. This format has proved popular with our Overseas colleagues who have stimulated us greatly and amongst whom we have made many friends and learned a great deal. Going only to units where we are invited, we work closely with COSECSA and WACS. We are currently working on an Emergency Surgery course to cover five days and to include Critical care, Obstetrics, Urology and nursing. We have made links through this venture with other UK colleagues in AAGBI and obs/gynae as well as critical care. An exciting project which we hope will take the best of British Surgery, Anaesthesia and allied specialties abroad. Recently, we calculated that over about 12 years we had assisted in the training of nearly 700 overseas surgeons. This year we have also produced a DVD for the anastomosis workshop with the help of Clive Quick. It has been a great pleasure for us to award six Overseas Surgical Fellowships in 2010 to young surgeons in the UK to work abroad and to contribute towards The Surgical Foundation Bursary Scheme for visiting surgeons to attend the ASGBI International Surgical Congress where we look forward to welcoming them from, Sri Lanka, India, Ukraine and many African countries. The theme of 21st Century Surgery is reflected in our symposium on 21st Century Surgery in Africa and the joint session with MSF on Surgery in Disaster and Conflict Settings. Finally I should like to thank all who have helped us with our work both directly and indirectly, most especially Ethicon who make the whole system possible. Bhavnita Borkhatria, International Development Manager at ASGBI, has been our sheet anchor and stalwart support for many years; she is to marry in May and we wish her a long and happy future Russell Lock Chairman IDC 35 Document G REPORT FROM THE NOMINATIONS COMMITTEE Committee and workings: The committee comprises the Presidents or deputies of the general surgical specialty associations and societies, who each score independently during a two-week period and have one meeting where the consolidated mark sheet is reviewed and scrutinised for inconsistencies and adjusted before submissions are placed in rank order. It is a lot of work and must be co-ordinated with our all contributers to meet ACCEA deadlines and input to the Colleges processes. ‘Thanks’ is too small a word for the excellent work that Suzy Mercer has put into managing our system; she will be greatly missed. Laura Andrews takes over and I am sure will do a splendid job. I demit from office as Chairman at this AGM and wish my successor well. Submissions for 2011 awards: We received 75 applications from members for consideration. Applications were scored independently and then marks collated to produce a ranking order. After scrutiny for inconsistencies across the scoring, the lists were agreed and submitted to ACCEA. We were allowed to nominate 12 National Bronze, 5 Silver and 4 Gold. We received 9 applications for Platinum and although we rank them and write citations if asked to do so, it is only the Royal Colleges through the Academy who are permitted to submit to ACCEA. Unfair? I believe so, but, despite our protestations on your behalf, that is how it is. Citations: I must thank wholeheartedly all those who wrote citations. It is a huge chore, which goes unsung, but we are led to believe that it is the quality of these which determine the influence exerted by the profession on ACCEA. If asked next year, can writers please ensure that the content adds to the submission by placing achievements in context and maybe provides further material if available. Results of the 2010 round: ASGBI members achieved the following: 1 Gold, 3 Silver and 6 National Bronze. For SACDA, we had no requests for support for A+ awards. 3 members were successful at ‘A’ level and 3 at ‘B’ Level. The Future: The political moves to limit, reduce or even abolish awards is opposed by the Association. This particular hare was started by Ms Nicola Sturgeon, the Scottish Minister of Health. The Scottish Executive is clearly taking the view that the Scheme in Scotland (SACDA) should go, and have reduced the awards and will make no new ones for the moment. Meantime, the DOH has reduced the number of awards made in England and Wales and wishes to abolish the scheme. ASGBI has submitted its views directly to the DDRB and also to the ACCEA. It points out that performance related pay, which is essentially what the CEA scheme is all about, is in widespread use across many sectors both private and public. It is not possible to ‘prove’ the worth of a scheme such as ours and a judgement has to be made. The risk for the NHS is that, if the scheme is scrapped or curtailed to the point where it becomes meaningless to the average surgeon, it will be yet another dis-incentive for surgeons to involve themselves in anything much else above strict contractual requirements and will certainly be provide a swansong for academic surgery. Since clinicians are the natural leaders and those who almost without exception are the ones who innovate and develop services, demolition of the scheme or dissemination into local performance related schemes could prove very damaging. Important as is the monetary worth of an award, so also is the kudos. It acknowledges achievements over and above contractual requirements. The competition is fierce and, in my view, there should be more awards rather than fewer. Some feel that there should be greater weighting for volume and quality of clinical work, but the local schemes should address this aspect. Whatever criticisms we may have, there is no doubt in my mind that if the scheme is lost, the NHS will ultimately be the loser. I urge that we speak with a united voice. The battleground will be on the worth of the scheme in the eyes of the DDRB and our politicians. Denis Wilkins Chairman, ASGBI Nominations and Awards Committee 36 Document K REPORT FROM THE WEBSITE MANAGEMENT GROUP The Website Management Group has continued to concentrate on the development of the Association’s communication strategy. The website remains the pivotal means by which we inform our membership and anyone who visits the site, and needs to remain vibrant, interesting, eye-catching and relevant. We like to feel we are achieving these aims, but are always open to suggestions and criticism – as well as any plaudits. For the membership, the Regional Pages remain a vital source of information, and we have pretty much been able to completely populate all the pages now, thanks to the efforts of our Elected Regional Representatives on Council. The project to have Discussion Boards is in an advanced stage of being ready, but was beset by some technical issues. Once ‘live’, we hope members will use them to seek clarification, air controversies and enjoy discussion of important and relevant issues. The most exciting development over the last year has been the production of an ASGBI Congress ‘App’, which will be launched shortly before the start of the Bournemouth International Surgical Congress. Recognising that more and more members are integrating smart phone technology into their working and social lives, we decided to investigate the possibility of producing an iPhone App for the Congress, understanding that, if successful, navigating oneself around and within the Congress could take on a new meaning. Virtually all of the information, currently only available in hard copy, could be provided ‘live’ (and, therefore, take into account any last minute changes) in a way that virtually no other UK congress has ever provided. Much behind the scenes work has gone into the production of the App and we are as excited about this project as almost anything else we have produced. Our sincere hope is that it will prove very popular and useful, and we certainly would wish for as much feedback as possible. We already acknowledge that the current App will only be available for iPhone users, and will not be usable for those using Blackberry or Android phones, but monetary constraints meant that we had to start with one system alone. The App will allow delegates to: • • • • • Preview Guest Speakers’ biographies. Search the Scientific Programme. Review the four Parallel Conferences. Checkout the Exhibitors. Navigate around the venue and social events using maps. and much more ... It will be a free download, and we hope that it prove to be cutting edge excitement for all our technophiles. It is interesting that, less than a year ago, I published the results of a member survey in which we looked at the somewhat futuristic possibilities of using smartphone and other technologies for members interacting with ASGBI. There was some considerable support for an iPhone App, but not enough at the time to warrant the expenditure. However, UK sales of iPhones have risen almost exponentially in the past year and it has become imperative that we respond to the opportunities that such technological advances provide organisations like ASGBI. Nicholas Markham ASGBI Director of Informatics 37 Document L REPORT FROM THE UEMS 38 Document M REPORT FROM THE FSSA The Federation of Surgical Specialty Associations is the corporate body of the nine SAC-defined Specialty Surgical Associations, through which it represents and coordinates the views, aims and policies of surgeons from across the United Kingdom and Ireland. The Federation aims to provide a unique source of unbiased specialist advice on surgical matters to the Health Departments of the UK, Republic of Ireland and beyond and to be a source of specialist advice to all four Surgical Royal Colleges. Further, the FSSA provides a forum to debate issues pertinent to all the Surgical Specialty Associations. The FSSA is comprises the Presidents of the nine SAC-defined specialities. The current president is Mr Derek Fawcett and he demits office in July 2011. The FSSA is acutely aware of the fact that it has a low profile amongst most working surgeons, many of whom will be unaware of its existence! However, the current membership is keen to redress this. In this regard, it is noteworthy that the FSSA has figured prominently in the national press on two occasions recently. The first of these related to the publication of agreed standards for the care of emergency surgical patients irrespective of speciality, and the second to the issue of "procedures of limited clinical effectiveness". This latter has taken up a substantial amount of FSSA time in the last twelve months. As many of you will be aware, lists of procedures deemed of low clinical effectiveness were gleaned from PCT records and largely based on the numbers of these procedures carried out in different areas. The outcomes have caused consternation! Procedures such as joint replacement and bariatric surgery were deemed of low clinical effectiveness. The FSSA has met with senior managers from the Department of Health. It is now agreed that there will be no definitive list held by the Department. Further, they have agreed, in future, that there will be involvement of surgeons in discussion of these issues. Finally, it is interesting to note that the term is now being changed to procedures of limited value. In matters such as this, the FSSA is well placed to represent the interests of all surgeons without appearing partisan to a particular specialty or College interest. Another issue that has been debated extensively within the FSSA is that of SPA (Supporting Professional Activities) tariffs. As many of you will be aware that the Royal College of Surgeons of England has stated categorically that all surgeons, on appointment, should be offered 7.5:2.5 DPA:SPA split in a 10 PA contract. This is at variance with what actually happens in Wales and Scotland (where many appointments are 9:1 or 8:2). The FSSA view is that some flexibility is required in order that RSPAs have some leeway in approving job descriptions, the concern being that too intransigent approach may result in either the post being withdrawn or Trusts proceeding irrespective of the Profession's opinion. The FSSA keenly supports the Surgical Forum which comprises the nine Speciality Association Presidents as well as the Presidents of the four Surgical Royal Colleges. This group, it is felt, truly reflects British and Irish surgery and might be the conduit by which a single voice of surgery may be heard. Professor John MacFie President 39 Document N REPORT FROM THE SAC IN GENERAL SURGERY On behalf of my colleagues on the SAC, I would like to acknowledge Peter Lamont’s contribution as chairman over the last three years. He has led the SAC with a great deal of common sense and good humour. Much of this report will describe topics which Peter has initiated and are now developing. The ISCP 2010 curriculum was implemented in August. Most trainees now have their training defined by this curriculum. The SAC has decided that a minimum number of work place based assessments should be completed each year (12 each of mini-CEX, CBDs and PBAs with an annual mini-PAT) and 50% of these should be assessed by a Consultant trainer. All of the index operations now have PBAs. The two existing surgical logbooks (ASGBI and Faculty of Health Informatics, RCS Ed) will be merged in August 2011 and it is planned to establish a link to the Endoscopy JETS logbook to allow single recording of endoscopy experience. By the time of this AGM, the first round of National Selection into ST3 in General Surgery will have been completed. This has been based on the pilots undertaken last year which confirmed a standard approach could be adopted for application and interviewing. This has been led by Gareth Griffiths who chairs the National Selection Board on behalf of the SAC. The Board has devised an application form and the scenarios for the interview panels. A standard approach to interviewer training has been developed to ensure consistency. All applicants meeting the essential criteria were invited for interview. There were a total of 548 applications for approximately 75 ST3 posts in England and Wales. A parallel process has also been undertaken in Scotland, and there are planned discussions to explore a pan-National approach. During the last 12 months, the SAC has been pursuing subspecialty recognition for Breast, Upper GI, Colorectal, Transplant and Endocrine with the GMC. This has required two GMC panel meetings and a revision of the ISCP curriculum to include subspecialty syllabi. During the process, the GMC stipulated that any subspecialty curriculum should be free-standing and open to anyone be they pre or post CCT. This was an unexpected criterion and has resulted in a review of the application pending further discussion with the RCS Presidents and within ASGBI. The 2009 / 2010 Annual Specialty Report, which is part of the QA process of JCST submitted to the GMC, highlighted areas of good practice in training as well as areas where there are problems. Trainees continue to be well supported with access to excellent opportunities. The EWTR continues to limit exposure to training, and there are restrictions on trainers’ time as there is limited inclusion of training in consultant job plans. An increasing number of trainees are approaching the end of training with limited logbook content reflecting a challenge between competence and experience. As a result, a logbook review is now included in the evidence for application for the award of a CCT. The SAC has developed standards for training in General Surgery as part of the ongoing JCST QA work. These will be combined with generic standards, and are expected to be implemented from August. They will form the basis of a revised trainee questionnaire to record trainees’ experience and inform the QA process. The SAC is particularly keen to see increased input into training QA, a view supported by ASiT. As the effects of the White Paper on Developing the Healthcare Workforce evolves, there will be opportunities for direct professional input into the content and QA of training both locally and nationally. Finally, a recurrent theme in the Annual Specialty Report is the excess of trainees expressing subspecialty interests whereas opportunities at Consultant level are predictably limited. The SAC is working with the Centre for Workforce Intelligence to ensure manpower number predictions support adequate training in both general surgery and its subspecialties. I am very grateful for the support and advice of colleagues on the SAC during my first year and, as ever, acknowledge the excellent assistance of the JCST secretariat, William Allum Chair, SAC in General Surgery 40 Document O REPORT FROM CORESS (Confidential Reporting System in Surgery) Since the last ASGBI Congress, CORESS has had an active year. There has been a significant upsurge in the number of case reports submitted for publication in Feedback reports in the ASGBI Newsletter, the Annals of the Royal College of Surgeons of England and The Surgeon, the Journal of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh. The number of published CORESS reports has now passed the 100 mark. A number of surgical specialty associations, including the Vascular Society, BAUS and BOA have agreed to accept relevant reports for publication in their specialty newsletters. An abbreviated electronic version of CORESS Feedback (called Coress Lite) has been introduced to allow dissemination of “bite-sized” vignettes, via specialty association websites and emails. Articles about CORESS have been published in the Bulletin of the RCS England and the ASiT Yearbook, raising the profile of the charity. CORESS has also achieved its goal of independent charitable status. Through the efforts of Nick Gair and Suzy Mercer, Memorandum and Articles were drawn up in line with Charity Commission guidelines. The charity was launched by Sir Bruce Keogh, NHS Medical Director, at a reception at the House of Lords, hosted by the Chairman of the CORESS Board, the Viscount Bridgeman, on Thursday 10th June 2010. This event received useful publicity and media interest. In order to encourage wider reporting of incidents with educational value from the surgical specialties, a system of Specialty Programme Directors for CORESS, with nominated individuals taking on a defined role and responsibility for generating CORESS reports has been instigated for the specialty associations and societies. Initial incumbents in the majority of specialties have already taken up their roles. CORESS was involved in organising and contributing to a successful ‘Safety in Surgery’ session at the ASGBI 2010 Congress in Liverpool, which received favourable feedback. Participants in the session included Stephanie Bown, Director MPS; Iain Wilson, President of the Association of Anaesthetists, and Martin Lee, past Chief Executive, Coventry and Warwick University Hospital. Over the past year, the CORESS Programme Director has spoken on behalf of CORESS at: ¾ Combined Meeting of the Royal Society of Medicine Section of Surgery and the Department of Surgery, University of North Carolina, USA, in May 2010. ¾ Annual Meeting of the Society British Neurological Surgeons, in London, September 2010. ¾ Winter Meeting of Section of Surgery, Royal Society of Medicine. CORESS continues to play a role on the NPSA National Safety Reporting Network and the NPSA Clinical Board for Surgical Safety, chaired by John Black, President RCSEng. CORESS liaises with the Medicine and Healthcare Regulatory Agency with respect to the exchange of information for publication and medical device safety. Work is underway to index the bank of CORESS reports to enable retrieval of reports on specific safety issues, via a system of key words and topics. During 2011, Suzy Mercer has moved on from ASGBI to a new position working for a prominent international charity. We owe her a debt of gratitude for her developmental work with CORESS and we welcome Laura Andrews who takes over the role as CORESS Administrator. Finally, the work of the Advisory Committee, representatives of all the Surgical and allied Associations must be acknowledged. Without these individuals, informed and objective commentary on CORESS reports would not be possible. If you have anecdotal experience which may help others to avoid an adverse surgical event, please send us a report in 2011: www.coress.org.uk Frank C T Smith CORESS Programme Director 41 Document P REPORT FROM THE SURGICAL FOUNDATION In 1920, the Association of Surgeons of Great Britain and Ireland was founded. For 90 years, ASGBI has promoted the art and science of surgery for public benefit. As a registered charity, it has provided surgical education and training including continuing professional development for consultants and trainees. The Charities Act (2006) and the Companies Act (2006) have undergone their final stages of implementation. The detail within them mandated, from a governance perspective, the separation of the Association of Surgeons into two entities to manage the separate activities of membership benefits from the charitable activities. The separation took place with effect from 1st January 2009, with the Membership Company splitting from the charity. In December 2010, the definitive Board of Trustees took over from a Shadow Board of Trustees to run The Surgical Foundation. The Fellows of ASGBI were members of the old charity, but are now members of the Membership Company (ASGBI Ltd). This semantic, but legally required, change will now allow the Association to move forwards on a secure footing to provide for its members and to continue to support the Association’s activities into the future. During the past year, the Surgical Foundation has been very active. The Foundation has: • • • • • • • • Contributed to a published Consensus Statement on Patient Safety. Delivered a symposium on knife injury at the 2010 annual ASGBI Congress in Liverpool. Awarded 15 International Bursaries to surgical trainees from developing countries (7 Bursaries awarded in 2009). Engaged with the Metropolitan Police and social services around the issue of knife injuries. Delivered a one-day Consensus Conference jointly with ASGBI and the Metropolitan Police on The Management of Knife Injuries. Funded the Moynihan Travelling Fellowship. Awarded Overseas Surgical Fellowships. Run Basic Surgical Skills Courses in East and West Africa. The joint Consensus Conference with the Metropolitan Police on the topic of Knife Injuries was well received, with a strong sense of moving forward in partnership with the police to make inroads into tackling this aspect of penetrating injury. The initiatives that have been started in London will be rolled out to other high incidence areas with active support from The Surgical Foundation. Birmingham and Liverpool are the next cities. The Foundation is actively seeking to contribute to the science behind interventions that may reduce the incidence of such injuries. The Foundation is also pursuing a drive to support surgeons to be able to cope with the consequences of knife injury. With the Board of Trustees now in place, the Foundation is on course not only to support the charitable aims of the Association, but to extend these opportunities for public benefit. Jonathan Pye Past Chairman of the Shadow Board of Trustees 42