BOA Latest News

BOA Educational Courses

The BOA runs a wide range of courses under the Education Committee. These courses cater to the educational needs of a wide range of members (and non-members in some cases) at all stages of their careers. Upcoming courses include:

Training Orthopaedic Trainers (TOTs)

The underlying premise of TOTs is that if T&O trainers understand how people learn and how the T&O curriculum works, by translating that understanding into action, they should be able to improve their teaching. Much of the work can be done at a time, place and pace convenient to participants, with attendance at live virtual meetings to supplement personal learning. TOTs courses will last for approximately six weeks.

The next Training Orthopaedic Trainers Course (TOTs) is scheduled to begin on Friday 20th September 2024, full course details can be found at: www.boa.ac.uk/TOTs-Friday.

Law for Orthopaedic Surgeons

The course covers topics of surgical relevance including consent, clinical negligence, MPTS hearings and the GMC, court etiquette, coroner’s court, confidentiality, data protection and messaging apps, gross negligence manslaughter, and the pitfalls of social media.

The next Law for Orthopaedic Surgeons course is scheduled to take place on Friday 20th September at the BOA Annual Congress in Birmingham. Full details can be found at: www.boa.ac.uk/law-for-orthopaedic-surgeons-Friday.

Congratulations to new ASSL Leads

The BOA are pleased to welcome three new Associate Surgical Specialty Leads! Our warmest congratulations to Chris Bretherton (Adult Trauma), Abhinav Singh (Paediatrics) and Luke Farrow (Adult Elective). These new ASSLs will support the activities of the existing Surgical Speciality Leads in Orthopaedic Surgery who are Professor Xavier Griffin (Adult Trauma), Professor Dan Perry (Paediatrics) and (Adult Elective currently under recruitment).

GIRFT NAFF pathway

A webinar discussing the GIRFT’s newly published Non-Ambulatory Fragility Fracture (NAFF) pathway was hosted by Professor Tim Briggs and BOA past President Bob Handley on Tuesday 21st May. This guidance focuses on the importance of ensuring all NAFF patients are given equitable access to care. You can watch a recording of the webinar at: https://youtu.be/gSOeOTVjL9Y.

Deborah Eastwood elected to the RCS England Council

Congratulations to our Immediate Past President on her election to the Royal College of Surgeons of England Council. She will begin her term this July.

You can read her statement on the RCS England website at: www.rcseng.ac.uk/news-and-events/news/archive/welcomeelected-council-members-2024.

2024 New Year Honours

In the March edition of JTO, we listed those in the orthopaedic community award New Year Honours. We made an omission and would also like to recognise:

Richard Power, Orthopaedic Surgeon, University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust, Health Action Leicester in Ethiopia, was awarded an MBE for services to Health in Gondar, northern Ethiopia.

UK and Ireland In-Training Examination (UKITE)

The dates for this year’s UKITE are 6th to 13th December 2024. The UKITE is an online annual assessment that allows trainees of all grades to practice for Part 1 of the FRCS (Tr and Orth) examination, with similar formatted questions based on the UK and Ireland T&O Curriculum. Information on UKITE is available on the BOA website at: www.boa.ac.uk/ukite.

FLP applications

Applications for the next round of the popular Future Leaders Programme are open but will close by 23:59 on Tuesday 18th June 2024.

Further information on the programme and how to apply can be found at: www.boa.ac.uk/FLP-applications.

King Charles III has retained his Patronage of the BOA

The BOA is delighted to have received confirmation that His Majesty King Charles III has retained his Patronage of the Association. This follows a review of Royal Patronages and the announcement has been made by Buckingham Palace to mark the first anniversary of Their Majesties’ Coronation.

Simon Hodkinson, President of the BOA: “The BOA has been honoured to have the patronage of His Majesty King Charles III for over 30 years. Since its foundation in 1918, the BOA has sought to drive advancements in patient care and we are proud of the recognition by His Majesty of the life transforming difference that trauma and orthopaedic surgery can make. Through professional standards, education, training and research the BOA strives to contribute to the overall medical and surgical knowledge and best practice, leading to faster recovery, increased mobility and an enhanced quality of life”.

Professor Peter Giannoudis awarded an MBE

Former BOA trustee Professor Peter Giannoudis was awarded an MBE in the 2024 New Year’s Honours and we had the pleasure of joining Peter at a reception in April to celebrate the event.

Peter was awarded the MBE in recognition of his services to Trauma and Orthopaedic Surgery. Alongside his work as Professor of Trauma and Orthopaedics, University of Leeds, Peter is Editor in Chief of Injury, Chair of Global Research Commission at the AO Foundation, President of ESTROT Society and President and founder of the charity, Day One Trauma Support. Formed in 2014, with the support of his patients, with the ambition of helping trauma patients through their recovery and to rebuild their lives. Day One has gone from strength to strength with the vision of expanding to major trauma centres across the UK. The BOA is delighted that Peter has been recognised in this way.

New Speciality Standard (SpecS) on PJI published

A new Speciality Standard (SpecS) on Peri-prosthetic Joint Infection by the BOA, BESS, BHS, BOFAS, BASK and BSSH has been published. Initial management is considered in the relevant BOASt and the purpose of this document is to advise on the definitive management, irrespective of anatomical site. The PJI SpecS can be viewed and downloaded at: www.boa.ac.uk/SpecS-PJI.

The purpose of BOA Speciality Standards (SpecS) is to compliment the BOASt suite of documents. Whilst the BOASts tend to provide standards on emergent management of critical conditions or key aspects of pathways and processes relevant to the orthopaedic community as a whole, the SpecS provide more specific advice on index conditions over a longer period according to recommendations from appropriate experts. Where feasible, they will be based on existent consensus documents or published literature and are intended to provide an auditable set of standards, but not act as a definitive description of management. SpecS will be the remit of individual specialist societies and will typically run to two to three A4 pages and will be colour coded to ensure that they can be easily distinguished from a BOAST.

UK 5-year action plan for antimicrobial resistance

The UK 5-year action plan for antimicrobial resistance 2024 to 2029 has been published by the UK government. The plan will commit the UK to reducing its use of antimicrobials –such as antibiotics, antifungals and antivirals – in humans and animals, strengthen surveillance of drug-resistant infections before they emerge and incentivise industry to develop the next generation of treatments.

The plan commits to continue to innovate through initiatives such as expanding the world-first ‘subscription model’ for antimicrobials, which was launched in 2019 as a pilot. This will see more companies paid a fixed annual fee for antimicrobials based primarily on their value to the NHS, as opposed to the volumes used. The policy paper can be viewed at: www.gov.uk/government/publications/uk-5-yearaction-plan-for-antimicrobial-resistance-2024-to-2029.