Simon Hodkinson – Incoming President

As I write this piece, I am acutely aware that soon I will take up the mantle of President of this august association. I am looking forward to the day with excitement, but balanced with a healthy dose of fear and trepidation. I am acutely aware of the challenges that our profession has in front of it and the calibre of the people who have gone before me and, as I know them, will follow me.

Every President has a theme to their year in post and mine is to be you, the Trauma and Orthopaedic workforce in all its forms. My predecessor has focused on sustainable systems in our profession, and I intend to extend this theme to us, the workforce. We have emerged from the pandemic thankfully, but we have a workforce challenged as never before in the NHS and not in the best of health.

We have some of the brightest and best in the world in our profession, yet we are struggling to cope in this post-pandemic world. We need to recruit to our profession, sustain surgeons through these turbulent times and retain what we have for as long, as we can to get back on our feet.

I am well aware that these aims are easy to say, yet anything but easy to achieve. I do not pretend to have the answers, but I intend to make sure that in the recovery to come – and we will recover – you, the workforce in all its forms will remain front and centre in all my dealings in the coming year. I look forward to meeting as many of you as I can in September and working for you all in the coming year.