From the President

Deborah Eastwood

A kind word is like a spring day... ot lifts your spirits (East European Proverb)

As the snowdrops and daffodils flower and the sun brings warmth as well as light, we remember Clare’s joy in living and the strength she imparted with a warm smile and a kind word allowing those she met to thrive and grow.

Since Congress, our focus has been on growing and developing sustainable systems. At grass roots level all around the country, we have sown the seeds of projects on recruitment and retention, on new ways to educate, on recycling, on innovations to reduce our footprint and already, green shoots are appearing. Jointly with the NJR, we have appointed two Sustainable Surgery Fellows – Hammad Parwaiz and Rohan Prakash – and look forward to seeing their ideas flourish and bear fruit! We hope to be advertising fellowships for trauma surgery shortly.

We have finally made contact with the MHRA and been able to discuss the implications of the MDR and the UKCA marking. We have agreed to meet regularly and work more closely together to ensure a better understanding between regulators, industry and those who implant the devices for the benefit of our patients: perhaps common sense has won through?

Our BOA working party has produced guidance documents with respect to mitigating the risks of breast cancer in our female surgical colleagues by reducing exposure to ionising radiation and ensuring our PPE is fit for purpose. We are working with industry colleagues to devise suitable garments to improve protection to those at risk.

As part of a collaborative effort with BAPRAS and driven by Fergal Monsell and an able team of colleagues, the BOA has produced a series of webinars to support our colleagues in the Ukraine: these have now been edited to provide generic material for all those faced with disaster situations. We are working with WOC and colleagues at OrthoHub to develop further potential educational resources for those in low and middle income areas. Sustainable systems are important here too and may include the ability to service and repair existing equipment as much as sending ‘new’ materials.

I have had the opportunity to visit many colleagues around the UK and enjoyed celebrating Burns Night and ‘Stripping the Willow’ at the SCOT meeting: it was their first face-to-face meeting for some time and the joy and camaraderie was clear to see and the science was impressive. The STEP project reported that sadly, an unhappy and confrontational workplace culture was too common in departments across Scotland. At least we have now defined the problem and can set about putting it right.

But as spring arrives, we have to acknowledge that there are still many problems to face and a disenfranchised workforce is perhaps of most concern. The changes we have faced over recent years have been significant and challenging, and we must continue to support each other whilst challenging for further change. We hope that we are making some progress in presenting our case to those in government who might be able to change, for the better, the challenges we face. We were proud that the statement issued in support of our surgical teams was signed by all three Royal Colleges, all surgical specialty associations and all surgical trainee associations: all surgeons speaking with one voice and this is a position of some strength.

Growing up, one of my favourite novels was Anne of Green Gables, the author LM Montgomery was quoted as saying that ‘nothing ever seems impossible in spring’ so as we continue to face our local, regional and national challenges let us remember that and keep a smile on our face.