News
New faces on the BOMSS Council
April 2012
The term of office of some BOMSS Council members is shortly due to expire. At the recent AGM, it was also decided to expand the Council by two full (Consultant) members and one AHP member. In light of this, elections have been held for these posts.
The people due to demit office are Mr Richard Welbourn, Mr Michael Rhodes, Mr Peter Sedman (full members) and Ms Andi Fox-Hiley (AHP member). They are due thanks them for their service and for all their hard work on behalf of the BOMSS Council over the past few years.
Those elected to Council are Mr Richard Welbourn (re-elected), Mr Shaw Somers, Mr Sean Woodcock, Mr Vinod Menon, Mr Peter Small (full members) and the new AHP Representatives are Ms Gail Pinnock and Mr Ken Clare. They will take up office following the Council meeting at the forthcoming DDF meeting in Liverpool in June.
NBSR update
February 2012
The NBSR report published in April 2011 demonstrated safety of surgery in more than 8,000 patients in the UK with low complication rates. The one- and two-year follow up data showed impressive improvement in obesity-related disease. At the NBSR Workshop session at the BOMSS 2012 Annual Scientific Meeting in Bristol, Mr Richard Welbourn highlighted the results and presented to the membership work in progress for discussion as the Registry evolves. Members who wish to be involved should send expressions of interest to Mr Alberic Fiennes, Chair of the NBSR Committee via Harriet Innes at the BOMSS office, email: harriet@augis.org
BOMSS supports Obesity Symposium
January 2012
London 2012: the Future of Obesity Treatment aims to review the current status of obesity treatment and to discuss how best to address the challenges in the future. Some of the world's leading authorities will address this challenging topic and the meeting will also be as interactive as possible with expert panel discussions and a final debate on the different treatment options.
The meeting is open to general practitioners, surgeons, physicians, diabetologists, endocrinologists, gastroenterologists, endoscopists, commissioners and managers, all of whom face their own specific challenges in this evolving field. Trainees and allied health care professionals involved in the specialist management of patients suffering from obesity will also benefit from attending.
The International Symposium will take place on February 3, 2012 at the Royal College of Physicians in London. See the website for further information and registration - http://www.chelwest.nhs.uk/obesitysymposium
Gianluca Bonanomi MD FRCS, Carel le Roux PhD MRCP, Bobby Prasad FRCPI
BOMSS members - we need your help!
November 2011
Following on from Mr Conor Magee’s presentation to Nurses / AHPs at the AUGIS conference in Belfast your help is needed to gain more information on the incidence and management of late hypoglycaemia following gastric bypass surgery.
Please visit the website below to complete the questionnaire:
www.wlsinfo.org.uk/index/rheostat
Overseas posting
October 2011
A Fellowship opportunity has arisen in Auckland from Jan 2012 - Jan 2013 due to the trainee in post taking a consultant job. If you are considering a period of fellowship overseas and are interested in Bariatric surgery please contact Mr Michael Booth directly at Michael.Booth@waitematadhb.govt.nz. The feedback from the trainee in post last year was excellent.
The successful applicant will need to be post-FRCS or equivalent and be interested in learning advanced laparoscopic skills including intracorporeal suturing and stapling.
Abstract submission for Bristol is open
October 2011
Abstract submission for the BOMSS Annual Scientific Meeting to be held in Bristol on 19 and 20 January, 2012 is now open. The closing date for submission of abstracts is 09.00hrs on Monday, 5 December 2011.
Notification of chosen abstracts will be by 16 December 2011 in order to ensure that presented work is as up-to-date and relevant as possible. We recommend you apply for study leave well before this date to ensure that you are able to present your work at the meeting five weeks later.
There will be a BOMSS council prize presentation session in addition to free paper sessions, poster and poster of distinction presentations. Once again, we would like to encourage Affiliate members to submit abstracts for presentation.
We are also delighted to announce that to date Professor Klim McPherson, author of the Foresight Report, Professor Philip James, President of IASO, and Professor Antonio Torres, President of IFSO Europe will be speaking at the meeting.
The Organising Committee has put together an excellent social programme which includes the Annual Dinner at The Royal Marriott, Bristol. We hope we shall see as many of you as possible in Bristol.
Review of higher surgical trainees
September 2011
AUGIS and BOMSS - with endorsement from the surgical Specialist Advisory Committee (SAC), the Joint Committee on Surgical Training (JCST) and the Royal College of Surgeons of England (RCSEng) is undertaking a review of higher surgical trainees who have declared a sub-speciality interest in upper gastrointestinal surgery through the surgical curriculum and placement evaluation.
The aim of this review is to obtain a clear picture of the number of trainees in the UK and Ireland with a sub-speciality interest in upper gastrointestinal surgery.
This data will be used to inform the ongoing workforce planning debate and will be presented at Belfast in September. All data will be confidential and individual responses will be anonymous.
Please click on the following link for the survey: https://spreadsheets.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dEJoUHRiM2E3ZnhtRXBZa3dnUGFNcVE6MQ
Please do not reply more than once as the survey will be circulated via your Deanery and JCST for complete data.
New council members
September 2011
Congratulations to Mary O’Kane and Alan Osborne who have been elected to the BOMSS Council.
Mary has been elected to serve on the Council as affiliate representative. Mary is a dietician, working in Leeds and is actively involved in providing a dietetic service to patients who attend surgical and medical obesity clinics.
Alan Osborne, who is based in Bristol, has been elected to the committee as Trainee representative.
The Zurich ulcer survey
July 2011
The Professor Clavien is studying recurring anastomotic ulcers which constitute a serious challenge for bariatric surgeons. He and his team are currently running an internet-based survey on the management of anastomotic ulcers after Roux-Y-Gastric-Bypass. The survey will be used to learn more about how expert bariatric surgeons deal with intractable marginal ulcers.
BOMSS members are encouraged to take three minutes to complete the survey which can be found here: www.ulcer.ch.vu.
IDF announces new surgery guidelines
July 2011
The International Diabetes Federation (IDF) released a Position Statement calling for bariatric surgery to be considered earlier in the treatment of eligible patients, to help stem the serious complications that can result from diabetes. The full report can be read below:
Clinical Excellence Awards 2012 - England and Wales
June 2011
As you may know the Clinical Excellence Awards scheme is currently under review by the Review Body on Doctors’ and Dentists’ Remuneration (DDRB). Please note:
- This award is for Consultant Members of BOMSS.
- Deadline for BOMSS submission: Midnight on Wednesday 13 July 2011.
The Department of Health has recently submitted a further paper to the DDRB asking them to consider whether the 2012 Round should include applications for new awards. The alternative is that the 2012 Round is run for renewal applications only. The DDRB have been asked to make a recommendation on this when they report. For more information, please download the following documents:
- Letter from ACCEA
- ACCEA Application
- Form D 2012 - Research and Innovation
- Form E 2012 - Teaching and Training
- Form F 2012 - Management and Leadership
NBSR Report is launched
May 2011
We are delighted to announce that the National Bariatric Surgery Register report has been published - the first comprehensive, prospective, nationwide analysis of outcomes from bariatric surgery in the United Kingdom and Ireland.
It contains pooled national outcome data for bariatric and metabolic surgery in the United Kingdom. Eighty four surgeons and their teams working at 86 hospitals contributed data on patients treated up to March 2010.
The document is available as a free pdf download to AUGIS and BOMSS members via: www.e-dendrite.com/nbsr
BOMSS and AUGIS members have already received via email a promotional code and exact details of entitlement which will enable a download from Dendrite from its website for no charge. (Please note that copyright restrictions still apply to the pdf).
Surgeons who have contributed to the database will receive a free hardback copy of the report by post. If required, additional copies may be purchased online from Dendrite's e-bookshop: www.e-dendrite.com/publishing/reports
Click here to view an extract of the report
Members of the NBSR Data Committee are Alberic Fiennes, Marcus Reddy, Simon Dexter, Bruce Tulloh, Michael Rhodes and Peter Sedman.
