Theme – “Patient Safety in Scottish Spine Care”
Local organiser – Gerry Cousins, Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon on Thursday 7 and Friday 8 November at the Glen Mhor Hotel.
I was honoured to host the 15th Annual Scottish Spine Surgeons Meeting in Inverness this year. Although a small volume part of the spine service nationally, the ongoing recognition of the little part we play is greatly appreciated.
The event was held for the first time over a Thursday and Friday, as agreed at last years meeting by our team and sponsors. All confirmed this was a successful change. It took place at the Glen Mhor Hotel in Inverness, situated in the heart of the city on the River Ness. We all agreed it was a fitting setting for our national meeting.
I was very grateful to have the opportunity to pay tribute to my colleague Mr Doug Somerville, Surgeon Commander in the Royal Navy and Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon in Raigmore. He introduced regular elective spinal surgery to the region, was an excellent trainer and a truly wonderful gentleman. His passing last year at the age of 71 deeply saddened many of us in the orthopaedic and spine community.
Our invited speakers covered a wide range of topics. Mr Andy Kent presented a moving account of his 40 year career or surgery in austere and hostile environments.
This was followed by talks by Mr Vinay Jasani on developing, promoting and adhering to guidelines and his experience and approach to adult deformity surgery. We heard from Mr Adams’ experience of engaging with the organisations and individuals that are the key decision makers in terms of providing us with the resources required to fulfil our responsibilities to patients.
The full abstracts for the free papers are in the NHS MS Teams channel for the meeting.In the free paper presentations, Mostafa Beshr took top prize for ‘Patient Prioritisation for Lumbar Decompression:Linear Analysis of Pre-Operative vs 1yr Post-Operatively Patient Reported Outcome Measures’.
The meetings first time duo presentation took second prize. Both Eilidh Edmiston and Ryad Khatib worked well together for their paper ‘Is MRI Reporting on Spinal Stability after Thoracolumbar Spinal Trauma Adequately Informative’. Congratulations to all who presented and generated extensive discussions during the questions. All really thought provoking and useful.
We had updates from the 5 spinal units and it’s fair to say there was a mixed picture of service provision across the country, with the West of Scotland facing significant challenges. A spinal quiz was held to refresh memories/spark interest in spine surgery history, internationally and in Scotland and in the types of devices and costs commercially available to back pain patients. Our platinum sponsor, DePuy gave a short presentation on their advances in spine surgery technology.
Girish Swamy, British Association of Spine Surgeons (BASS) Education Committee Representative, joined us online. He gave us an inspirational talk on spinal training and why junior colleagues should consider spinal surgery as a realistic option. Finally we looked at how the Get It Right First Time (GIRFT) National CES pathway was being implemented in Scotland and discussed the challenges that we continue to face to meet these standards.
Thanks to the Sponsors 2024 who made this meeting possible and free to attend for NHS employees. More details on the accounts and sponsors page.
As ever, meeting new colleagues and refreshing old friendships was a real pleasure. The meeting continues to allow discussion of our challenges and success, an opportunity to learn from each other and to encourage ongoing excellence in spinal care in Scotland. I am very much looking forward to the meeting in Glasgow next year!
The programme 2024. Continuing Professional Development (CPD): Awarded 8 hours of continuing professional develop by the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh – Recognition number – RCSEd 03330 on 08/10/2024 (5 hours Day 1, 3 hours Day 2).
