The President's Message

2012 will be a busy year for AUGIS!

First, can I wish the membership an extremely prosperous and productive New Year!

2012 is going to be an exceptionally busy time within AUGIS. Firstly, there will be our participation within the inaugural UK Digestive Disorders Federation (DDF) meeting, June 18-20 in Liverpool. AUGIS is one of the four founding organisations of this congress (along with BSG, BASL and BAPEN). All four have given up their own annual 2012 scientific meetings in order to make DDF happen, and we will be joined during the congress by a number of other UK GI scientific societies who have participated in putting together a comprehensive multidisciplinary programme, covering all aspects of the management of GI diseases. We expect over 4,000 delegates and are extremely confident of the overwhelming success of this meeting. If, as we hope, the DDF concept is a success then we will meet again with our sister societies at DDF 2015 in London. AUGIS will hold its 2013 Scientific Meeting in September 2013 in Brighton.

There will be a very definite and identifiable AUGIS scientific meeting programme running through DDF, starting on Sunday 17th when we join with BSG for a post-graduate training morning followed by our traditional trainees 'Meet the Council' session in the afternoon. Monday morning will see our three constituent sub-groups (BOMSS, GBIHPBA, and the OG surgery group) run their own parallel sessions, wth the main AUGIS plenary session to follow that afternoon. A number of major international speakers have accepted our invitation to speak in this session including Rob Padbury, Jan van Lanschott, Cornelius van der Velde, Peter Naredi, and Sabine Tejpar. Tuesday will start with the AUGIS BJS Prize session followed by the DDF plenary in the 4,000 seat arena. The AUGIS party will be held on Monday night in the PanAm in the Albert Dock and I hope will emulate the party we had at the Transport Museum in Belfast!

Turning to Belfast, I hope you agree that this was one of the best AUGIS meetings to date. It was certainly the best attended. I am indebted to Declan Carey and the Belfast team for their support in putting on this meeting and the Belfast Visitor and Convention Bureau. I am also very appreciative of the support from the Dutch GI Surgical Society and the Swedish GI Surgical Society which also supported this meeting and I really hope that this leads to lasting future collaboration. 

I am very grateful to Richard Charnley and all others who assisted in producing the AUGIS Provision of Upper Gastrointestinal Surgery Services document, which is now AUGIS policy and available on our website. This clearly lays out to commissioners and providers what is expected of such a service. It complements our surgeon and unit volume policy paper, also produced by Richard and his team and I hope that taken together will advise healthcare policy makers when making difficult decisions in these unsettled times.

AUGIS continues to grow. BOMSS enjoyed a very successful third annual scientific meeting in Bristol and goes from strength to strength. September will see the inaugural scientific meeting of GBIHPBA at the Belfry in Solihull. Our Affiliates section is expending under Jane Tallett’s leadership and there will be a significant nursing and dietetics presence during DDF in Liverpool.

Lastly, can I congratulate Ian Beckingham on being elected President-elect, to succeed Bill Allum during the AUGIS Scientific Meeting in Newcastle-upon-Tyne in September 2014.

I look forward to welcoming you to Liverpool in June!

With best wishes,

Graeme Poston
President, AUGIS