Mary Stocker

I hope that you enjoy this second electronic edition of JODS and in particular the reflections, reports and photographs from our Annual Scientific Meeting in Southport. Once again, our Conference Secretary Kian Chin pulled off an outstanding programme of speakers. There were many highlights during the two days however for me one of the biggest revelations was that in Southampton it is possible to have neurosurgery as a day case.  BADS has been working tirelessly with innovators and enthusiasts across the country for years to see opportunities to bring new procedures into the day surgery arena and encourage those who do so to spread the work and support other trusts to follow. Ten years ago we are tackling cholecystectomies and tonsillectomies. Now these are routinely undertaken as day surgery in most trusts across the country however that was certainly not the case 10-15 years ago.  Since that time, we have seen innovations up and down the country which have brought, hysterectomies, nephrectomies, mastectomies, thyroidectomies, unichondylar knee replacements into the realms of day surgery and now neuro-surgery.  There has been a seismic shift over the past decade and the fact that in some centres day surgery is the norm for these major procedures demonstrates that we really are able to support the claim that day surgery should be the standard of care for the majority of elective surgery.  The delegate feedback from our ASM was once again outstanding however we could not fail to notice that delegate numbers were significantly down on previous years.  We are aware that in these cash-strapped times it is difficult for staff to be released from work to attend such meetings and that the costs can also become prohibitive.  At our council meeting in September we will be considering what we can do to make the ASM more accessible to you our membership.  We would greatly value your input into these discussions so please do get in touch with the bads office if you have any suggestions.  If you did not join us in Southport what stopped you from doing so?  In particular should we be looking at more central venues?  Is the delegate registration price too high? If we had a one day meeting rather than two would that make you more or less likely to attend?  All options are on the table but your input would be hugely helpful.  If you were unable to attend the meeting as usual all the lectures were recorded and are now available to watch via the members area of the website.  They are highly recommended.

Last week the “Getting it Right First Time” programme published their National Specialty Report for General Surgery. Getting it right first time is a national programme designed to improve medical care within the NHS by reducing unwarranted variations and sharing best practice between trusts.  In this report they have once again stressed the importance of embracing day surgery and reducing the variation in day surgery rates between trusts.   The GIFT programme aims to serve as a further catalyst to enhance patient care, improve outcomes and drive efficiency.  We very much hope that further adoption of day surgery will be a major focus within this.

Finally I hope you have managed to access this edition of JODS successfully.  As with all new ventures there may be feedback from our users that we need to receive, please send it in so we can strive to continue to improve the service we offer to you our members.