Nurses, Dietitians and other Allied Health Professionals

Welcome to our AUGIS Allied Health Professionals and Clinical Nurse Specialists. 

Here you can find out more about what our AHP & CNS Committee are doing for you and please get in touch if you want to get involved.

Our AHP and CNS Committee Meeting on the 2nd May 2024. 

AUGIS Annual Scientific Meeting 2024

Bridgewater Hall Manchester
11 - 13 September 2024

Please save the date and look out for more information by clicking here.

If you are not a member we would encourage you to join up and then you will receive updates about the AUGIS Annual Scientific Meeting 2024. 

Click here to join AUGIS

Find out more about AUGIS 2024

AUGIS Allied Health Professionals (AHPs) and Specialist Nursing Committee Report 2024

It has been another challenging year for the NHS, overshadowed by the impact of industrial action and a significant lack of workforce and resource on the health service, cancer services, clinical practice, and professional education. We can, however, be proud of maintaining the delivery of care, meeting the complex needs of our patient groups, maintaining morale and supporting our colleagues.

The Lead AHP/Nurse Committee is in place, and we are developing a strategy for the year ahead and beyond. We are proud to sit on the AUGIS Council and are keen to raise the profile of Nurses and AHPs within AUGIS. We recognise that there are many challenges ahead, which require a high level of commitment within our own busy working and personal lives.

One of the more pressing issues has been to look at ways to improve overall membership of Nurses and AHPs to AUGIS.  How do we engage new members? How can we be more inclusive and how can we look at ways to improve AUGIS so that everyone wants to join? We are proud to have a growing membership of Dietitians, Nurses and other AHPs.

We have been fortunate to recruit several AHPs and Nurses to vacancies for regional representatives on the AHP/CNS Sub-Committee with the aim of representing our professions in the regions and nationally.   We still have vacancies for Scotland and Ireland, and we welcome enquiries from interested Nurses and AHPs. We would like to see an emphasis on collaboration with AUGIS members at local and national level, whereby the Regional Specialist Nurse and AHP representatives work closely together with the Regional Council representatives and Roux Club (surgical trainee) representatives. We share a common interest in improving patient services and providing professional support across all members of AUGIS with the very clear aim of promoting excellence in our field through collaboration and education. We are also delighted that the overall membership of Nurses and AHPs has doubled in number. We ask you, as members of AUGIS, to encourage your colleagues to join, as together we are stronger in our influence, and to inform the Sub-Committee about what we could be doing to be more inclusive and relevant to all involved in the care of UGI patients.

The Committee is in the process of reviewing the Mission Statement and the Terms of Reference for Committee members. We have looked at the benefits of membership and we are pleased to be able to offer a range of opportunities for our members. Membership fees remain considerably reduced, in addition to members’ preferential rates for the Annual Scientific meeting.

We are delighted to announce that AUGIS has agreed to offer awards for several training and travel Fellowships for AHPs and Nurses, who are members of AUGIS. The criteria are being defined and will be announced in the near future. This is an exciting move on behalf of AUGIS and we hope these fellowships will inspire and provide support in maintaining excellence in clinical practice and research.

For Nurses and AHPs, identifying their educational needs is vital. The Committee are working hard to develop and to provide an Educational Calendar, opportunities for networking, mentorship, and peer support. We welcome ideas for webinars and courses, the educational events programme and also for the Annual Scientific Meeting. This remains a “work in progress”. We hope to establish a specialist course encompassing aspects of UGI surgery, oncology and endoscopy, which will appeal to new and experienced Nurses and AHPs alike.

A review of the website is still planned to provide an up-to-date forum for sharing information and best practice. We would like to include an Educational Calendar and a Webinar Platform, together with an archive of presentations and links to other educational establishments, societies, and patient groups for AUGIS members.

The 26th Annual Scientific Meeting was held in the historic city of Oxford in 2023 and it was a tremendous success. This high-quality meeting had an excellent range of expert speakers, many of whom had published research. The affiliate programme was well-attended, and it also attracted many of our surgical colleagues to the point where there was “standing room only”!  Over 100 delegates enjoyed excellent presentations on digital prehabilitation, the future of endoscopic treatments, Type 3 Diabetes, the future of oncological treatments for GOJ and HPB cancers, managing post-surgical fall-out via a Nurse- and Dietitian-led clinics and a superb presentation by a patient on “What does the patient want to know?”.  

This year, we are excited to host the 27th AUGIS Annual Scientific Meeting in Manchester. The affiliate Programme is being finalised and we are fortunate that we have already secured several impressive local and national speakers to speak on the optimisation of the frail patient, cachexia in patients with UGI cancers, managing immunotherapy- and chemotherapy-related toxicities, a Cytosponge service and an anti-reflux surgery, in addition to presentations on nutrition amongst other presentations (to be confirmed). The programme should complement the main programme extremely well and, importantly, allow opportunities for networking professionally and socially.  We do encourage members to come with their teams – it is a valuable opportunity for team building.

It is a great honour for us to represent the interests of the nursing profession and the allied health professions within AUGIS. We aim to inspire motivation, excellence and collaboration, in addition to raising the profile for Nurses and our AHPs.

Anne-Margrethe Phillips, Liz Ward, Fiona Huddy and Rebecca Bidmead                                                                   

Leads for the Allied Health Professionals and Specialist Nurses Committee   

Directors of AHP & CNS

Anne-Margrethe Phillips

 

Anne-Margrethe is an experienced Senior UGI Specialist Nurse based at the Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, with more than 25 years experience in her field. She graduated from the University of Wales College of Medicine, Cardiff, with a Batchelor of Nursing and she has extensive experience in oesophagogastric, HPB and lower gastrointestinal surgery, intensive care, upper gastrointestinal oncology and Cancer of Unknown Primary. She was awarded a Masters in Law (Legal Aspects of Medical Practice (LAMP)) at Cardiff Law School, University of Wales, and she has a specialist interest in patient information and consent.

Anne-Margrethe is a Trustee of the charity, Oxfordshire Oesophageal and Stomach Organisation (OOSO). She serves as a Lead Nurse on the AUGIS Council and chairs the AHP/CNS Sub-Committee.

In her spare time, Anne-Margrethe enjoys road cycling, gardening, baking, singing in a choir and spending time in Denmark.

 
Fiona Huddy

Macmillan Oesophago-Gastric Specialist Dietitian

Fiona has over 15 years’ experience as a specialist dietitian working with patients diagnosed with oesophageal and gastric cancer at the regional OG unit in Guildford. She supports patients from diagnosis, throughout the staging process and during subsequent oncological and surgical treatments.

Her research interests include prehabilitation and nutritional optimisation for surgery, optimal route for nutrition support following OG resection and the investigation and management of the longer term complications following OG resection.

Liz Ward

 

Benefits of Membership

Nurses, Dietitians and other Allied Health Professionals

Membership of AUGIS is an opportunity to enhance knowledge, skills and expertise through continuing education, collaboration and networking.

Being a member of AUGIS supports the management of patients undergoing Oesophagogastric (OG) and Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic (HPB) surgery and treatments for cancer.

Education
  • Provision of national educational events to enhance specialist knowledge and keep abreast of new developments
  • Annual Scientific Meeting
  • Discounted preferential rates.
  • Opportunity for abstract submission for formal and poster presentations.
  • Prize for best poster or formal presentation.
  • Annual training event (on-line or collaborative event with surgical trainees)
  • Free or discounted registration fee
  • Free access to on-line multi-disciplinary webinars and lectures, which are recorded in a closed members archive.
Bursaries/Fellowships
  • Eligibility to apply for research fellowships or travel bursaries.
Clinical Experts/Mentorship
  • Access to clinical experts for each Region, who contribute to clinical guidelines, local and national educational events, participate in national audits, nutrition consensus groups.
  • Opportunities for mentorship, peer support, networking and collaboration with each other and our medical colleagues.
  • Regional members represent the interests of its members at AUGIS

If you would like to join as an AUGIS Allied Health Professional/CNS Member, the annual subsciption rate is £20 and the membership year runs from the 1st June to the 31st May. If you join AUGIS within the annual subscription year period you will pay the pro-rata membership rate until the next annual renewal date.

Click here to join AUGIS

Mission Statement

Specialist Nurses and Allied Health Professionals (AHPs)

The AUGIS AHP and Nurse Sub-Committee is made up of Specialist Nurses, Specialist Dietitians, Advanced Nurse/Care Practitioners and other AHPs, who act as regional representatives. The Lead Specialist Nurses and AHPs also sit on the AUGIS Council. The Sub-Committee represents Nurses and AHPs, who share a common interest mainly in UGI/HPB Surgery, Endoscopy and Oncology but also benign diseases.

The overall goal is to promote evidence-based care in the management of patients, including nutrition, with UGI conditions through collaborative practice, research and education.

We share a common interest in improving patient services and in providing professional support through national collaboration. Importantly, AUGIS wishes to raise the professional profile for all Nurses and AHPs within UGI/HPB surgery, oncology and endoscopy.

Aims of the group:

  • Raise the professional profile for all Nurses and AHPs within surgery, oncology and endoscopy.
  • Encourage Nurses and AHPs to enhance their personal profile and commitment to their professional development.
  • Explore national guidance on Specialist Nurse and Dietetic standards and staffing.
  • Promote collaborative practice with Surgeons and other Medical Clinicians/Scientists, Nurses and other AHPs at local, national and international levels through shared education, audit and research.
  • Provide an expert resource on clinical issues and patient experience.
  • Share and promote best practice guidelines and patient information.
  • Emphasise the requirement for professional training and development in a specialist field and for revalidation.
  • Establish a programme of Nurse and AHP educational events to support the training and development of Specialist Nurses, other Nurses and AHPs new to the area and refresher courses for experienced members of the team.
  • Provide an educational programme with high quality presentations and speakers at the annual AUGIS scientific meeting. Nurses and AHPs are encouraged to support this conference.
  • Represent AHPs and Nurses on the AUGIS Council.

 

Anne-Margrethe Phillips, Chair of AUGIS AHP/CNS Sub-Committee.

Reviewed and agreed by the AUGIS AHP & Specialist Nurse Sub-Committee

May 2024

 

 

Committee Members

AUGIS Programme