From the Executive Editor

Deborah Eastwood

Congress is almost here! I can hardly believe it! Simon Hodkinson has asked us all to focus on the workforce this year with the theme of Recruit, Sustain, Retain being at the heart of all we have done. So it is totally appropriate that our Congress edition of the JTO has the workforce as our theme. As surgeons we have been working within an extended surgical team for some time and have long recognised the importance of multidisciplinary working. The names associated with various roles seem to have changed significantly over recent months and as always, change can be unsettling. The articles by Bill Allum representing the RCSE (p56) and by Adrian Andronic and Karen Chui for BOTA (p63) discuss the importance of understanding our recent workforce data. Sally Stuart (p66) discusses the extended surgical team whilst Catherine Armstrong and Rachel Daw (p40) concentrate on the role of advanced clinical practitioners. Marc Patterson (p60) reminds us that there is more to work than what we think of as the ‘routine’! He suggests we explore and expand our boundaries to reinvigorate our joy in life!

Our patients and our colleagues deserve kindness and respect and Deiary Kader and Paul Banaszkiewicz’s article (p32) is timely – we must beware of the rise of incivility and the real harm that is associated with it: they ask us to embrace the concept of radical candour or respectful confrontation and foster reciprocal respect.

It has been fun to read the SpecSoc reports and whether you are an elbow surgeon or a hip surgeon or feel that the big toe is our most important bit, the reports remind us that we are all part of one body and as such the BOA continues to work with you and for you.

If we need reminding, and I think we do from time to time, that it is the patient at the heart of all we do, then Katy Blackmore’s article (p28) asking ‘Do you see me?’ is an essential read. We must improve our ‘humanness’.

We know not all patients are the same and the elite athletes that we have been admiring recently as they throw further, run faster and jump higher are most definitely not your ‘average’ 9am appointment. The medico-legal article (p50) asks you to protect yourself whilst you accept the challenges of caring for them.

This editorial marks the end of my ‘formal’ involvement at leadership level of the BOA. I have thoroughly enjoyed the variety of tasks that I have worked on over the last few years and I must end with a big thank you to all who have helped me and worked with me at regional and national levels.

I would recommend anyone who cares about their profession to consider joining the BOA Band be it as lead guitarist, roadie or stage manager. Last year in Liverpool I asked my international speakers to incorporate a Beatles title into their talk and thus it seems fitting that I say goodbye with two corny song titles that perhaps speak for my time at BOA HQ: "With a Little Help From My (Our) Friends” “We Can Work It Out!”