Latest News

BOA Educational Courses

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

These are in addition to the BOA Annual Congress, which is our largest learning opportunity, attracting around 2,000 delegates each year.

Courses includes SAS Professional Development Programme, Training Orthopaedic Trainers Course (V-TOTs) & Training Orthopaedic Educational Supervisors (V-TOES) Course & Law for Orthopaedic Surgeons.

Full details of all our courses can be found at www.boa.ac.uk/courses

NICE Guideline on Osteoarthritis: Care and Management (Update)

The final guideline on Osteoarthritis: Care and Management (Update) has now been published on the NICE website, of which the BOA contributed to through stakeholder comments. You can read the full final guideline at www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng226

Work on Registries

We are all aware of the benefits of registries and that good data, analysed by clinicians, supports the best patient care. Trauma and Orthopaedics has for many years led the way in the design and implementation of such registries.

The National Joint Registry is the largest orthopaedic registry in the world and a global exemplar with over 3.7 million procedure records recorded, and in trauma National Hip Fracture Database (NHFD) and Trauma Audit and Research Network (TARN) are widely accepted leaders. Over the past 10 years a further seven registries have been developed across the wider T&O specialty. The British Spine Registry, the National Ligament Registry (NLR), the UK Knee Osteotomy Registry (UKKOR), the Non-Arthroplasty Hip Register (NAHR), the Bone and Joint Infection Registry and audits led by BSSH and BOFAS.

In 2020, the Cumberlege Inquiry report, made strong recommendations on the importance of medical device information systems and how implants could be monitored and tracked across all surgical specialties. NHSE have since been working on the implementation of these recommendations and in particular a system where registry collection of implant data will be mandated by Government policy.

The BOA has been lobbying, alongside the NJR, to be ensure that clinicians remain at the heart of the development of any new systems. We have met with key stakeholders, and at the BOA Congress in September, Scott Pryde (NHSE) and Tim Briggs participated in a session to discuss these proposals and to consult with representatives from T&O registries.

We are awaiting (at the time of writing) further announcements from the Government with regards to the exact details of medical device level registry data collection, how data collection will be mandated and the governance structures overseeing it, but data collection will cover both trauma and elective. We have been assured that any new systems will build on the experience of the NJR and other exemplar registries as well as existing, scalable registry technology platforms.

We will keep you updated with developments via newsmails and member communications.

The National Joint Registry 19th Annual Report

This is the formal public report of the registry for the period of 1st April 2021 to 31st March 2022. Registry data for the surgery that has taken place this past year, have again been analysed by expert statisticians and the results published with the continued aim of enhancing safety and improving clinical outcomes for the benefit of patients and the whole orthopaedic health care sector.

The report summarises our work and shares the analysis of data for the past year, visually in tables and graphs, for procedures across each of the joints, as well as implant and hospital outcomes and is downloadable from the NJR’s dedicated Annual Report website: https://reports.njrcentre.org.uk.

BOA Archive

We are pleased to say that we have been working in partnership with the Borthwick Institute in York who are now host to the BOA archive, where it will be kept safe for future generations. Access to a list of archive contents can be found here: https://borthcat. york.ac.uk/index.php/boa and physical access can be arranged directly via the Borthwick Institute. We will be adding to BOA archive and hope to further develop it by digitising some content. We would like to thank Ian Stephen, Honorary BOA Archivist for all his hard work and support, and we hope that it will prove a useful research resource for all for years to come.

2022 BOA Medical Student Essay Prize

The BOA are pleased to announce the Medical Student Essay Prize title for 2023 will be ‘With the changing demographics and working practices within T&O, how can we sustain the work force and standards of care currently provided within the NHS?’

Submissions will open on 1st February 2023. Further information on the BOA Medical Student Essay Prize can be found www.boa.ac.uk/medical-student-essay The winning 2022 Medical Student Essay from Jan Drmota is featured on page 08.

BOA ORUK Research Fellows

The BOA and Orthopaedic Research UK are delighted to announce the second cycle of BOA ORUK joint Research Fellowships will be open for expressions of interest from 1st January 2023, closing 28th February. Two fellowships of up to £65k will be available for a project in any area of orthopaedics. Funding will be available for salary (maximum £60k) or as a stipend at UKRI levels. BOA Members at any trainee grade and SAS surgeons are invited to apply. To support diversity and inclusion within trauma and orthopaedics, we encourage applications from individuals that wish to undertake their research flexibly or less than full-time (minimum 0.5 FTE). For more information go to www.boa.ac.uk/researchfellowships.html

UK and Ireland In-Training Examination (UKITE)

More than 800 trainees from across the UK and Ireland are expected to take the UKITE Exam online between the 9th and 16th December. Since its inception in 2007, UKITE has helped trainees prepare for section 1 of the FRCS Tr and Orth with questions covering the full spectrum of sub-specialties, contributed by our volunteers. We would like to thank our tireless team of over 30 editors and subspecialty leads, and Ajay Malviya our clinical lead, for their tireless work. For any queries, or to get involved, please contact ukite@boa.ac.uk and further information on UKITE is available on the BOA website: www.boa.ac.uk/ukite

AGM Update

We were delighted to see so many of you at the AGM in Birmingham to hear updates on the BOA activities, finances for the previous year and to vote on key governance changes. We are pleased to report that the BOA remains in good financial health and that all resolutions for updating the Articles of Association and Rules were passed by a majority vote. These changes will allow the Association to properly function from a governance perspective and to facilitate more effective administration, we can also take better advantage of electronic meetings and voting so that we can enable members to engage with us in ways that make best use of time and resources.

BOA Virtual Ortho Update 2023

Saturday 7th January, 8:30am - 5:00pm, Manchester

The Ortho Update brings together trauma and orthopaedic trainees at all stages of their postgraduate training, to prepare for their FRCS examination. The new face-to-face course format is a course of two halves. We are continuing with the popular critical condition CBDs, which this year will cover neurovascular injuries, compartment syndrome and physiological response to trauma. There will also be a new quick-fire trauma meeting called ‘The Good, the Bad and the Ugly’ which will look at basic science of trauma, biomechanics and complications.

The other half of the course will be practical simulation sessions. Each candidate will participate in a trauma moulage to fulfil the trauma resuscitation CEX. There will also be spinal trauma assessments that can be counted towards the ‘initial assessment and referral of spinal trauma’ critical condition.

To view the updated programme and book your place visit www.boa.ac.uk/OrthoUpdate for more information and how to register.

BOA Annual Congress 2023 - Save the Date!

Thank you to everyone for attending the BOA Annual Congress this September, we have received great feedback from our delegates, speaker and exhibitors.

Our next Annual Congress for 2023 is taking place in Liverpool on 19th – 22nd September, the programme will be created around the theme of ‘Sustainable Systems’. Keep a look out in the next few months for more information including abstract submissions on our website at www.boa.ac.uk/Congress

Thank you to all our exhibitors and sponsors for supporting the 2022 Annual Congress. For information regarding exhibiting and sponsorship at the 2023 Annual Congress, download the new Exhibitor and Sponsorship brochure at www.boa.ac.uk/sponsorship-brochure.