The Roux Group is for AUGIS Trainee Surgeon Members. 

• We will engage with trainee members via educational events throughout the year designed to target various aspects of the upper GI curriculum and promote networking and collaboration amongst its members to promote excellence in the field.
• We will work directly with AUGIS-affiliated associations, such as BOMSS and GBIHPBA, to maximise opportunities for its members and align its activities with these organisations, and ensure the trainee voice is heard.
• We will promote upper GI surgery as a career for medical students, foundation doctors and core trainees, to increase the uptake of the specialty and support their career progression.
• We will organise an annual training weekend for members to enhance education and training, and provide an opportunity for a social get together at the Gala Dinner following the AGM.
• The Roux Group Committee to be elected in a democratic and transparent process at the Annual Roux Group Weekend.

Roux Group Regional Representative Elections

Further to the request for Expressions of Interest for the Roux Group Regional Representatives, we would now like to ask members to place their votes. Voting will be open until 9am on Wednesday 10^th July 2024.

As only one application was received for the regions of Northern, Scotland, Ireland, Northern Ireland, and these regions have not been included in the ballot.

Please read through the personal statements of all candidates before voting. 

Click here to view the personal statements

If you have not received the link to vote, please contact Nichola Bartlett (nichola@augis.org)

(Please note that you must be a current and paid up AUGIS Trainee member to be eligible to vote)

Please vote by 9am on Friday 21st June 2024.

Job Description for Regional Representatives:

Overview

A Regional Representative is to be an ambassador for the work of the Roux Group and are responsible for promoting the group within their region. They are a primary channel of communication between regional surgical colleagues and the Roux Group. 

Roles and Responsibilities

·       To promote the Roux Group and upper gastrointestinal surgery in the region

·       To represent the views and capture feedback of their regional colleagues, identify regional priorities and concerns, and relay these to the Roux Group executive committee.

·       To contribute to shaping training and education of UGI trainees and SAS surgeons

·       To facilitate dialogue between regional colleagues and the Roux Group executive committee

·       To disseminate information, guidance and publications from Roux Group business to their regional colleagues

·       To encourage participation of regional colleagues with activities of the Roux Group

Essential requirements

·       They must be a current paid Trainee Member of AUGIS.

·       Applicants should be CT or ST1-2/ST3-ST8 within the respective deanery at the start of the role term (both training grade and non-training grades welcome to apply).

Term of Office

·       The term of office will be two years from June to May.

·       Members will be permitted to stand for re-election to the same or alternative post after their term if they so wish.

·       Representatives must stand down if they move from the area.

Time commitment

·       It is envisaged that the time commitment will be approximately 1-2 hours a month on average.  

·       Regional representatives are not paid for their services.

It has been another busy and exciting year for The Roux Group. Each year we strive to build upon the successes of the last and ensure that we are actively seeking new opportunities for our members and aiming to grow as a community so that all of us can benefit. Whether you have been a member since the Roux Group’s conception in 2018 or you have joined in the last few months we hope that you see that UGI surgery in the U.K. & Ireland is going from strength to strength and that being part of our organisation offers benefits both educationally and on a more personal level.

On the back of a successful Roux Weekend 2023, work commenced immediately, as our new committee undertook their respective roles and began the planning and co-ordination of the 2023-24 educational events. September saw AUGIS’ 2023 Annual Scientific Meeting take place in the beautiful city of Oxford. With the support of AUGIS consultant member faculty and our industry partners, Karl Storz, Medtronic and BK Medical, we were able to put on a fantastic morning of training in laparoscopic gastric bypass, bile duct exploration and bile duct ultrasound. We hope this provided both valuable training but also a welcoming environment for trainees of all levels. The morning was attended by 30 delegates from both the UK and Holland and the feedback received was incredibly positive. As such, it has been confirmed by the AUGIS committee that this will now form an integral part of the AUGIS ASM annually forthgoing. 

In early March 2024, Roux Group representatives attended the ASiT conference in Bournemouth with the aim of increasing awareness of Upper GI surgery as a career option, whilst promoting the Roux Group and AUGIS.  Excitingly, the team facilitated the running of the first ASiT and AUGIS Fundamentals of Benign Upper GI and HPB Surgery course. The course was attended by 11 ST3+ delegates where tuition with hands on wet lab simulation was given on techniques for laparoscopic cholecystectomy, hiatal dissection and anti-reflux surgery and performing a gastric sleeve. It was a fantastic few days and was great to engage with so many enthusiastic trainees who have an interest in pursuing a career in Upper GI. During the three day event we also held a stall in the specialty village each day, ran a session on key papers in UGI surgery and competed in the Battle of the Surgical Specialties session.

Our annual activities culminate each year with our Roux Weekend conference. Continuing on with the successful additions of 2023, the conference was again held over two days and saw the continuation of pre-conference courses; this year in the form of an endoscopy skills course and a HPB immersion course. Our biggest change for 2024 was the introduction of the fellowship roadshow which saw fellowship programme leads from around the UK, covering all aspects of Upper GI, pitching what their fellowships could offer our attentive delegates. This addition was well received by our delegates and by the programme leads and is sure to become a permanent fixture in the Roux Weekend programme for years to come. Over the last couple of years I feel that these ambitious changes have enhanced our conference no end and I am sure under the new committee, new ideas will present that further push the opportunities for delegates during the packed 2-day conference.

Finally, I would like to personally thank my colleagues on the Roux and the AUGIS committees for all the support that I have received as President over the past couple of years. My tenure officially ended at the Roux Weekend 2024 and it has been a huge privilege to be President of this amazing trainee organisation. I would like to wish the new President, Ben Chan a hugely successful tenure and I have no doubt that the Roux Group will go from strength-to-strength under his guidance.

Dave Robinson

Past-President, Roux Group

June 2024

We are excitied to announce that the next Roux Weekend will be taking place in March 2025 

Look out for further details in the next few months.

The Roux Group Newsletters provide a round up of the Roux Group Activities and what to look out for over the next few months. Please click on the links below to view the Roux Group Newsletters.

February 2022 Newsletter

September 2021 Newsletter

October 2019 Newsletter

February 2019 Newsletter

Endoscopy e-learning by JAG/HEE

The Endoscopy e-learning programme is a free e-learning resource for health and care professionals working in endoscopy. It has been developed by Joint Advisory Group on Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (JAG) working in partnership with Health Education England e-Learning for Healthcare (HEE e-LfH).

The Endoscopy e-learning resource provides a programme of courses covering the core areas of endoscopy. Over the coming months further sessions will be developed to support the JETS Workforce e-portfolio.

www.e-lfh.org.uk/programmes/endoscop