A warm hello to you all. A special welcome to our newest members, and a big thank you to our established members for making the BSGE the special society that it is.

 What makes it special? Well we have been the pioneers of prioritising innovative safe and accessible patient care. In tandem we have seized the baton of training, setting standards, benchmarking and working with other professional bodies to deliver the best possible treatments for our patients. In doing so we have laid foundations for the next generation of doctors and nurses to perpetuate this vision.

 We have been at the forefront in meaningfully incorporating multidisciplinary working, embraced innovation and technology, and developed ambulatory care techniques.

 Because of this, we are beyond a single technology, professional body or specialty society, and have grown a broad appeal to all those interested in gynaecological care, including reproductive medicine, oncology, urogynaecology, as well as menstrual health. endometriosis and other benign gynaecological conditions. 

 All of this is the most fantastic base, and I think that with our history coupled with the opportunities available here now in 2024, mean that we can take things to a new level, which is very exciting prospect. 

 What are those opportunities and why is this a good time?

The society is growing, and we have now more than 2000 members. By any reckoning, this represents a healthy society with increasing members and I want to capture that interest. 

 The biggest growth areas have been in trainees as well as nursing colleagues, and therefore it makes perfect sense that our direction should mirror this. 

 Whilst having been involved in many training programs already, the society will continue to stand for and further develop training platforms for surgery and for diagnostics, as well as run comprehensive training and mentoring opportunities for nurse specialists. We also have incorporated an international portfolio to further expand our reach, networking and look at global opportunities and mutually beneficial relationships.

 The promotion of education is at the heart of many of the portfolios on the BSGE council. We continue to work with our partners in Industry to widen access as much as possible for high quality educational meetings. 

 I’m keen that surgical skills and confidence are highlighted as focus areas. We know that general gynaecological surgical training has sadly been a victim of changes in service delivery and the national pandemic, amongst other reasons. Already we have our RIGS and GESEA  programs, have delivered relevant webinars, and above and beyond are looking to develop surgical videos, national observership programs, and bolster fellowship grants. We will look to develop new concepts such as human factors, but also encourage a back to basics understanding of anatomy. Knowledge of retroperitoneal anatomy is the cornerstone for any pelvic surgeon, and it always surprises me that this area is not sufficiently mandated as part of training. This is an area that every trainee I know is interested in furthering their knowledge in, and I want to look to ways of reflecting its importance in training curricular.

 We look forward to embracing the opportunities that innovative technologies such as the robot  offers us. Assessment, development, incorporation and training of such tools is in our DNA. As such, we have a new portfolio for robotics, and we also have a new diagnostic portfolio. 

 For too long, women with endometriosis have suffered with variable access to care and in particular delays in diagnosis. There is no secret about this, and as a society we have a mission statement to bring down diagnostic times.  Part of that is at a grassroots level of trying to encourage better training and skill acquisition for practitioners to diagnose endometriosis.

 We have long heralded changes to our endometriosis centres accreditation afoot, and this is likely to coincide with changes in specialist commissioning.

 All in all, we are a busy society, going places in the most exciting of times. I believe we have the momentum and the wind in our sails to really cohesively change many aspects of the delivery of care for our patients. 

So much to do, so little time, but with a team effort and with your ideas, contributions and willing, I look forward to us getting there.

Arvind Vashisht

BSGE President