10 October 2019

The Mersey and North Wales chapters held their first joint meeting on Monday 7th October 2019 in Chester. With the support of educational sponsorship it was possible to extend the meeting to include specialty trainees as one of their training days.

The Mersey and North Wales chapters held their first joint meeting on Monday 7^th October 2019 in Chester. With the support of educational sponsorship it was possible to extend the meeting to include specialty trainees as one of their training days. The day started with an update of ACPGBI initiatives from Nicola Fearnhead, President of ACPGBI, followed by the RCSE surgical specialty leads in colorectal surgery and HPB surgery, Dale Vimalachandran and Rob Jones, talking about how to develop research in individual units and the role of the advanced colorectal cancer MDT with a panel discussion of an example case of stage 4 disease. Mersey ACPN representative, Emma Atkinson, presented with data manager, Irene Nicholson, their experience of remote follow up for colorectal cancer patients using IT software. Sue Blackwell, ACPGBI patient liaison group member and BDRF researcher, presented on the benefits of patient involvement in research. Shahab Hajibandeh, one of the North Wales trainees, presented data from two meta analyses and the Mersey Training Program Director for General Surgery, Caroline Bruce, discussed tips for trainees and trainers. Chris Battersby, consultant colorectal surgeon, gave an update on mechanical bowel prep/oral antibiotics before joining Derek McWhirter (colorectal consultant) and Paul Sutton (colorectal fellow), each giving presentations on the practicalities of arranging fellowships. The afternoon session saw presentations from James Glasbey (Academic Clinical Fellow) and Charles Knowles (Director of the National Bowel Research Centre), introducing the EAGLE Study and explaining the background to the trial design.  James Glasbey then spoke about collaborative research with tips for those wanting to be involved. Rachael Clifford, Mersey Dukes club representative, gave an overview of Dukes club activities. The final session of the day included a presentation from Andy Williams, Chair of the Pelvic Floor Society, on the current controversies in pelvic floor surgery. This was followed by a talk on Enhanced Consent by Jennie Grainger, colorectal surgeon, and then an overview of potential problems which can occur with mesh rectopexy by Karen Telford, Colorectal Surgeon. Sessions were chaired by chapter representatives Nicola Eardley and Chamy Chandran, colorectal consultants Mike Thornton and Claire Nockolds and Ahsan Javed, Associate Subspecialty lead in colorectal surgery.  There was great opportunity for networking with enthusiasm at all levels for collaborative working. Looking forward to the next meeting!

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