Your Society Update - March 2023 - Mobile

YourSociety Update

StateoftheArtisjustaround thecorner!

We're now just 14 weeks away from getting together in Birmingham for our annual Congress, State of the Art (SOA), and we can't wait to welcome everyone to the eventoftheyear!

Our team, particularly our Head of Communications, Alex Day and Head of Events, Mani Rai, have been busily working to bring you another fantastic event this year. They've been collaborating with our Congress Director Shondipon Laha and ProgrammeDirectorParjam(PJ)Zolfaghari to develop an excellent programme of learning and socialising. You can read morefromPJonpage12abouthisroleand what he's looking forward to most about thisyear'sevent

Each year, SOA unites intensive care professionals from across the globe to facilitate a multi-purpose environment where the ICU community can learn, network, and discover the latest advancements in critical care, clinical researchandinnovation.

As our Physio PAG member Zoe van Willigen says, "if we learn together as a team we will work well together as a team out in clinical practice," so we ' re looking forward to welcoming so many delegates from across themulti-professionalteam!

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SOA is now the largest event for critical careintheUKandoneofthelargestmultiprofessional meetings In Europe. Year-onyear we work hard to evolve the Congress to bring you a fresh experience every time, and we pride ourselves on delivering a Congress that not only provides relevant, interactive, exciting and thought-provoking sessions across multiple streams but also offersaspacetore-connectandnetwork

This year, we return to the ICC in Birmingham from 27 - 29 June, for three days of interactive learning across three streams and multiple opportunities to catch up with old friends and make new ones.

We've got some great networking and social events planned, so it'll be the perfect time to catch up with colleagues, debrief aboutwhatyou'velearned,andgettoknow colleaguesfromacrossthecountry

and beyond. But if you can't join us in Birmingham that doesn't mean you need to missoutonalltheCongresshastooffer.

#SOA23 is fully hybrid, so you can attend both in person and virtually. All tickets also come with an additional six months ondemand access, allowing you to go back and catch up on the sessions you missed or thoseyoujustfancywatchingagain.

We have over 100 global speakers talking across the 40 planned sessions, with guaranteed content that is relevant to the entire multi-professional critical care team. Lots of our speakers are now listed on our website,socancheckthemoutnow

You can also take advantage of one of our three full day workshops on critical care airways, leadership or ultrasound (FUSIC) being held on 26 June 2023 Early bird discounts end on 30 April 2023, so get booking now and join us at SOA23, you will notregretit!

Bookyourspotnowatbitly/SOA23Reg

We'refollowingup#SOA22inBelfastwithajampacked3daysinBirmingham!

Amessagefromour CEO,SandyMather andPresident, SteveMathieu Ontheinsidelookingout...

As we write this blog the latest news alert beeps on the phone to tell us that the next junior doctors strike will be 11-14 April, 2023 So,thenegotiationshavestalled.

Meantime, we wait with bated breath to hear the outcome of votes by other healthcare professions to decide whether they will accept the deal that has been put to them. We know it’s complicated but if only the powers that be could recognise thisisallaboutstaffneedingthebasiccore conditionstothriveatworksothattheycan deliver the best quality of care for those who need it, when they need it. Because whicheverlensyoulookthroughwemustn’t forget that patient safety, outcomes and experienceareattheheartofwhatwedo

How far can any reasonable person stretch before they snap? How much longer can we draw on the good will of health care professionals to go the extra mile, for free, inanunder-resourcedsystem?

The continued life of the NHS as we know it is not sustainable without adequately valuing all the skills and experience that a multi-professional team can bring to the holistic care of a patient. Staff need opportunities to train and develop in their roles and not be expected to pay for courses and training themselves as many ourAHP,pharmacyandnursingcolleagues do.

There needs to be a positive work environment and investment in the professions that deliver the care. The NHS needs to create the core conditions to thrive at work to retain experienced staff. This will also create an environment that encourages new generations of staff to want to train in healthcare and work in the NHS

This week we launched an exciting new partnership with Health Education England, NHS England and NHS Elect to help to developtheAHPcriticalcareworkforce

We’ve been enthused by the engagement across social media with so many different professionals. The AHP capability frameworkwillbuildontheworktheSociety has done with the AHP Professional Development Framework and leverage a once in a lifetime opportunity to improve careerprogressionopportunitiesforAHPsin critical care enabling their continuing professionaldevelopment.

In project, we are focusing on dietitians, occupational therapists, operating department practitioners, physiotherapists andspeechandlanguagetherapists.

Youcanreadallthedetailsandthefullrole profileatbitly/AHPRoleProf

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We launched the second year of work with our All-Party Parliamentary Group in Intensive Care in January. We always planned to focus on workforce this year, after last year focusing on patients, relatives and rehabilitation pathways. We rananinteractiveworkshopatWestminster with Parliamentarians and benefitted from two engaging presentations by Michaela Jones (Matron and elected Chair of the Society’s Nurses Professional Advisory Group) and Paul Dean (Consultant Intensivist and the Society’s elected HonorarySecretary)

We also spent some time explaining the pensions precipice facing our more senior colleaguesinthecriticalcareteamandthe impact of pension thresholds causing experienced professionals to leave earlier than they would otherwise. Following this APPG, the co-chair tabled eight Parliamentary Questions about critical care and workforce We would like to think our APPG discussions about pensions at Westminster led to the recent budg decision and hope it will help to reta many of our senior and experience colleagues

Finally, we wanted to share our though about a six month piece of work that d not end as we had hoped. We gathered together a multi-professional working group including legal advisors to help us to develop an application to be a Core Participant in the Covid-19 Inquiry. We felt wehadaverystrongcase–beingtheonly membership organisation representing the whole multi-professional team and your uniquevoice.

Despite seeking a reconsideration (essentially an appeal) of the initial determination by the Chair of the Inquiry sheretainedherdecisionnottoconferCore Participant status on the Intensive Care Society. We have considered our next steps carefully with both our Council and our Trustee Board as well as the multiprofessional working group and our senior management team and have decided that wewillnowtakeuparoleasobserversand perhapscommentatorsontheInquiry.

However, we will remain open to assisting the Chair and the Inquiry should they wish to approach us directly. While we ’ re on the inside looking out on most things, for the Inquirywe’reontheoutsidelookingin.

Until the next newsletter, please feel free to email us at the Society or contact us via twitterwhereyouwillseewealwaysenjoya healthydebateanddiscussion.

You can find Steve at @stevemathieu75, orcontactSandyat @sanmather.

APPGon intensivecare

In November 2021, we established the AllParty Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Intensive Care with chair, Sir Gary Street MP,ConservativeMPforSouthwestDevon Sir Gary has led the work of the AAPG expertly and after a 30-year career representing his constituency, Sir Gary announcedhisplanstoretireafterthenext election At the AGM January 2023, it was confirmed that Rachael Maskell MP would be the APPG’s co-chair offering the group additional expertise, leadership, and successionplans.

In addition to the MP for South West Devon and Labour MP for York Central, the APPG has the support of Baroness Ilora Finlay, LordWigleyandBaronessWatson

Baroness Masham of Ilton, who was a founding member and a keen supporter, sadly passed away in March 2023. Baroness Masham was a Paralympian competing in the inaugural Paralympics in Rome and the longest serving female peer in the House of Lords having been made a life peer in 1970. In addition to the APPG on Intensive Care, she founded the Spinal Injuries Association in 1974 and had a keen interest in health services, medicine and socialcare.

The APPG helps to build parliamentarians' understanding of the scope of work that the multi-professional team in Intensive Care conduct both in the walls of the ICU andbeyond.

We’ve been privileged so far to host expert speakers in nursing, outreach, physiotherapy, medicine, and speech and languagetherapy.

Similarly, we ’ ve gratefully received presentations from those with lived experience of intensive care both from the patient perspective (pre-COVID-19 and during the pandemic) and from the loved ones 'perspective.

Sharing the lived experiences of staff, patientsandfamiliesastohowthingswork, best practice examples and areas for improvement is integral. We will always seek to incorporate these experiences into the key policy messages that are put forwardtotheAPPG.

In year one of the APPG’s foundation, we held two key areas of focus- rehabilitation postintensivecareandworkforce.

In year two, workforce sits central to our programme. Our work in 2021 and 2022 has been against a backdrop of widespread industrial action, transport, cost of living andaworkforceretentioncrisis.

As referenced in the the Society’s strategy 2023-2027, workforce continues to be a key priority and will underpin our interactions with decision makers, the delivery of our educationaloffersandgrantmaking.

Howyoucanhelp?

Find out more about how you can get involvedatbit.ly/ICS_APPG

MedicineforIntensiveCareStudyDay

More than 100 people attended our first Medicine for Intensive Care session in January, getting this year ’ s programme of studydaysofftoastrongstart.

Chaired by Gemma Talling (Cheltenham) and Sarah Burgess (Royal Marsden), delegates heard a range of speakers present on topics covering oncology, ophthalmology, toxicology, respiratory conditions, cardiology, liver conditions and neurology.

The focus was on conditions in each categorythatcanresultinadmissiontoICU, subsequent conditions that can occur while onICU,andadviceonwhenurgentreviewis required.

To start the day, James Ferguson and Melanie Hingorani took us though liver conditions and keeping the eyes safe in the ICU. We were then joined by Dhruv Parekh and Manish Kalla who explored respiratory andcardiologyconditionsthattakepatients tointensivecare

In the last half of the day, Paul Dargan guided us through toxicology and Sean Brown illuminated ‘Oncology for the Intensivitst’.

Finally, to close out, Ed Needham broke downneurologyanditslinkstoICU.

Each talk sparked discussion with delegates havingtheopportunitytoaskquestionsand explorethefindings.

We had a fantastic response from those who attended with delegates praising the “excellent speakers, interesting topics, and well organised” day, which "covered so many topics and dealt with the most frequentlyaskedquestions”

We also received great feedback on how topicswereapproached.

“The variety of topics covered was great," said one delegate. "It was interesting and useful to discuss eye care on ICU as this is somethingoftennotcovered."

Anothertoldus"thecombinationofmultiple specialists to focus on diagnostics as well asmanagementwasasuccess."

As study days are also recorded, all delegates had access to the learning post event, and one respondent told us they very much valued that access. "As I could not join the link on the day due to an emergency, I appreciated being able to watchtherecordinginfull”

Co-chair Gemma Talling said she was "delighted to read all the positive feedback received from attendees. It was a highly insightfuldayandIpersonallylearntagreat dealfromattending.Iamverymuchlooking forward to working with Sarah to produce theAutumnsequel."

The day wouldn't have been possible without our Education and Events Coordinator, Rachel Green, who's already organising our programme of events for the restoftheyear.

The second Medicine for Intensive Care study day is to be held on Thursday 5 October.

The programme is set to cover another set of topical conditions such as dermatology, rheumatology, endocrine & metabolic, haematology, renal, ENT, infection and tropicaldiseases

Registrationisopennowatbit.ly/ICSEvents

TAGfortheyearahead

We are looking to produce guidance on stage 3 training this year to help people navigatethischallengingtimeintraining I’m also working internationally with trainee representatives from all over the world to share projects, opportunities and learning, with an international FICM Trainee Eye magazine to be published lateronthisyear

Our TAG members are also involved in the Society’s working groups and committees. Our education and learning representatives, Sarah Burgess and Sara Scott worked hard in 2022 to bring you a range of educational events targeted to trainees including the successful ‘Hidden Curriculum’StudyDay

My name is Fran and I am the chair of the Trainee Advisory Group (TAG), the group representing intensive care medicine trainees as part of the Society’s seven professionaladvisorygroups.

In March, we ran elections to join our Group so I’d like to tell you about what we have worked on recently and what is comingupinthenextyear.

I’m new to the chair role, taking over from the brilliant Emma Jackson who has recently completed training. As well as getting to grips with the job, I’m working with the rest of the TAG to produce another great ABC of ICM session for the 2023StateoftheArtCongressinJune.I’ve also recently joined the editorial board for GPICS v3 which is an exciting and farreaching project- one I’m looking forward tobeinginvolvedinforthenextfewyears.

As TAG Chair, I’m co-opted onto the Faculty of Intensive Care Medicine (FICM) StR committee so that we can share priorities and challenges across both the representative groups working for ICM traineesacrosstheUK.

In2023,theyareworkingwiththeSociety’s Learning team to produce educational days. In January, we had ‘Medicine for Intensive Care’ – focusing on what brings medicalpatientstoICU,followedbyaday onMaternalCriticalCareinMarch

We're represented on the Society's Equality, Diversity and Inclusion and Sustainability Working Groups, and on the Standards and Guidelines Committee, helpingtosteertheSociety'swork.

I am very fortunate to work with a group of motivated, inspiring and friendly intensive care medicine trainees who really showcase what a brilliant group the ICM trainees in the UK are. I think I speak for everyone on the committee in saying that being part of this group and working on meaningful projects outside of training gives purpose and reward We're really glad to be welcoming new members this year, and would love to hear from any of our trainee members about your ideas for howwecansupportyou.

You can get in touch at communicationsteam@ics.ac.uk.

Our2023PodcastSeries

This year, we ’ ve re-introduced the Intensive Care Society Podcast to help you get to knowyourcolleaguesbetterandlearnmore aboutthethingsthatmattertoyou.

We’ve had some great guests so far with appearances from two of our Professional Advisory Groups (PAGs) and a team of authors who’ve recently been published in the Journal of the Intensive Care Society (JICS)

As we focus our efforts on workforce challenges this year, we thought it was a goodtimetohelpyougettoknowourPAGs and working groups and learn what they’ll beuptoin2023.

January

AswekickedoffnominationsforourTrainee AdvisoryGroup(TAG)inJanuary,weinvited members of the TAG to join us for the first episode of our 2023 podcast series. Fran Tait, Sarah Burgess and Sekina Bakare got togethertochatabouthowtheycametobe trainees in intensive care, what drew them to the TAG in the first place, and what they thinkarethebiggestchallengesfacingtheir specialty. Covering everything from patient experience to work-life balance and raising children while working in ICU, it was a fascinating conversation. We even had a guest appearance from Sarah’s toddler, Alex!

February

With the tricky task of following our TAG, our Physiotherapy PAG got together in February tochatallthingsphysioinICU.AllainaEden, Zoe van Willigen and Ema Swingwood joinedustotalkabouthowtheycametobe ICU physios, the role their colleagues play within the multi-professional team and why physiotherapy is so much more than helpingpatientsoutofbed

From research to ward rounds, they made an excellent case for the inclusion of our vastly talented physiotherapists in all aspectsofintensivecareandtheirvisionfor theICUphysiotherapyofthefuture.

March

In March, we invited Luke Flower, Kamilla Kamaruddin, Alice Humphreys and Stuart Edwardsontospeaktousabouttheirrecent article in JICS on the care of transgender patientsinICU.

Theychattedaboutthewritingofthearticle, what we can do to make sure all patients get the best possible care no matter their gender identity, and what they'd like to see in the ICU of the future. You can read more abouttheirarticleonpage15.

You can find all our podcasts at bit.ly/ICS Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts, so stay tuned in the coming months to hear from more of our PAGs and workinggroups Or,ifyou’vegotanideayou think would make a great episode you can get in touch at communicationsteam@ics.ac.uk.

Luke,Alice,StuartandKamillarecording ourMarchpodcastwiththeSociety

Joinusforthe27-29June2023atICCinBirmingham foranextravaganzaoflearningandnetworking.

SOAisnowthelargesteventforintensivecareintheUKandoneofthe largestmulti-professionalmeetinginEurope

Belowarejustafewoftheexcitingsessionswehaveplannedforour programme:

Porpoise,pigeonandpatient:New knowledgeaboutthelungs

Tuesday27June2023

ARDS:Fromoldfriendstonewhorizons

Wednesday28June2023

NeurosciencesintheICUincollaboration withNACCS

Thursday29June2023

Anupdatefromour FundraisingManager

To kick off our fundraising update I wanted to introduce myself, I’m Richard Ainsworth, Fundraising Manager for the Intensive Care Society and have been on the team for almost twoyearsnow

OneofmybiggestachievementssofaristheZermatttoVerbierfundraisingchallengeand I’dliketotellyouhowitstartedandhowyoucangetinvolved.

One of Birmingham’s finest, Gary Pittaway, approached the Society in 2021 as he wanted to do something for our intensive care community, and asked if we’d like to get involved in a fundraising challenge. Alongside another charity, we jumped at the chance and roughly a year later, our fearless team hiked, climbed, and pushed themselves across the Patrouille desGlacierswhilstraisingroughly£90,000intheprocess.

During that year we saw the team take on an intense training regime, hike many hilltops and fundraise with corporate sponsors, events, cycle challenges and the classic JustGiving fundraising portal. They each pushed themselves further than ever before and faced the fundraisingcommitmentwithsimilarvigour,exceedingeveryone’swildestexpectations.

Although I wasn’t with the team in Switzerland, I’ve been fortunate to hear their incredible stories–thehighsandlows,thesmellyhutsandbesttastingbeerafterthelongestday.It’s anexperiencethatnoofthemwillforgetandweoweamassivethankyoutoSarah,Sarah, Debbie,Gary,Nick,David,MikeandAJNSteelstockforpullingittogether.

Looking ahead to 2024, we ’ re currently building our brilliant new team which I’m excited to sayhavethesameenthusiasmandeagernesstotakeonthatmountainrangeheadon.

If you ’ re interested in getting involved or would like to support our 2024 team, get in touch atfundraising@icsacuk

Our2022teamtakingonthePatrouilledesGlaciers

TowardsNetZero

At the beginning of 2022, we established our Sustainability Working Group to help us prioritiseourimmediateclimatestrategyandworktowardsourclimategoals.Sincethen, we ’vebeenbusyworkingonnewprojectsandestablishingchannelstohelpusworkwith ourpeerstomakemeaningfulchange.

In July, together with the British Association of Critical Care Nurses (BACCN), we endorsed the Centre for Sustainable Healthcare’s (CSH) Critical Care Susnet - a network where intensive care professionals can share their sustainability projects This sharing of ideas helps us draw on the innovation happening in our community and do our part to tackleclimatechange.

“Given the urgency to reach net zero, we must all be working towards the same goal within the ICM community,” says our Sustainability Working Group Co-Chair, Eleanor Damm.

“This network provides a platform to build and nurture a community encompassing the entire multi-professional intensive care team; to allow the sharing of ideas and lessons learnt,andtocreatearesourcelibrary”

Alongside the Susnet, we ’ ve also been co-hosting bi-monthly sustainability Sharing Hours, chaired by the brilliant Heather Baid. The events see Heather joined by guests to discusstheirsustainabilityworkandtakequestionsfromtheaudience,andthenextone, on29Marchwillbethefourthintheseriessofar

At the most recent Sharing Hour in early February, HeatherwasjoinedbySteph Ireland and ICU Consultant and founder of Healthcare Ocean, Richard Hixon. They took questions from the audience about sustainable healthcare practice and theirideasforthefuture.

Keep your eyes peeled for more information about joining our next session or head to bit.ly/CC_Susnet to jointheSusnet.

Thriving at Work is our workforce wellbeing programme which has been an ongoing project over many years now. During this time it has evolved from a “burnout working group ” , to a “wellbeing and resilience through education” project to its name in the past year of Thriving at Work That evolution of name marks the evolution of thinking in the Society, as we recognise that we should be promoting thecoreconditionstothriveatwork,

rather than just focusing on the consequences of poor working conditions. However, we recognisethelatestwinterpressuresandindustrialactionmayleavemanyfeelingtheyare justaboutsurviving.

Inourfirstquarterof2023,wedeliveredatraineeexclusiveeventtohelpthemnavigatethe stressorsoftraining.Itwasasuccessfuleventwhichparticipantsrespondedwellto.Weare now looking to take our successful Peer Support programme and pilot a programme of trainee peer support across the UK, and we hosted a trainee peer supporters event in early March.

In parallel, we ran a trainee and SAS survey to ask them what they feel is key to enable them to thrive in their roles. We will be presenting to the Trainee and Specialty Doctor ProfessionalAdvisoryGroups(PAGs)soon,andthensubmittingthedataforpublication.to give you a preview, the data is overwhelmingly in support of the practicalities of working, including rota and pay, and access to basic systems from the start of working, such as electronic systems and ID badges. Overall, we have found there were no differences betweenSASdoctorsandtrainees.

Our other key activity this quarter has been leadership; following a successful inaugural leadership programme, LeaP1, which was supported by a grant from the Covid-19 Healthcare Support Appeal, we have decided to continue the programme into 2023. LeaP2 will follow a similar hybrid format, and promises to be a mixture of intensive care professionals from all areas of the UK. The programme was a great success, and our LeaP1 delegates gave us excellent feedback All delegates rated the programme overall as ‘excellent’andallsaidtheywouldrecommendittoafriendorcolleague.

"This has not only helped shape my role as a leader, but it has given me a significant amount of skills that I hope to keep improving on throughout my leadership journey," one delegate told us "I have enjoyed what I have learnt, and this support has been paramount inmylearning."

Anothersaid"almosteverythingwasnewtome.Itwasafantasticexperience".

We're looking forward to meeting our Leap2 cohort very soon, so stay tuned to hear more abouttheirprogress.

MeetournewChairofthe ResearchDivision

I am Louise Rose and I have recently been appointed as Chair of the ICS Research Division. I am a Professor of Critical Care Nursing and Research Division Head at King’s College London I amalsoanhonoraryProfessorinCriticalCareatthe Lane Fox Respiratory Unit at St Thomas’. Since starting my career, I have been awarded more than 100 peer reviewed research grants and more than 215 peer reviewed publications. During the pandemic I co-founded Life Lines – a philanthropic initiative that provided over 1400 4G enabled tablets with a bespoke ICU virtual visiting solution to over 180 NHS hospitals enabling over 135,000 virtual visits acrosstheUK.

Ourplansfor2023

The Society's Research Division has two very exciting awards prepared for this year. Firstly the joint NIHR and ICS award is planned to open for applications soon, this award isdesignedtorecognisecriticalcareresearchacrosstheUK Weunderstandthatthereis a vast amount of crucial research undertaken in the UK and the Society and the NIHR strivetochampionthisgreatworkthroughthisaward.

Secondly, we are pleased to announce that the Society's New Investigator Award (NIA) willbereturningin2023,followinganextremelysuccessfulNIAprocessin2021whichsaw a vast array of high quality applications. This award is designed to support new and

TreatmentofTransgender PatientsinICU

In December last year, our Journal of the Intensive Care Society (JICS) published an article by Luke Flower, Alice Humphreys, Kamilla Kamaruddin, Stuart Edwardson and others about the management of transgender patients in critical care. It was the first article on the subject to appear in JICS and was followed by an editorial by Luke, Alice and Stuart in February and a podcastepisodereleasedinlateMarch.

They’d seen a knowledge gap in clinicians treating transgender patients in critical care, had noticed how interested their colleagues were in learning more, and realised they had the capacity to help fill it. So Luke brought the group together and theysettowork

“It was seeing that appetite and seeing the knowledge gap that existed that really kind of made us think maybe this is something we can build on, something worth writing aboutandgettingoutthere,”hesays.

For Stuart, it was also about helping his colleagues feel more confident in this aspect of their work so they can provide better care to trans patients. “When people educate themselves they feel far less stressed or anxious and therefore actually are able to just look after people far better. So,Ithinkit’sallaboutspreadingknowledge andmakingthatcarebetter,”hesays.

As both doctors and transgender women, Alice and Kamilla have taken on roles advocating for themselves and other trans people, particularly when it comes to patientcare.

Both came out at work and had quite positive experiences but these also confirmed gaps in our knowledge on the subject “Everyone was very supportive and very curious” says Alice, so she’s always endeavoured to answer as many questions as she can. “The less strange it is the less scaryitseems.”

For Kamilla, coming out while working as a GP highlighted the lack of guidance available. With 30 or 40 patients coming to see her each day, her staff weren’t sure what to tell them. “I suddenly realised there was no guideline,” she says, “ so I made up onemyself.”

Their article covers many aspects of caring fortranspatientslikethepotentialeffectsof gender affirming surgery on airways and medical gender affirmation therapies. During the recording of our podcast, they dived a little deeper into hormone therapy, how it should be continued for critical care patients, and the dangers of assuming that all symptoms a transgender patient is experiencing are the result of these affirmationtherapies

Overall, their message is simple; the more information we have about treating transgender patients, the better care we can provide “We do the basics on ITU so well normally, it wouldn’t seem too much of a push for us to just be aware of these things,”saysLuke.

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Kamilla echoes that idea. “We’re in a profession of caring and we clinicians should be able to provide inclusive and person-centric care to trans patients,” she says “We just want to be treated with dignity and we just want to be treated like everyoneelse”.

You can find their full article at bitly/3LsVaKb, the editorial at bit.ly/40deEXb,orcatchuponthepodcastif youhaven’talreadyatbit.ly/MarchPod.

OurnewestLEAGmembers

AttheendofJanuary,weopenedupapplicationsfornewmembersofourLegalandEthical AdvisoryGroup(LEAG)

OurLEAGwasestablishedin2019tobringtogetherlegaladvisorsandclinicianstoconsider legalandethicaldecisionsrelevanttocriticalcareandprovideadviceandguidancetothe publicandthewidermulti-professionalcommunity.

Any members with experience or qualifications in medical ethics or law were welcome to apply and when the time came to interview candidates, we had an exciting number to choosefrom.

We’re excited to be able to announce that Luigi Camporota and Prashanth Nandhabalan will be joining the Group this year. Both bring with them a wealth of experience and expertiseandwe’reexcitedtobeworkingwiththem.

Prashanth is a Consultant in Intensive Care Medicine and Anaesthesia at the Royal Free Hospital in London where he also sits on the Trust’s Clinical Ethics Committee He has a Master’s Degree in Medical Ethics and Law and has five years ’ experience on a regional ResearchEthicsCommittee.

Luigi is a Consultant in Intensive Care Medicine at St Thomas’ Hospital in London where he is also clinical service lead for extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO). He has experiencecoordinatingmediationandhasalsotrainedasanexpertwitness.

We’re looking forward to working closely with both Prashanth and Luigi and know they’ll make excellent additions to the group.

LukeFlower

AliceHumphreys

KamillaKamaruddin StuartEdwardson

Lug p ota PrashanthNandhabalan

OurEquality, Diversityand Inclusionsurvey

ThefirstphaseoftheIntensiveCareEquality, Diversity and Inclusion Census is now complete!

We're proud to not only represent the entire multi-professional community but to also support the diversity of those that work in criticalcare

In 2022, we launched our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Group, Chaired by Aoife Abbey, which is comprised of 15 individuals committed to improving visibility, promoting better understanding, providing education and implementing sustainable improvements to support EDI within our community.

However, we recognised that in order to use our national influence to support and lead strategies which promote EDI in the workforce, we needed more data to better understand the intensive care community andtheirneeds.

In order to obtain this information, we devised a 62 open ended question census that incorporated sections that covered all protected characteristics as outlined in the EqualitiesAct2010.

This census enabled our community to give as little or as much detail as they were comfortable with. We also made sure that it did not have any identifiable elements to protect the anonymity of all our respondents.

We received 352 responses with good coverage from all intensive care professions including those in non-clinical roles, and fromacrosseachofthedevolvednations.

To ensure we analysed the data correctly, we commissioned Enventure Research, a professional organisation dedicated generateanswerstoimportanceanswers.

We received their report in December 2022 which has enabled us to form a better picture of the areas of work we need to focus on, and we are excited to publish these findings at the Equality Diversity and Inclusion session at our annual Congress, SOA23.

You can book your tickets to attend either in-person or virtually at bit.ly/SOA23Reg, so make sure you don't miss out on learning aboutourcensusfindingsinrealtime.

OurEDIgrouphasalsobeenbusywithother projects over the past few months, like recording the March episode of our podcast which you can read about on page eight. They've also played a big role in our Black History Month and Pride celebrations, and havelotsinstoreforthefuture.

To see the other work they've been up to over the past 16 months, head to our websiteatbit.ly/ICSEDI

BiketoBirmingham

In just a few months, we’ll be packing our bags and heading to Birmingham for our Annual State of the Art Congress - the highlight of the intensive care calendar. The big question remains–howareweallgoingtogetthere?

Late last year, we launched our Bike to Birmingham challenge and we ’ ve been busily recruiting cyclists ready to push themselves this June while getting to know their colleagues betterandenjoyingthecountrysideenroutetoSOA23.

With three pelotons already established, it’s time to meet some of the cyclists who’ll be leadingthepackinmakingtheirwayacrossthecountryto#SOA23.

If you ’ re thinking about riding from a similar location to one of our peloton leaders - let us knowsowecanputyouintouch!

Just head to bit.ly/ICS B2B to find out how you can join a peloton or start one yourself and meetusinBirminghamforStateoftheArt.

AndrewBates

Andrew is an intensive care nurse and NIHR Clinical DoctoralResearchFellow.He’s mostlyakeenmountainbiker and a Brompton fan but he enjoys road cycling too and will be bringing his road bike along on the trip to Birmingham

Andrew’sroute:

Andrewwillberidingupfrom Bournemouth in two stages, stopping in Gloucestershire overnight to stay with his parents before heading the rest of the way on to Birmingham.

RichardKirkdale

Richard is an ST5 intensive areandanaestheticstrainee

in Nottingham where he lives with his young family. He’s alsoaverykeencyclist!

Richard’sroute:

Richard will be setting off from his home in Nottingham and cycling past as many hospitals as he can on his way into Birmingham for the Congress! He’ll be collecting peloton members along the way so if you ’ re on his route he’d love to have you join him.

ZudinPuthucheary

Zudin is an intensive care Consultant based in London and a member of the Society’s Council. He also chairs the National Rehabilitation Collaborative and has been instrumental in the development of the Post ICU Presentation Screen (PICUPS)Tool.

Zudin’sroute:

Zudin will be cycling from his home near Peterborough, through Leicester and on to Birmingham.

AndrewBates RichardKirkdale

Introducingour PhysiotherapyPillar

InearlyMarch,welaunchedthePhysioPillar,a supplementary resource to the AHP Critical Care Professional Development Framework (CCPDF). It’s designed to be used alongside the Framework to provide tangible examples ofitsvaluetotheprofessionaldevelopmentof physiotherapistsacrosstheUK.

“Led by Chair Rebekah Haylett, our Physiotherapy Professional Advisory Group (PAG) begantheirworkonthePillarin2022,presentingafirstdrafttotheSocietyinJuly They’ve worked closely with our Standards and Guidelines team in the months since on the process of review, update, design, endorsement and publication which has resulted in a documentwehopewillbeinvaluabletophysiosworkinginintensivecare.

We are passionate about our profession remaining adaptable, innovative, and able to support patient care across the continuum of critical illness. We are highly motivated to support physiotherapists’ development in all pillars of practice to be able to do this,” PhysioPAGChairRebekahHaylettsaid.

The AHP CCPDF was released in 2020 to help guide the career development of our AHP collegesacrosstheNHS.

We’ve since launched the Speech and Language Therapy, Dietetic, Occupational Therapy and Physiotherapy Pillars to provide profession specific examples of the Framework in practice.

YoucanfindtheCCPDFandassociatedPillarsonourwebsiteatbit.ly/PDFrameworks

OurPhysioPAGin2023

MynameisZoevanWilligen,andI’moneofthe10 members of the Physiotherapy Professional Advisory Group (PPAG). We were elected back in 2022 so we wanted to give you an update about what we’ve been working on since then, and what ourplansareforthecomingyear.

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Firstly, I’d like to tell you a bit about us as a group. We represent much of the incredible breadth of physiotherapy expertise within critical care. Between us we have roles as clinical academics, researchers, university lecturers, practice educators, POCUS mentors, clinical leaders, published authors, advanced clinical and consultant practitioners with a whopping 157 years of combined critical care experience! We have a range of specialist skills as a group, including ECMO, SIM training, ventilation and weaning, tracheostomy care, complex airway clearance, non-medical prescribing, and rehabilitation after critical illness Many of us also hold positions within other key stakeholder groups such as BTS, NCEPOD, NHSE/PHE,NICE,CSPandACPRC.

Two major pieces of work over the past year for our PPAG have been collaborating to develop the multi-professional streams of the State of the Art (SOA) Congresses, and writingasupplementaryphysiotherapypillar for the Society’s AHP Critical Care Professional Development Framework (CCPDF).

Contributing to SOA has been a fantastic way for us to raise the profile of physiotherapy within the Society and wider critical care audience – one of the key objectivesforourPAG.

Making SOA more accessible for all professions is extremely important to us – if we learn together as a team we will work well together as a team out in clinical practice Ensuring SOA is inclusive of the multi-professional team will only help to increase our membership too – another key objectiveforus.

TheAHPCCPDFisarobustpieceofworkthat wewantedtomakemoreuser-friendly.

So, rather than create a whole new pillar we havedevelopedsupplementarymaterialwith case studies and vignettes that critical care physiotherapists can relate to. You can read moreaboutthePillarabove.

Our key aim for the forthcoming year is workingtowardsclarifyingsafestaffinglevels for AHPs on critical care. We want to provide opportunitiestoallowAHPstohaveaccessto post graduate learning and have been working with CC3N and HEE on how we achievethis.

Workforce remains a significant challenge in thecurrentclimate,duenotonlytotherising complexity of our patients but also to challenges in recruitment and retention of experienced physiotherapists. In order to ensure adequate delivery of services in the future, we need to increase educational opportunities for physiotherapists in critical care, ensuring that there is a structure in place for those who wish to progress their careers clinically. We are looking forward to further working with our colleagues across the country to this end and advancing the discussion about how to best quantify physiotherapy demands and the impact of physiotherapistswithincriticalcare.

I feel very fortunate to work with such an inspiring group of clinicians both within our PPAG and the Society as a wider multiprofessional team, who are all an incredible source of peer support. Times might be tough,butasphysiotherapistswearetrained motivators and our PPAG are excited to continue to motivate not only our patients but also our profession and the Society to keep progressing, developing and achieving. We would be really keen to hear from you if you would like to know more about the PAG, the work of the Society, or have ideas as to howwecanbestsupportyou.Pleasecontact usviaphysiopag@icsacuk

MeetourCouncilandSpecialistAdvisors

WithParjam(PJ)Zolfaghari,StateoftheArt2023

P or

IamanICU&Anaesthesiaconsultantandseniorlecturer at the Royal London hospital and Queen Mary University London(QMUL)inEastLondon.IruntheCriticalCareMScat QMUL and am an associate editor of BJA Education. Of course, this year I have the extra privilege of being the ProgrammeDirectoroftheICSSOA23!

Aftermedicalschool,Istartedtrainingtobeasurgeon which I enjoyed. But after a couple of years, I realised that what I really wanted to do was to look after really sick people and was excited by how patients were cared for in anICUwithsuchadiverseandmulti-professionalteamof

clinical staff. As a result, I switched my training to anaesthesia and critical care and became aconsultantin2012aftercompletingmyPhD.

Withoutsoundingtoocorny, themostrewardingpartisbeingabletocareforpatientswho are very unwell and seeing them improve to being discharged from the ICU and hospital.

Clearly, most of the care is delivered by our nurses, junior doctors and AHPs and I find interactions with the whole team one of the best parts of my job. I also really enjoy teaching andastheprogrammedirectorofthecriticalcareMScatQMUL,Ihavebeenabletodevelop a programme to cater for a wide group of students and enjoy teaching, supervising and supportingthem.

ThebiggestchallengesIfindaremanagingthebedpressuresinthehospitaland ensuring flow of patients in and out of critical care in a timely manner I think this is something that is experienced in most hospitals and is relentless, taking a lot of time and thinkingspaceofclinicalandmanagerialstaff.

IhaveorganisedmanylocaleducationaleventsandrunaMaster’sprogramme in critical care which involves bringing together a lot of different strands I have a huge respect for everything the Intensive Care Society and the individuals within it do for the specialty. This was a great opportunity for me to get involved and bring all that is good across the country into a meeting which everyone can enjoy and leave feeling educated, challengedandinspired.Ialsolikeagoodparty,solookingforwardtothesocialevents!

Withoutsoundingtoocorny, IenjoyedattendingSOA22inpersonandmeetingoldfriends,

I enjoyed attending SOA22 in person and meeting old friends, I had definitely missed the personal face-to-face interaction during the pandemic. There were some outstanding sessions,tonameafew,end-of-lifeplenarysessionorganisedbyAoifeAbbey,thesessionon cardiology,andtheCauldron.IalsoreallyenjoyedBelfastandthesocialevents.

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IamveryexcitedaboutSOA23andthefantasticlineupofsessionsandspeakers. Ithinkeveryonewillenjoythisasmuchas,andifnotmore,thantheyhavethepreviousones!

Birmingham is a lovely venue with lively surrounds. The sessions will appeal to the whole multiprofessionalteamwithspeakersfromacrossthevariousdisciplines.

Iamespeciallylookingforwardtotheplenarieshighlightingnewknowledgeaboutlungs,the future of work force, and rehabilitation. These will be hugely entertaining, educational and provocative. There will be some excellent talks from some of the up and coming researchers andclinicians,aswellastheestablishedonesandafewsuperstars!

I must also mention the three pre-congress courses run by brilliant enthusiasts who give up their time to teach. I’m especially excited about the airway and bronchoscopy course which brings a collaboration between the Society, Difficult Airway Society (DAS) and the BronchoscopyforIntensiveCare(BrIC)courses.

WhenI'mnotworkingorhelpingtodeliverSOA23Ienjoyrunningandmountainbiking in the forest which I am just getting back to doing after rupturing my Achilles last year. The kidsalsokeepmebusyandprovidealotofentertainment!

Don'tforget!

You can grab your ticket for this year ' s SOA Congress at bit.ly/SOA23RegandjoinusinBirmingham,orvirtually,forthree fantastic days of learning designed by PJ and our outstanding Congressteam

DelegatescatchingupSOA2022inBelfast

Howweareimprovingyour memberexperience

Your feedback matters and following on from external and internal feedback, and a thorough review of the issues members faced in joining, renewing, and booking, we decided that we would need to invest in a CRM (customer relationship management system) and alongside that,anewwebsite

We chose ReadyMembership as it provided a highly personalised member experience with functionalityandsimplenavigation

By now, you may be familiar with the new member portal on our website By logging into your account,yougetapersonalised“one-stop”serviceallowingyouto:

updateyourcontactinformationandcontactpreferences easilymanageyourmembershipsubscriptionandviewyourorderhistory registerontodiscountedeventsandtrainingcourses accessspeciallyselectedLifestyleRewards

And, you can get in touch with us more easily to access support using forms to transfer enquiriestothemostrelevantteam

Youcannowalsopayforyourmembershiprenewalwithjustafewclicks,eitherbylogginginto your online account directly or by clicking through from the renewal notice. We have also moved to paperless Direct Debits, which has removed lengthy delays in processing memberships

To get the most from your membership we are asking members to log into their account and ensuretheirprofileandpreferencesettingsareuptodate.Allyouneedtodois:

Check that your contact details are correct by selecting the Edit Details tab on the Edit Profilepage

Tellushowyou’dlikeustoengagewithyouandwhichnewslettersyou’dliketosubscribeto byselectingtheContactPreferencestabandtickingtherelevantboxes

Choose what topics you are interested in on the Personalisation tab so that we can send youmoretailoredcontentaboutthethingsthatmattertoyou

Further improvements to the portal are on the way and we encourage anyone who has a specificrequesttocontactusatmembership@icsacuk

WINLifeintheBalancebyJimDown

Following on from his first book in 2021, Life Support, Jim Down, consultant at UCLH, has returned to publishing with a new set of stories exploring life in critical care and the importantworkintensivecarestaffdodayindayouttokeeppatientsalive.

The book explores headline-grabbing cases like that of Alexander Litvinenko, who was poisoned by Russian agents and admitted to the ICU Jim worked on, to the appalling aftermathofatraincrash,andthedailystruggletosimplyfindenoughbeds

Life in the Balance explores intensive care and its immense challenges, guiding readers through the split second decisions that mean life and death – the adverse effects on staffmentalhealthandoverall,itsenormousrewards.

It'sevenbeenpraisedbyourveryownTrustee,HughMontgomery.

"Jim’s book is different. His ear is attuned, and his recounting conversations makes me live his scenes. And he made me think, weep and smile. He's a smart, wise and kind doctor in real life, and these characteristics shine through. Whoever you are, youshouldreadthisbook.Oneinfiveofyouwill,atsomepoint,needaJim."

To celebrate the release of Jim’s extraordinary new book, Life in the Balance, we are giving away an exclusive copy to a lucky Intensive Care Society member - simply email communicationsteam@ics.ac.uk with your name and membership email to be entered into the prize draw WewillannouncethewinnerlaterinApriland beintouchifyou'reourluckywinner!

Thankyoufromallofus

ThankyouforreadingournewlookIntensiveCareSocietynewsletter!

Each quarter, we will be updating you on all the Society has to offer, and all the interestingthingsourcommunityhasbeenuptooverthepastfewmonths..

ThenewsletterwillguideyouthroughtheworkofourPAGS,ourworkinggroupsandour Council, so you can see all the work we undertake on your behalf throughout the year, andalltheworkyoucangetinvolvedin

We hope you'll also see how we are promoting intensive care as a specialty and the workthatgoesintoourfundraisingactivitiesandourothereffortstoboosttheprofileof intensivecare.

There's a lot we have to offer at the Society over the next few months, with learning programmes, study days, exclusive competitions and the chance to all gather as a communityatourexcitingStateoftheArtCongressinJune.

As a community, we want every member to be heard and celebrated as part of our collectiveeffortstoraiseupourdiscipline.

And we'd love to hear from you! Your stories are our favourite things to read, so please do get in touch if you have something you would like to shout out about for June's newsletter. You can contact us at communicationsteam@ics.ac.uk at ay time.

Inthemeantime,we'llseeyouinafewmonths!

TheIntensiveCareSociety