President's Jun 2023 Newsletter
from Jo Cresswell
09 June 2023
(Last updated: 22 Feb 2024 20:57)
I am very excited at the prospect of my first BAUS Annual Meeting as President of the Association.
Ian Pearce and Joe Philip have put together a fantastic programme. Harry Heald has provided exemplary management for the event, even with two vacancies in his team. Hannah Doyle has kindly stepped in to support. Thank you everyone who is participating. I know we will enjoy a fantastic three days of education, debate and networking.
“Big BAUS”, as it is often known, will once more provide a showcase of what BAUS members value most – our community of urologists.
Click here to see the programme. NOTE: online registration closes at 10.00hr on 15 June 2023
I am sure many of our wonderful speakers are putting the final touches to their presentations and I am no different. I am looking forward to sharing with you the new developments we have been working on. I realise that for many colleagues, BAUS is a 3-day event once per year. We all have busy professional and personal lives.
For myself, BAUS leaders and staff, we live and breathe the work of BAUS every day and sometimes forget that members are treated to snapshots of BAUS work at meetings and through newsletters and social media releases. The reality is that not a day goes by without behind-the-scenes representation of urology colleagues, development of educational resources, planning of events and day-to-day running pf the charity.
The BAUS Strategic Plan
This year, at the Annual Meeting, we will be sharing the BAUS Strategic Plan for 2023 - 2026. In addition, I am delighted to share that BAUS Trustees have commissioned a progressive web app which is in development now. A working group is providing subject matter expertise and we hope to have a prototype for you to see very soon. We also have exciting news about the next steps for our SAS@BAUS group. A new initiative at this year’s annual meeting includes a “BSoT Buddies” project. Enthusiastic colleagues in training have been matched with our visiting speakers to facilitate networking with key opinion leaders and local support for our guests. Thank you to Nick Boxall for all his hard work with this.
RCS England Surgical Workforce Census - your opportunity to participate
As part of our strategic plan, we are working with partners (Colleges and Specialty Associations) to lobby for workforce planning.
The Royal College of Surgeons of England would like to invite you to participate in their UK-wide surgical workforce census. They are keen to better understand how the workforce is evolving to meet current service challenges, and work with government & other external agencies to help resolve the most pressing issues. The census takes about 10 minutes to complete – click here. The deadline for submitting returns is 13 June 2023.
Elections & appointments
Congratulations to Mo Belal and Shabi Ahmad, our new Honorary Secretary Elect and Honorary Treasurer Elect, respectively. Congratulations to Arjun Nambiar who is the new regional representative for the North East and Naeem Soomro, our newly elected Royal College of Surgeons of England Council representative. Steve Garnett was elected unopposed for a second tenure as Kent, Surrey and Sussex regional representative.
Mo Belal
(Hon Secretary Elect)
Shabi Ahmad
(Hon Treasurer Elect)
Naeem Soomro
(RCSE Council Rep)
We are all incredibly grateful to Nick Watkin (completing his tenure as Honorary Treasurer) and Ian Pearce (completing his tenure as Honorary Secretary). Both colleagues have put a huge amount of work into making the last two years very successful for BAUS. Ian, of course, is also Vice President of BAUS and will be leading the organisation as President for 2024 - 2026. Thanks also go to Jonathan Glass (who completed his tenure as RCS England Council Representative) and Mark Johnson (stepping down as North East Regional representative). Dan Burke will also be stepping down as North West representative later in the Summer and we are eager to hear from enthusiastic colleagues in the region who would be interested in nomination. The North West is a large group of urology professionals who contribute a lot to BAUS nationally.
Finally, Nick Boxall will be stepping down at BAUS this month after a very successful tenure as BSoT Chair. We thank Nick for all his work and welcome Sarika Nalagatla as his successor.
Regional BAUS
I have been very fortunate to be able to participate in regional meetings since January – South Central, East of England, North London and also the International British Urology Society (IBUS) which was held in Birmingham recently.
The Urology Foundation
Thank you to everyone for supporting the TUF/BAUS “Best of the Best” regional poster session at 11.30hr on the 21 June 2023 at BAUS. This is a new initiative this year. Please come to support your regional trainees who are competing for the inaugural trophy and a £500 prize. We hope to continue this session as a regular event at BAUS Annual Meetings.
BAUS and TUF continue to work in partnership on a number of events. We are grateful to TUF for supporting our “Best of the Best” regional poster competition by supporting registration and travel expenses for presenting trainees.
On Wednesday morning TUF are running a breakfast session to ask your opinion about TUF strategy for the future.
Let's not forget the event of the week, the BSoT-TUF Fun Run on Tuesday morning at 07.00hr, leaving the front entrance of the ICC. You need to register to participate. It will be great fun. A fun-loving group with a range of athletic abilities. Come along to run, jog, walk and chat to colleagues. BSoT representatives look after us all very well, making sure we don’t lose our way ... or our sense of humour.
If the BSOT-TUF 5km whets your appetite, then sign up with TUF to join me for the Great North Run on the 10 September 2023. Mary Garthwaite is an influencer and a persuasive force. I will be running the GNR for only the second and possibly last time. I ran my only half marathon in the year 2000. That is 23 years ago, and I am sure there is a good reason why I haven’t registered again. Several wonderful colleagues have also signed up: Sophie Rintoul-Hoad, Sarika Nalagatla, Andy Moon, Kamran Haq. There is still room for one more and, frankly, I need all the help I can get. Watch this space for our Just Giving appeals nearer the time.
Whilst on the subject of TUF, I would like to share the following invitation from Mary Garthwaite, Chair of The Urology Foundation:
Dear BAUS member
The Urology Foundation is developing its new 3-year Research Strategy and we want as many people as possible to help shape this. By completing this short 5-minute questionnaire you will be helping to identify the key questions and research areas we should prioritise.
This is the survey link. We'd be grateful if you could complete this as soon as possible, and by Friday 30th June at the latest, when the survey will close.
Thank you in advance for your time and input.
Forthcoming events
BSUR & BAUS Endourology Joint Meeting - 14 & 15 September 2023, Harrogate
We are delighted to invite you to the Joint Annual Meeting British Society of Urogenital Radiology & BAUS Endourology Section on 14 & 15 September 2023 at Harrogate Convention Centre.
The preliminary programme, abstract submission, meeting registration and BSUR workshop registration (13 September) are now available via this link. Closing date for submission of abstracts is 10 July 2023 and early bird registration rates are available up to 12 noon on 9 August 2023.
Other dates for your diary
National Kidney Cancer Audit
As many of you will know, a National Kidney Cancer Audit has been commissioned this year and Grant Stewart will be leading on behalf of UK Urologists. The following fellowship opportunities are available to support the audit:
NATAN CLINICAL FELLOWS | KIDNEY CANCER SPECIFIC FELLOW
And finally ...
Thank you to everyone who continues to contribute so much to BAUS. I look forward to seeing as many of you as possible at the BAUS 2023 Annual Meeting in Birmingham.
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