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Annual Report

2012Promoting excellence in cardiovascular care

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British Cardiovascular Society. Annual Report 2012

02The British Cardiovascular Society is dedicated to the promotion of

cardiovascular health.

The BCS will:

> set standards of clinical excellence for the benefit of patients

> be committed to enhancing and maintaining the highest standards in training, education and research

> be the primary source of professional advice and advocacy in the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of cardiovascular disease, and engage with government, patient groups, research councils, funding bodies and industry

> deliver these objectives in collaboration with patients, the wider public, and partner organisations

The above objectives will be delivered at all times within an ethical framework based upon the public interest and professional integrity.

Our Mission and Aims

Our Mission and Aims 2

Officers of the Society 4

Staff of the Society 5

Introduction and Report from the President 6

Honorary Secretary Report 10

Chief Executive Officer Report 14

DIVISIONAL REPORTS 16

Clinical Standards Division 16

Corporate and Financial Affairs Division 19

Education and Research Division 22

Training Division 27

OTHER REPORTS 30

Women in UK Cardiology 30

Joint Working Group for Women’s Heart Health 32

BMJ Report from Heart Journal 33

MEMBERSHIP AND CONFERENCE 34

Getting Involved! 36

Review of BCS Annual Conference 2011 38

2012 BCS Annual Conference 39

BCS Awards 41

AFFILIATED GROUPS REPORTS 44

Arrhythmia Alliance (A-A) 44

British Association for Cardiovascular

Prevention & Rehabilitation (BACPR) 46

British Association for Nursing in

Cardiovascular Care (BANCC) 48

British Atherosclerosis Society (BAS) 50

British Congenital Cardiac Association (BCCA) 52

British Junior Cardiologists’ Association (BJCA) 53

British Nuclear Cardiology Society (BNCS) 55

British Society of Cardiovascular Imaging (BSCI) 56

British Society of Cardiovascular Magnetic

Resonance (BSCMR) 58

British Society for Cardiovascular Research (BSCR) 59

British Society of Echocardiography (BSE) 61

British Society for Heart Failure (BSH) 62

Heart Care Partnership (UK) (HCP UK) 66

Heart Rhythm UK 69

Society for Cardiological Science and Technology (SCST) 70

Contents

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President Prof Keith Fox 2009 – 2012

President ElectDr Iain Simpson 2011 – 2012

Honorary SecretaryDr Bernard Prendergast 2011 – 2014

Vice-President Clinical StandardsDr Simon Ray 2010 – 2013

Vice-President Elect Corporate and Financial AffairsDr Stephen Holmberg 2011 – 2012

Vice-President Education and ResearchDr Sarah Clarke 2011 – 2014

Vice-President TrainingDr Jim Hall 2010 – 2013

Non-executive TrusteeMr Graham Meek 2007

Non-executive TrusteeMr Nigel Turner 2008

Non-executive TrusteeMr John Carrier 2009

Non-executive TrusteeProf Sir Roger Boyle 2011

Officers of the Society

BCS Board, from left to right:

Derek Yellon, Graham Meek, Navroz Masani (BSE), Charles Knight, Steven Yeats, Iain Simpson, Sarah

Clarke, Edward Rowland (HRUK), Jim Hall, Simon Ray, Mark de Belder (BCIS), Nigel Turner, Keith Fox

CEOSteven Yeats Appointed 1998 [email protected]

Affiliate CoordinatorAzeem Ahmad Appointed 2007 [email protected]

IT Support SpecialistJasdeep Bhamber Appointed 2005 [email protected]

Head of DevelopmentKirsten Bradbury Appointed 2007 [email protected]

Office AssistantVal Collins Appointed 2012 [email protected]

Senior Exhibition ManagerFrançoise Durrant Appointed 2008 [email protected]

Membership CoordinatorValerié Honoré Appointed 2011 [email protected]

Web DeveloperDilowar Hussain Appointed 2006 [email protected]

Affiliate CoordinatorLulu Ho Appointed 2005 [email protected]

Project CoordinatorAnna Kassai Appointed 2007 [email protected]

Web DeveloperJayasri Paladugu Appointed 2011 [email protected]

Executive AssistantFiona Philpott Appointed 2012 [email protected]

Resources ManagerMary-Lou Pitts Appointed 1997 [email protected]

Finance ManagerWojtek Trzcinski Appointed 2007 [email protected]

Staff of the SocietyStaff of the Society:

Back row: Françoise Durrant, Wojtek Trzcinski, Anna Kassai,

Azeem Ahmad, Kirsten Bradbury, Dilowar Hussain,

Catherine MullinFront row: Valerié Honoré, Jasdeep Bhamber, Steven

Yeats, Lulu Ho, Mary-Lou Pitts


0706 The mission and the aims of the British Cardiovascular Society are ambitious and as can be seen from the work of the Society over the past year, much has been achieved through the work of all those who serve on a voluntary capacity on the committees of the BCS and the great work of the staff in Fitzroy Square.

In the context of a difficult financial climate, both within the UK and internationally, how have we managed to take on and complete new educational, training and other initiatives while many other organisations are retrenching? Under the careful guidance of the Vice-President for Corporate and Financial Affairs, Professor Derek Yellon and the Finance Committee, we have had sound and impartial financial advice. Importantly, we have been proactive in developing diversified income sources and reducing costs (for example by taking on the Annual Conference organisation in house).

Our Annual Conference has flourished and we are indebted to the British Heart Foundation who initially supported the basic science “track” and the nested meetings of the British Atherosclerosis Society and British Society of Cardiovascular Research in our Conference. This has been mutually beneficial and has led to cross-fertilisation and improved quality. More recently the British Heart Foundation has underpinned the clinical and translational science track of our congress and this has allowed us to strengthen the quality of the programme and bring in speakers who lead in their respective fields nationally and internationally. We truly have a “year round” cardiology education programme rather than a focus only on the few days of our Annual Conference. This includes the outstanding courses in collaboration with the Mayo Clinic and held at the Royal College of Physicians of London (the Cardiology Review Course and the new course Cases, Controversies & Updates), A Year in Cardiology, the National Training Days, A Career in Cardiology and the Research in Cardiology course.

Our journal Heart has continued to thrive under the guidance of the Editor Professor Adam Timmis and his editorial team, in partnership with BMJ Publishing. Heart is truly an international journal with a high profile and together with Education in Heart, has been an outstanding success. The journal also contributes substantially to the income of the Society.

We have a record number of members of the British Cardiovascular Society (2300 members, with further growth in 2011) and our new initiatives have aimed to give further value to our members including free access to Heart online, paper Heart at a discounted subscription, free registration at the Annual Conference, reduced rates for BCS courses and a complementary access to the electronic version of the European Textbook of Cardiology (beginning in 2012). We have also initiated a travel bursary scheme to support presenters at key national and international cardiovascular meetings.

BCS President: Prof Keith Fox

From the PresidentIntroduction and Report

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The Clinical Standards Division (Vice-President Professor Simon Ray) has had a productive and extremely busy year. As can be seen from the divisional report, much progress has been made on several fronts including revalidation, Commissioning of Cardiac Services and further strengthening of the Guidelines & Practice Committee. We now participate in the National Institute of Cardiovascular Outcomes Research Executive Steering Committee and Research Committee and NICOR is host to several important audits including MINAP and the BCIS audit. Workforce issues continue to be important and the Cardiovascular Network Service Advisor organisation has been comprehensively renewed in 2011.

For the Training Division, Vice-President Dr Jim Hall leads this division and is also Chairman of the Cardiology Specialist Advisory Committee. The BCS launched a training committee to complement the work of the SAC and to ensure that we fully meet our objectives. Trainee recruitment is very successful with cardiology continuing to be the most sought after specialty for Trainees. The BCS now has over 400 Trainee members with joint membership of the British Junior Cardiologist Association. In the context of a changing healthcare environment it is critically important that we achieve appropriate standards of training and that such training is co-ordinated rather than fragmented.

Many members have served on working groups of the Society and these have been highly influential including the very highly regarded documents on Commissioning of Cardiac Services, the important report on Acute Cardiac Care and the similarly important reports on Women in Cardiology and Women’s Health.

Our Society is only as strong as its membership and we see the role of the BCS not only as an umbrella for the very important links with Affiliated Groups, but as a driving force for new initiatives and for further success in achieving our goals. I step down as President of the Society after the Annual General Meeting in 2012 and I am delighted that we have an outstanding team led by Dr Iain Simpson, President Elect to take forward the new initiatives of the Society. We are indebted to all members who have contributed to the work of the Society and to the outstanding team at Fitzroy Square. Wishing the Society every success in the future!


1110BCS MEMBERSHIP:

> Total Membership 2414*

> Ordinary, Non-clinical and International members 1334

> Extra-ordinary and Honorary members 355

> Joint BCS members 669

> Starter BCS member 56

*At 21st March 2012

Membership

The British Cardiovascular Society now has over 2,300 members and membership continues to increase year upon year as a result of the high profile activities of the Society, ongoing recruitment efforts and enhanced membership benefits. The aim is to have an extensive and active membership which represents the breadth of healthcare professionals engaged in cardiovascular healthcare. In recent years, we have made special efforts to encourage all health professionals with an interest in Cardiovascular Medicine to join the Society, through great value subscription rates, joint “bundled” membership with Affiliated Groups and a simpler application process.

We have recently set up a new ‘Starter’ BCS Membership for those Doctors with an interest in Cardiovascular Medicine who are not yet established in Specialty Training. Honorary BCS membership will also be offered to all international speakers undertaking BCS named lectures at the Annual Conference as well as other selected prominent Cardiologists from abroad. This initiative will extend the international influence and remit of the Society.

Honorary Secretary Report

Membership of BCS represents outstanding value for money for those working in Cardiology. Positive financial developments within the past year have enabled the Executive to endorse new enhanced benefits of membership, including a complimentary electronic copy of the ESC Textbook of Cardiovascular Medicine (which complements the training curriculum and will support revalidation, retail >£100) and a comprehensive Travel Bursary scheme to support BCS members who wish to attend national and international Cardiology meetings to present their research.

All BCS members receive the following benefits:

> Free access to Heart online

> Paper Heart at a discounted subscription of £80

> Free registration at our Annual Conference

> Reduced rates for BCS courses

> Cardiology Review Course (with the Mayo Clinic)

> Cases, Controversies and Updates (with the Mayo Clinic)

> A Year in Cardiology

> Two National Training Days a year

> A Career in Cardiology

> Research in Cardiology

> Complimentary ESC Textbook of Cardiovascular Medicine (starting from 1st July 2012, upon request)

> Travel Bursary Scheme

> Free access to CardioSource (in collaboration with the ACC) – JACC plus daughter journals

> Automatic membership of the ESC

> Membership e-bulletins with news of Cardiology

> Access to the members only area of the BCS website

> Online educational resources, webcasts, courses, editorials

As the voice for those working in cardiovascular health, science and disease management in the UK, BCS aims to promote and support the healthcare professionals who work in Cardiology. BCS membership provides significant professional support for its members, including:

> Representation with the Royal College of Physicians and Department of Health

> Support for ACCEA Awards

> All notices and communications of the Society

> The option to stand for nominated BCS positions

> Full participation in business meetings and voting rights

> Access to the facilities of the Society’s offices

Honorary Secretary: Dr Bernard Prendergast

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The Members’ area of the BCS website has been developed to help BCS Members to:

> Facilitate professional contact through a members directory

> Access restricted documents

> Discuss issues of interest in the discussion section

> Access current membership offers

The strength of the Society and its expanding programme of activities depend upon the continued engagement and support of its members. We believe that the enhanced benefits of membership will encourage an active and diverse BCS membership over coming years, strengthening the Society and improving cardiovascular healthcare.

Network Service Advisors

These posts were established in parallel with the fledging Cardiovascular Networks several years ago and have been comprehensively renewed in 2011. The posts have an important contribution to make in promoting the activities of the Society and driving forward the cardiovascular agenda on clinical, educational and political fronts. A well attended meeting of the new incumbents was held at the BCS Offices in January 2012 and addressed important initiatives concerning the interaction of primary and secondary care in the delivery of cardiovascular healthcare (to be pursued in conjunction with the NHS Improvement Programme) and links between healthcare professionals and patients (to be pursued in conjunction with the British Heart Foundation and the patient-led Health Care Partnership).

Specific roles of these posts include:

> Assessment of job plans for new consultant appointments

> Act as College advisor on appointments committees

> Advise the Colleges on the suitability of nominees for the Fellowship of the Royal College of Physicians

> Advise the College Regional Advisor (or Responsible Officer) on the strengthened appraisal and revalidation of Cardiologists

> Highlight local priorities for the attention of members of the DOH Heart Improvement Programme (NHS Improvements – Heart)

> Provide the Society with an annual report on the local provision of cardiac services and any associated significant concerns

> Provide coordination of network workforce and other surveys

> Act as a contact for the Society over matters of national interest and, when necessary, represent the Society to their local press and media

> Promote membership of the Society and its Affiliated Groups

> Provide advice and support on revalidation

> Promote the educational and training activities of the Society, particularly the Annual Conference

Press Office

The BCS Press Office continues to deal with enquiries from an array of media professionals, often on very tight timelines. Most of the more general enquiries BCS receives are handled by the Honorary Secretary and the Vice-President for Education and Research, and we are currently updating the bank of BCS Members who have offered to address press enquiries in specialist areas. In 2011, over 50 enquiries were handled including interactions with the Daily Express, the Daily Mail, the Times and Times Online, the Guardian, the New Scientist, BBC News, Sky News, and a variety of trade magazines. BCS Members also contributed to research on Panorama, Channel 4 Films and live interviews for BBC Radio. The BCS Press Office can be contacted on [email protected] or 0207 380 1901.


1514 2012 is my 14th year with the Society and the 90th year for BCS itself (formed in 1922 as the Cardiac Club): it is a good time to reflect on how far the Society has come and where we want to go next! To this end, we will be having a strategic review at the Board meeting in 2012.

2011 saw BCS further increasing the scope and volume of our work and 2012 is already shaping up to be another busy year for the Society. Each of the five divisions of BCS has seen changes in their strategic direction or faced challenges from the rapidly changing environment of today’s healthcare system in the UK.

To help BCS both keep ahead of changes and keep up with the volume of work needed, there have been a number of developments in the staffing of the Society over the last year.

Firstly, we recruited a Membership Coordinator, Valérie Honoré. Our membership is continuing to grow and expand with new membership initiatives in 2011 such as Starter Membership and joint BCS/BACPR membership, so having a dedicated Membership Coordinator has been a great boon.

Secondly, we have recruited an Executive Assistant to work closely with myself and with the BCS Executive; Fiona Philpott joined us in January. Fiona will be helping the Executive at BCS by providing excellent support so that we can concentrate on the strategic decisions that need to be made, particularly important during these challenging times!

Thirdly, we have a new Web Developer, Jayasri Paladugu, to help Dilowar Hussain in the increasing work on our website and websites for our Affiliated Groups. We aim to provide greater educational tools and resources for our members and for our Affiliated Groups, and to bring more work in-house, all of which Jayasri will help to achieve.

Finally, it is with sadness I have to inform you that Mary-Lou Pitts will be retiring after the conference. She has been a stalwart of the Society for over 15 years, and will be missed. We wish her well in the future.

Once again the staff at Fitzroy Square have excelled themselves. The work of the Society could not be achieved without the dedication of all at Fitzroy Square, both old and new staff alike, and I would like to congratulate them on another efficient and productive year. Well done!

Chief Executive Officer Report

BCS Chief Executive Officer:

Mr Steven Yeats


1716 Clinical Standards Division Vice-President: Prof Simon Ray

Revalidation

The BCS continues to engage with the Royal College of Physicians in developing plans for revalidation including the process of remediation for those few individuals where concerns are raised. Plans are well advanced for the publication of guidelines for Cardiologists on the content of supporting information for strengthened appraisal, and the revalidation track within the Annual Conference will provide a means of obtaining CPD across the range of the Cardiology Curriculum.

The Future of Acute Cardiac Care

The Working Group on the Future of Acute Cardiac Care chaired by David Walker has published its report (http://www.bcs.com/pages/page_about.asp?PageID=480) and an editorial has appeared in Heart (http://heart.bmj.com/content/98/5.toc). The report stresses the importance of specialist care for patients with acute cardiac conditions and outlines the steps that need to be taken for this to be achieved. Fulfilment of the proposals within the report will be a considerable challenge but should result in improved patient care, shorter hospital stays and better outcomes.

Commissioning of Cardiac Services

The BCS guidance on Commissioning of Cardiac Services has been published on the website (http://www.bcs.com/pages/page_about.asp?PageID=480) and distributed widely to cardiac networks, the Royal College of Physicians and the Department of Health. The Society is continuing, with the support of Mark Dancy and the Heart Improvement Team, to lobby for appropriate specialist input into local commissioning decisions. We are also meeting with representatives of the DH to ensure that the BCS and Affiliated Groups have a central role in the setting of any standards against which commissioning decisions are made.

ACHD Interventions

A joint Working Group of BCS, BCIS and the BCCA lead by Mark de Belder and Shak Quereshi has published a report on interventions in ACHD patients with the emphasis on closure of PFO and atrial septal defects (http://www.bcs.com/pages/page_about.asp?PageID=480). Clinical Standards for individuals and units undertaking these procedures have been defined and will be reviewed again in three years time.

Guidelines and Practice Committee

David Wald has been appointed as Chair Elect of the Guidelines and Practice Committee and will take over from Adrian Brady at the Annual Conference in Manchester. The committee continues to be active in contributing to NICE appraisals and Guideline Development. The guidelines and appraisals considered in 2011 were:

Divisional Reports

Vice-President: Prof Simon Ray


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Workforce Issues

The 2011 BCS consultant survey was carried out in January and February 2012 co-ordinated by Andrew Wragg and the results will be used in workforce planning discussions with the Centre for Workforce Intelligence (CfWI – http://www.cfwi.org.uk/) and the Royal College of Physicians. It is the view of the BCS and the Cardiology SAC that cardiology is roughly in balance, with the number of Trainees approximating to the number of consultant posts anticipated. The workforce survey will become an annual event and will be of critical importance in our future negotiations.

Imaging Council

The Imaging Council (http://www.bcs.com/pages/page_about.asp?PageID=480) provides a forum for the Affiliated Groups with an imaging focus and has concentrated its efforts on developing resources to support revalidation for those Cardiologists with a major imaging commitment.

Adrian Brady steps down this year as Chair of the Guidelines and Practice Committee and I would like to thank him for all his efforts as Chair over the past four years.

Corporate and Financial Affairs Division Vice-President: Prof Derek Yellon

Financial Report 2011

Overall 2011 was a difficult period for the Charity Sector in the UK for a number of reasons, including general financial pressure and funding cuts from both the Government and autonomous commercial bodies. However, the BCS funding structure and financial independence from any Government funding helped to protect the Society from many of the problems faced by other organisations in the sector. The Society has continued to maintain a healthy financial condition throughout 2011, and has adopted a prudent approach to expenditure and future financial commitments to ensure long-term financial sustainability. As such we have managed to close 2011 with an operating surplus of £361k which helps us increase our reserves for the future, ensuring that BCS is well positioned to face any financial difficulties caused by the uncertain economic climate in the near future. Certain industry experts have voiced the opinion that worse is yet to come for the charities sector, with many predicting a ‘delayed reaction’1. However, we believe that the current financial position of the Society makes it well equipped for any future financial risks.

> RCP Map of Medicine for Dyslipidaemia, Acute Coronary Syndrome, Heart Failure and Anticoagulation

> On-going NICE guidelines and appraisals:

> Chronic Heart Failure – Ivabradine

> Rivaroxaban for treatment of Acute Coronary Syndrome

> Dual-chamber pacemakers for symptomatic bradycardia due to sick sinus syndrome and/or atrioventricular block

> Myocardial Infarction: Secondary Prevention

> Myocardial Infarction, STEMI

> Dabigatran etexilate for the treatment of acute venous thromboembolic events

> Everolimus for the prevention of organ rejection in cardiac transplantation

> Dabigatran etexilate for the prevention of stroke in atrial fibrillation

> Transcatheter aortic valve implantation for refractory angina pectoris

> Percutaneous transluminal radiofrequency sympathetic denervation of the renal artery resistant hypertension

> NICE guidelines and appraisals completed in 2011:

> Statins for the prevention of cardiovascular events in patients at increased risk of developing cardiovascular disease

> Ticagrelor for the treatment of acute coronary syndrome

> Hypertension

> Bivalirudin for Myocardial infarction (persistent ST-segment elevation)

> Stable Angina

> Percutaneous endoscopic catheter laser balloon pulmonary vein isolation for atrial fibrillation

NICOR

The National Institute for Cardiovascular Outcomes Research (NICOR) has been established at UCL under the leadership of Sir Roger Boyle and John Deanfield (http://www.ucl.ac.uk/nicor/audits). It houses the national cardiovascular audits and will be a major resource for the further development and analysis of audit data. The BCS and Affiliated Groups are represented on the

NICOR Board and Executive, and the BCS is co-funding an analyst who will be tasked with specific analyses of the audit datasets that are of interest to the Society in supporting its work.

Vice-President: Prof Derek Yellon

1Source www.keynote.co.uk

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Our journal, Heart, had a strong performance in 2011 with a year-end net profit forecast of £1,000k against £868k budgeted. The revenue is forecasted to be £96k above the budget and some savings in costs has resulted in an overall profit above the budget of £132k. The BCS’ 50% share of the profit is expected to be in region of £500k.

Our educational activities, inclusive of BCS courses, fellowships and grants generated a total of almost £300k revenue. Sadly 2011 was the last year the BCS received funding for its fellowship with the last BCS/BMS Research Fellow being Dr Oliver Monfredi, whose fellowship concluded in December 2011. The Society is extremely grateful for this valuable support from BMS. However, it has been decided that due to current financial climate in the industry the BCS will not seek to revive its fellowship programme in the foreseeable future.

Total expenditure was £2,114k. The general operation and building costs came slightly under budget but staff and membership expenses were slightly above initial predictions. In addition, our education expenses were above budget but this is due to additional activities and greater than expected attendance numbers which also resulted in higher revenue as stated above.

Throughout 2011 the BCS has maintained a very healthy cash flow and closed the year with a cash balance of £575k. Total balance on the funds carried forward as of 31st December 2011 was £4,649k, which represents year-on-year increase in funds of 5.5%.

Investments

The BCS Investment portfolio was valued at year-end, 31st December 2011, at £2,320k which included a cash injection of £200k in April 2011. The financial markets entered 2011 with a great deal of optimism, as it appeared that the global economy was continuing its recovery from the 2008/2009 financial crisis and that the corporate sector was in a strong position to invest and hire and thus build the foundations for self-sustaining economic growth. However, investor sentiment turned sharply negative during the summer months, driven by the deterioration of political order in both the US and the Eurozone.

Confidence in bond markets deteriorated, together with economic performance, raising the probability of a recession in the Eurozone and possibly beyond. Although equity markets rallied in the final quarter, in the expectation that the European Central Bank would intervene to bolster the banking sector and thus prevent contagion, all of the major equity markets finished in negative territory for the year, with the exception of the US which produced a small positive return for the sterling investor. In fixed interest markets gilts continued to be bolstered by a combination of further quantitative easing, a weakening economic outlook and their safe haven status compared to European sovereign bonds. Investment grade corporate bonds also produced positive returns, albeit nothing like as strong as gilts.

Part of BCS’ financial strength and independence is due to members’ subscriptions and we are extremely grateful to our members for their continued support. It is also important to underline that past investments such as the Heart Journal and purchase of the building where the BCS offices are located, have helped the Society to maintain financial stability, and for the former have provided a secure cash flow without the need for using reserves.

The Finance Committee

The finances of the BCS have continued to be overseen by the Finance Committee, chaired by Prof Derek Yellon. The Committee is responsible for regularly reviewing and recommending action to be undertaken to ensure the financial health of the Society. The Committee continues to receive invaluable advice from two Non-Executive members, Mr Graham Meek and Mr Tony Salter, who were joined by Mr Bob Johal in 2011. Mr Johal has extensive international fundraising experience and a professional background in the pharmaceutical industry that will assist BCS in the upcoming years.

The Committee currently has twelve members, including President Elect, Dr Iain Simpson and Vice-President (Education and Research), Dr Sarah Clarke, who joined the Committee in 2011. Internal financial reporting is provided by the CEO, Mr Steven Yeats and the Finance Manager, Mr Wojtek Trzcinski.

2011 Financial Performance

2011 closed with an operating surplus of £361k, before realised and unrealised gains and losses on the investment portfolio. The total income for 2011 was £2,475k, a 15% increase from 2010, against the expenditure of £2,114k, which represents only a 6% increase from 2010. The overall income was higher than expected mostly due to the increase in conference income against the budget of approximately £110k and our new education initiatives generating £51k more revenue than initially estimated, as well as Heart journal performance being better than anticipated by almost £132k in total profit terms.

The BCS continues to receive revenue from Subscriptions, our Annual Conference and our journal, Heart. Moreover, our Education activities have established themselves as an important source of revenue that helps to fulfil the BCS’s educational ambitions for new projects and initiatives. In addition the BCS receives a small amount from providing administration services for five of our Affiliated Groups (£41k). This amount represents just a fraction of the actual costs relating to supporting our Affiliated Groups (£101k), but BCS is committed to providing this valuable support for these Affiliated Groups.

Our Subscription revenue in 2011 was £353k, as budgeted. The Annual Conference generated £791k revenue against £700k direct expenditure (inclusive of overheads allocations).

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The monetary effect of the market performance on the BCS portfolio in 2011 was net loss in value of the portfolio of £120k. We have continued with our long-term view for the portfolio, which acts as a security buffer for the BCS, and any negative movements on the value do not affect the day-to-day operational abilities of the Society.

Education and Research Division Vice President: Dr Sarah Clarke

Throughout the last year, the Education and Research Division has focussed primarily on the delivery of the BCS Education Strategy and the Annual Conference. The BCS spends around £750,000 annually delivering the Annual Conference and its other education activities for the benefit of its members, Trainees and the Affiliated Groups. The BCS Board has agreed to commit this investment to education which has allowed a diverse portfolio of activities to be developed over the past few years.

Education Strategy

The main focus of the BCS Education Strategy is the development, coordination and delivery of high quality education for Trainees in cardiology and for its members, many of whom are trained Cardiologists facing revalidation. A component of revalidation is likely to include a more structured demonstration of knowledge base and continuing professional development, areas the BCS can facilitate with quality education in a format tailored to the needs of revalidation. There is already a plethora of good education being delivered, mainly through our Affiliated Groups, through Deanery programmes and other educational events. It is not the intention of the BCS to interfere with existing activities but rather to recognise their value, catalogue and where necessary facilitate their delivery, identifying gaps where BCS educational activity can be channelled. With the enthusiasm and engagement of the Affiliated Groups, many of whom have already developed a similar educational focus for their subspecialty areas, we have been able to adopt a synergistic approach to our educational aspirations.

Much of our initial effort has focussed on Trainees, evaluating educational activities which underpin the training needs of the Cardiology Curriculum. To this end we have developed a category of “BCS Endorsed” educational activities which link directly to the Curriculum and fulfil certain key educational requirements, thereby allowing Trainees to immediately recognise the most relevant educational programmes for training purposes. Mapping these not only to the Curriculum but also by geographic area will allow Trainees to more easily coordinate and fulfil their educational needs.

Recognising that there are many excellent educational activities which may not be directed solely at Trainees or cover areas directly linked to the Curriculum we have also developed a category of “BCS Approved” educational activities to distinguish these. Full details of the “BCS Endorsed” and “BCS Approved” criteria are available at www.bcs.com and we hope this will be a valuable resource for all our members and help support Trainees and trained Cardiologists as well as our many allied healthcare professionals in promoting excellence in cardiovascular care.

Communication and Education Committee

Chaired by Dr Chris Burrell, this committee has a key role in delivering the BCS Education Strategy through an expanding portfolio of courses and through the website education pages. It has responsibility for the editorial content of www.bcs.com regularly populated by a group of sub-editors (cardiology Trainees) and also for the reporting and webcasting of the BCS Annual Conference and National Training Days, essential viewing for those unable to attend.

The Committee has developed and delivered a number of BCS courses:

> National Training Days – There is a full National Training Day embedded in the BCS Annual Conference in Manchester and also an additional annual Training Day held in November/December each year at the RCP in London. Both have Deanery support and are well attended. Dr Mark Gunning leads on developing the agenda which aims to cover topics from the Cardiology Curriculum which are less well covered elsewhere

> Cardiology Review Course in conjunction with the Mayo Clinic – This highly successful 5 day course in March each year is focussed on providing a comprehensive review for Trainees especially those who are preparing for the knowledge based assessment (KBA) exam, (held annually at the Annual Conference). Dr Alun Harcombe for the BCS and Dr Peter Brady for the Mayo Clinic deserve great credit for the development of this course which attracts Cardiologists from the UK, Europe and also from around the world

> Cases, Controversies and Updates – The BCS and Mayo Clinic joined forces again in September 2011 to deliver a new 2½ day course designed to give Cardiologists and senior year Trainees the opportunity to explore, learn and share experiences with peers. The course will run again in October at the RCP

> Career in Cardiology – This course developed by Dr Aung Myat, cardiology Trainee, is aimed at Trainees wishing to pursue a career in cardiology. The course includes sessions on the application process, interview technique (with recorded mock interviews), training, education, research and the sub-specialties in Cardiology. This course is also held at the RCP

Vice President Sarah Clarke


2524 > A Year in Cardiology – This course, developed by Dr Shouvik Haldar, cardiology Trainee, was held for the first time in December 2011 with an expert Faculty updating on the years key guidelines, clinical, and research messages from publications and national/international meetings in cardiology and in the sub-specialties. A highlight was the Q & A session, at the end of the day, of the expert Faculty by Professor K Fox. Hugely informative with excellent feedback, this course will run again in December 2012 at the RCP

> Research in Cardiology – This is a new course for 2012, developed by Dr Aung Myat in conjunction with Professors Simon Redwood and Anthony Gershlick. The course aims to illustrate the many forms that research can take, explains how to go about gaining a research post and securing funding, how to read and write scientific papers and write a thesis. The course will be interactive and high profile researchers in the sub-specialties will answer the common and not so common questions

The BCS also supports the ‘Essential Surgical Skills for Cardiologists’ course run by the Royal College of Surgeons in conjunction with HRUK and BCS. This course gives a thorough grounding in the latest surgical materials and skills relative to the implantation of cardiac rhythm devices. It is a very hands-on.

In addition, the BCS is developing an online education portfolio which will expand:

New online Educational Activities

> CMR Training Module – CMR (cardiac MRI) is part of the UK 2010 core Cardiology Curriculum reflecting the increasing role of CMR. The requirement to observe and report 50 CMR cases has been challenging. To facilitate this there is now an online CMR training module available at www.bcs.com/education. CMR safety, physics and routine clinical CMR are covered. Each module contains hyperlinks to webcast lectures and dedicated teaching cases. Each lecture is a webcast and each clinical case has a clinical vignette followed by a CMR study. These are both followed by ‘best single answer of 5 choices’ format MCQ’s (multiple choice questions). The overall pass mark for the course is 75% with multiple attempts allowed. A certificate is available to download on successful completion of the course

> Genetics in Cardiology – The NHS National Genetics Education and Development Centre, in collaboration with the BCS, has developed a series of interactive online sessions based on case studies highlighting genetics in cardiology practice. This resource can be accessed through the BCS website (www.bcs.com/eductaion) with registration free to BCS members. The first series of sessions cover the core knowledge and skills in genetics, with the first two sessions on taking a family history and communicating genetics information. The second series of sessions, highlighting the common cardiac conditions that have a genetic component, will be available in the summer 2012

Academic & Research Committee

This Committee has been re-established in the last year with new Terms of Reference to bring it into line with other Committees at the BCS. Chaired by Professor Michael Marber the Committee is responsible for selecting the finalists for the Young Research Workers Prize and the winner of the Michael Davies Early Career Award which recognises an established, independent investigator who has made an outstanding contribution to cardiovascular science. All give presentations at the Annual Conference and winners receive their awards at the Annual Dinner. The Committee, which has representation on the SAC and the Programme Committee, includes the President of BAS and BASCR and representation from the BHF. The Committee also provides a Chair for the Clinical Study Groups (CSGs) Committee. The CSGs are multi-disciplinary groups formed to provide a forum for the review and commissioning of research in different sub-specialty areas of cardiovascular medicine. The BCS oversees the activities of the groups providing a governance framework and a forum for all to meet, discuss, exchange ideas and where appropriate, coordinate activities.

Annual Conference

Last year we completely restructured the BCS Annual Conference to make it more fit for future purpose and received excellent feedback.

For 2012 we will again have a National Training Day for our Trainees and use the same format of ‘tracks’ for the main Conference. The E4R (Education for Revalidation) track will cover different areas defined within the Cardiology Curriculum with integrated formative assessments and certificates for members to support their revalidation portfolios. This track will include sessions on many of the contemporary guidelines and relevant clinical trials (including the ever popular ‘Top 10 Trials’). We do not envisage that these will be the only sessions suitable for revalidation purposes but rather they will ensure adequate coverage of all the areas specified in the Cardiology Curriculum over a 3-5 year cycle.

The other tracks include the Imaging track, Affiliated Groups track and the Clinical Science/Translational Research (CS/TR) track. The latter compliments the established linked meeting held in conjunction with the British Atherosclerosis Society and the British Society for Cardiovascular Research (Basic Science track). The linked meeting is supported by the British Heart Foundation and we are delighted that the BHF have also agreed to support the CS/TR track again this year. This has facilitated invitations to high profile international expert speakers. With the abstract sessions, Young Research Workers Prize and Michael Davies Award presentations embedded, the CS/TR track will showcase the latest cardiovascular research.

In addition to the tracks, there are the unopposed named lectures and dedicated BCS sessions (including the working group reports: Acute Cardiac Care Units and Adult Congenital Heart Disease Interventions). We are also delighted to host the HCP (UK), SCST and BACPR/BANCC linked days. The HCP (UK) day is dedicated to the late David Geldard, MBE.

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For 2012, Olympic year, the Conference will have an ‘exercise’ theme. Some BCS sessions will be devoted to exercise in healthy hearts and in cardiovascular disease. There will be activities and displays during the breaks in a dedicated arena in the Exhibition. There will also be a charity cyclathon for the duration of the meeting and a Chris Hoy bike simulator to test the most competitive and athletic Cardiologist! In addition, alongside the Conference, the BCS is holding an event for over 100 local school children entitled ‘Healthy hearts’. In conjunction with Dr John Dickinson (Research Institute of Sport and Exercise Sciences, Liverpool John Moores University) and the British Heart Foundation, this event will include numerous activity stations and a video message from a local football team to help educate the next generation in a healthy lifestyle.

We are grateful to our Exhibitors for their continued support in a challenging economic climate. To facilitate interaction with delegates we are increasing the ‘Education in the Exhibition’ through arena activities and educational posters. The posters will include factoids, case presentations, and ‘How to…’, boards to stimulate discussion. The BCS recognises the increasing potential and importance of simulator based learning (SBL) in improving patient safety and the quality of what we do. The simulators in the exhibition have significantly expanded this year to include diagnostic angiography (including radial access), PCI (simple and complex), TAVI, EP (including trans-septal puncture and coronary sinus lead placement), TTE and TOE, and basic surgical skills offering training in dissection and suturing techniques. We are grateful to the companies who provide these simulators. We recognise that SBL is not just about teaching and assessment of technical skills of Trainees and trained Cardiologists. Assessment of non-technical skills and particularly in a team environment is just as important but perhaps has received less attention. With this in mind, this year BCS presents a new session at the Conference on non-technical skills training through simulation with its film ‘Carry on in the cath lab’ made in conjunction with Barts and the London Simulation Centre and Cardiovascular Research Institute.

It is important that the delegates see the BCS Annual Conference as an enjoyable event and we are keen to promote professional and social networking given the limited opportunities to do so in an increasingly time-pressured environment. The Annual Dinner is no longer the ‘stuffy’ dinner of old! This year, there will be a champagne reception, magicians, a string quartet playing throughout the dinner, and an after dinner speaker – an Olympian, sports scientist and celebrity trainer to entertain all. We will also be holding a tea party to celebrate the 90th Birthday of the BCS which all are invited to. The history of the BCS, top news stories and cardiology milestones of the last 9 decades will be on poster display.

Despite many national and international societies seeing a reduction in attendance at conferences, the BCS Annual Conference has continued to attract more delegates over the past few years and this encouraging trend is a testament to the work of the Programme Committee in transforming the meeting into a more structured programme in a more enjoyable and social environment.

My first year as Vice President, Education and Research has been busy but very enjoyable. I thank all in the Division and the team at Fitzroy Square for their hard work and support. On behalf of the Education and Research Division I am delighted to present such a varied programme of activities which we will continue to develop to meet the needs of our members, Trainees and Affiliates.

Training DivisionVice President: Dr Jim Hall

The Training Division strives to develop and maintain high standards in training for the next generation of practitioners in cardiovascular medicine. This drive to continuously improve training is a significant contribution to the British Cardiovascular Society’s wider aim of promoting excellence in cardiovascular care for the benefit of patients and the wider public.

The Training Division and the Cardiology SAC

The Training Division is headed by the BCS Vice President for Training who is also the Chairman of the Cardiology Specialist Advisory Committee (SAC). This close linkage ensures that the BCS has a major influence in defining the focus and direction of training in cardiovascular medicine. The SAC, a sub-committee of PTB (Physicians Training Board), has delegated responsibility from the regulatory authority the GMC for setting the standards for higher specialist training in cardiovascular medicine. All training activities are subject to GMC scrutiny to ensure adherence to current standards. In 2011, the annual specialty report was able to identify areas of good practice in training and outline the new initiatives emanating from the BCS.

BCS Training Committee

Following restructuring of the SAC in 2011 the BCS formed a new Training Committee with the aim of supplementing the work of the SAC. This committee provides a forum for the interaction of the deanery based training programme directors and the training representatives of the Affiliated Groups. The Affiliated Groups have traditionally been a major focus for educational activity relating to the sub-specialty areas of cardiology. With the introduction of curricula for the advanced modules of training, it has become important for the BCS and its Affiliated Groups to be aware of the needs of Trainees and trainers with respect to training as well as education, and also to promote good standards in training to their members. The blueprint for this training, the 2010 curriculum for higher specialist training in cardiovascular medicine, is available on the BCS and PTB websites.

Vice-President: Dr Jim Hall


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Throughout 2011 there were discussions with the ESC and UEMS (Union of European Medical Specialists) particularly its cardiology section to see whether such a KBA can be integrated into a framework for the mutual recognition of qualifications across Europe such as a European Diploma in Cardiology. BCS is committed to working with ESC and UEMS in their continued work in this area.

The role of Trainees

Trainees have made make a major contribution to the work of the Training Division in 2011 The BCS has over 400 Trainee members through its joint membership with the British Junior Cardiologists’ Association (BJCA). From this membership there are Trainee representatives as key members of the SAC, the BCS Training Committee, curriculum writing groups, the KBA Board and standard setting group of the KBA. Feedback from the wider body of Trainees is actively sought at the BCS Annual Conference on the opening National Training Day, and also informally at the many educational events.

Looking Forward

The need for Consultant Cardiologists to be involved in the design, provision and assessment of training in cardiovascular medicine has never been greater. Whatever the outcome of the various consultations regarding the restructuring of postgraduate medical education and training (e.g. Developing the Workforce for Liberating the NHS), there is no doubt that it will continue to be the case that a key element of the professional activity of Cardiologists will be devoted to training. The BCS Training Division will be the ongoing focus for the co-ordination of this essential activity.

Trainee Recruitment

The national process for recruitment of cardiology Trainees successfully filled all available posts in 2011. The process continues to evolve as each year’s round brings new lessons to be learned and refinements needed to get a system which is transparent, fair and results in the appointment of the best candidates. This year will see further enhancements to the processes for recruitment which will require greater commitment of trainers to interviewing prospective Trainees. It is important that this vital professional work is given appropriate priority by Cardiologists and their trusts across the UK. For cardiology the SAC secretary Dr Ian Wilson led the process last year and he will again lead the national co-ordination and will be liaising closely with the RCP specialty recruitment office headed by Dr Liz Berkin.

Assessment of training

The use of workplace based assessments (WPBA) is well established in cardiology training and it is recognized that these assessments are the method by which we can confirm the competence of the Trainees emerging from our training programmes. Considerable work has been undertaken in 2011 to ensure that these assessments are used in a consistent manner across the UK, via training events for educational supervisors delivered in conjunction with the RCP Education Department. Feedback from Trainees and trainers via the SAC and BCS Training Committee has been used to consider further refinements to the assessment methods. The introduction of simulation training in cardiology will be a key development in the forthcoming years led jointly by BCS and the SAC.

KBA

A test of Trainees’ knowledge occurs during the ST5 year and is an MCQ exam the Knowledge-Based Assessment (KBA). In 2011 this took place during the BCS Annual Conference in Manchester. The BCS Training Division has been responsible for developing and delivering this exam, led by Kirsten Bradbury. In 2011 we continued to work with the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) with BCS members writing MCQs for a question bank as part of an ESC Task Force. There is a standard setting group for the UK KBA, led by Dr Rob Wright, which reviews the exam and sets the pass-mark. The BCS Training Division is committed to providing this assessment for our Trainees as a validated method of assessing their knowledge and giving them a benchmark against which to test themselves.


3130 Women in UK CardiologyElected Representative: Dr Rachael James

The BCS Representative for Women in Cardiology role has flourished into a direct contact for Trainee issues including mentoring, promoting cardiology as a career and undertaking work looking at heart disease in women.

There has been a substantial increase in the number of female Trainees in cardiology over the past decade. Presently just over 20% of all Trainees are female. Despite the welcomed increase we still have far to go to secure parity. Issues relating to Trainees and addressed by this role have included less than full time training and educational opportunities which stipulate an age limit.

Over the year contributions on heart disease in women have included work for the media and a project, commissioned by BCS and presented at council by Dr Guy Mole, looking at gender bias in ischaemic heart disease through collaboration with UCL. Using data from over 100,000 individuals on the General Practice Research Database, it confirmed higher revascularisation rates and less delay to revascularisation in men compared to women. Despite this increased revascularisation, men still have more adverse outcomes compared to women. Without intervention women naturally have better survival rates for ischaemic heart disease. The increased revascularisation rates in men reduced the female survival advantage and it could be argued that increased investigation and treatment of men is warranted. However, another interpretation of these findings is that the true survival curves for men and women should lie apart and, with equitable intervention, the natural survival benefit of women should be maintained.

Finally, a dedicated BCS Women in Cardiology web page is being commissioned to better advertise the work of the representative and to promote cardiology as a career choice. It will include a mission statement and terms of reference, archived material and a new careers path section aimed at medical students and junior doctors. This section will draw on workplace and personal experiences from a range of female Cardiologists, covering all the major sub-specialities.

Other Reports

Dr Rachael James

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been drawn this year to the particular significance of a maternal family history of cardiovascular disease for both genders, and gender differences in presentation, investigation, treatments and course have been published in Good Housekeeping (March 2012).

The use of the BHF information booklet ‘Women and Heart Disease’ is recommended whenever appropriate, and as advocated to MPs last year may help in public education as well as for patients and carers. Community groups including more vulnerable, higher risk women, most likely smokers, may best receive education accompanied by facilitating health professional carers. The next ‘Her at Heart’ meeting for interested health professionals is currently programmed for September 2012. A meeting at the Royal Society of Medicine, ‘Shaping the global health agenda – women, children and society’ addresses the wider context of women’s health, including violence, which any action on inequalities must face with cross-community initiatives and global support. Recent publications in Heart have highlighted the lack of data but interest developing in women’s heart health in India and Africa.

BMJ Report from Heart JournalEditor: Prof Adam Timmis

Metrics for 2011 were generally favourable, with the submission rate for original research remaining steady at >1000, an acceptance rate of 14% and the average time to first decision only 45 days.

A small fall in the 2010 impact factor was reported (announced in July 2011) to 4.7, reflecting the switch to a twice monthly publication in 2009 which caused a sharp rise in the denominator of the impact factor calculation.

The annual Associate Editor Meeting in December 2011 made important decisions about the future direction of the journal as follows:

> Maintain paper handling metrics at current favourable levels

> Continue to major on high quality original research

> Increase proportion of systematic reviews among the review content

> Increase editorials to 3-4 per issue

> Continue to give prominence to Education in Heart

Joint Working Group for Women’s Heart HealthChair BCS Joint Working Group for Women’s Heart Health, Dr Jane Flint

The 100th International Women’s Year has seen extended partnership working with organisations, key specialties, and community groups, and seeing gender differences from research reach a higher profile than previously. The “Blue Pill, Pink Pill” Does Gender Matter?” meeting at the Royal Pharmaceutical Society produced a statement of action points including:

> improved gender design and analysis of clinical trials

> maximum tolerated dose

> review of the 2005 ICH guidance given the European ‘Red Alert’ recommendations 2009

> reporting of data by gender in the public domain (The Lancet publishing an editorial: ‘Taking sex into account in medicine’, 26th November)

> educating for awareness of, and importance of control, of risk factors for cardiovascular disease in women, with particular attention to the risks and management of diabetes in pregnancy

The concept of ‘lifetime risk’ has not only been adopted by our imminent JBS3 guidelines for prevention, but also by the RCOG’s ‘High Quality Women’s Health Care’ document July 2011, which advocates women’s health networks. Pharmaco-vigilance, and ensuring that Equality Duty is observed in pharmacological as well as research pathways, completed the statement for further action. The Times (November 2011) picked up my reporting the 2010 cardiovascular mortality in women still just exceeding that of men, and showed how the quality lay press has started to seek out depth in appreciating all the risks and issues involved.

The British Heart Foundation’s most recent campaign for increasing awareness of cardiovascular disease being an equal killer of men and women is continuing this spring in concert with the Cardiac Rehabilitation Campaign, focussing on the NACR findings of persistently lower referral rate (31%) and uptake of women (26%) than should be expected (37%) from incidence figures. Women make the same, significant, improvements in quality of life following rehabilitation, and demonstrate greater improvements in levels of anxiety and depression. Media attention has

Chair: Dr Jane Flint, pictured with Dr Anita

Holdcroft at “Blue Pill, Pink Pill” meeting with National

Association of Women Pharmacists/Medical Women’s Federation

November 2011

Woman and Heart disease


3534 Membership Costs

Current Membership Fees are:

> £264 for ordinary membership for Consultant Cardiologists

> £168 for non-clinical membership (if you do not hold clinics, e.g. you are a Basic Scientist, a GP with a Special Interest in Cardiology)

> £120 if you are a junior doctor, not yet in specialty training

We believe that BCS membership remains great value for our members. We continue to negotiate with our membership service providers to ensure that our costs can remain as low as possible, and to look for new benefits and services that members can make use of. The Honorary Secretary’s report gives full details of BCS membership benefits.

Joint Membership

Launched in 2008, BCS’ joint membership packages offer significant fee reductions whilst retaining the same BCS benefits that have proved so valuable to our members. Joint membership is currently available for:

BJCA & BCS (for Trainees)

BANCC & BCS (for Nurses)

SCST & BCS (for Physiologists)

BACPR & BCS (for Cardiac Rehab)

Joint membership is £100 for non-consultants and £300 for consultants or physicians (inclusive of VAT). To apply for joint membership, visit our website to download the application form. We hope to be able to offer further joint membership types in the future.

International BCS Membership

BCS is continuing its offer of International Membership for just £90, which was launched in 2007. International membership is for those working in cardiovascular health, science and disease management outside of the UK.

Members Views

We are keen to listen to the views of our members. If you have a comment or query on your BCS membership you can email us at [email protected]

Membership and Conference

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Recent articles have included contemporary topics such as:

BCS Annual Conference

Each year at the BCS Annual Conference, we have volunteer BCS SpR Members who take on the role of ‘roving reporters’ and ‘webcasters’. The roving reporters give overview reports on highlight sessions of the conference. These informative reports are held on the BCS website.

Webcasts of each of the main sessions at the Annual Conference are recording by our SpR Members, these simple presentation with audio sessions are useful tools for our members and our conference delegates to refresh their knowledge from the sessions. The 2011 webcasts from the Annual Conference have been mapped to the Cardiology Curriculum and are available on the BCS website, Conference section. BCS would like to thank Philip Freeman and Robin Ray for coordinating the webcasting of our Conference and providing this great educational tool for those unable to attend the BCS Annual Conference.

Archives

Our offices in Fitzroy Square hold some of the archives from our long history and beyond; we have displays that include some of the earliest Cardiovascular equipment, such as the first clinical electrocardiograph and one of the first ever pacemaker devices. We also have a wealth of historical texts on Cardiovascular medicine. Dr Arthur Hollman is the BCS Archivist and in recognition of his committed service to BCS, the archive collections have been recently named ‘The Arthur Hollman Collection’. Any member who wishes to view the collection or even make a contribution to them, can contact us on [email protected]

Getting Involved!

The BCS is run for and with its members: our staff manage the day to day running of the organisation, but the strategic direction of the Society is set by the members who volunteer their time to take on posts in our Executive, Board and Committees. There are a variety of ways that you can get involved in the Society. Here are a few examples.

Elections

Each year, we run elections for the vacant posts in the Executive and Committees of BCS. We have historically achieved a great response to our elections with nominations coming through from across the UK for the available posts and the elections themselves show a healthy proportion of our members are keen to cast their vote.

With a history dating back to the 1920’s, BCS has been privileged to have had some of the key figures in cardiovascular medicine on our Executive and Committees:

Network Service Advisors

The BCS Network Service Advisor role is to help with:

> assessing job plans for new Consultant appointments

> acting as college advisor on the appointments committee for the RCP

> providing advice and support on Revalidation (once it starts)

There are currently 39 Network Service Advisors, one for each Cardiac Network in the UK.

Web Editors

BCS News on our homepage is an ever popular section of our website, with articles regularly attracting a high number of viewers. We have a team of sub-editors from BCS SpR members recruited to write news items on relevant topics in cardiovascular medicine. We hope these articles will increase our websites’ usefulness for Trainees and newly appointed Consultants. Articles have been received from the following 2011-12 sub-editors are:

2011 Web Editors

Adam K McDiarmid

Amardeep Dastidar

Amit Bhan

Aneil Malhotra

Cara Hendry

Daniel Jones

Edward Danson

Ee Ling Heng

Kalpa De Silva

Mohammad Muezz Uddin

Pardeep Jhund

Rebecca Dobson

Robin Taylor

Sumeet Sharma

Sushma Rekhraj

Session in Exhibition, 2011 BCS Annual Conference

Dr Arthur Hollman

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> A Training Day that covered

> Cardiac morphology

> Adult Congenital Heart Disease

> SAC update

> BCIS cases

Webcasts of the major sessions at the Conference are available for members to view on the BCS website (www.bcs.com).

Despite an increasingly pressured financial environment, BCS had a full Exhibition again. The Exhibition is a crucial component to the success of our event, enabling our delegates to keep up to date with innovative and developing technologies, pharmacology, diagnostic equipment, educational materials and more. In 2011, the Exhibition was further integrated into the programme with a greater number of educational activities held there across the three days. Stands from over 80 companies from the wide arena of cardiovascular medicine were present, making our Exhibition the largest in cardiovascular medicine in the UK.

As well as its great educational content, the BCS Annual Conference gives attendees a great opportunity to meet colleagues from other centres and hospitals to review and share experiences, and to enjoy a night at the BCS Annual Dinner! The Annual Dinner was sold out again in 2011, and was held at the Midland Hotel with entertainment from magicians and a jazz band.

2012 BCS Annual Conference 28 to 30 May, Manchester Central

2012 sees the 90th BCS Annual Conference. The programme has a theme of case based presentations interspersed with plenary sessions that includes.

> An education track structured for revalidation

> An Imaging track with multimodality imaging

> Dedicated Affiliated Group track, covering the sub-specialty areas of Cardiology

> Innovations track: BHF supported Clinical/Translational Science with leading edge lectures and linked abstract sessions

> Linked Affiliated Group meetings

> Education in the Exhibition including Cardiology simulators

Review of the BCS Annual Conference 2011Held in Manchester Central, the BCS Annual Conference ran from 15 to 17 June in 2011. The BCS Annual Conference is attended by professionals involved in delivering cardiovascular care; including Cardiologists, nurses, physiologists, physicians and scientists. In 2011, we had 2,300 people attend the event over the three days.

The Conference has evolved over recent years and although its scientific content remains important, it has become much more of an educational meeting; tying in with BCS’ increasing focus on education. BCS works with its Affiliated Groups and other partner organisations to produce a first class programme of educational sessions, covering all aspects of Cardiovascular medicine. The 2011 programme included:

> Keynote lectures given by: Prof Kenneth Chien (Strickland Goodall Lecture ‘Re-engineering Regenerative Cardiovascular Medicine’)

Dr David Sahn (BCS Paul Wood Lecture ‘Improved understanding of Cardiac form and function’)

> A full programme that included sessions on topics across the full range of Cardiovascular Medicine, here are just a few to give a flavour:

> Using Imaging to predict heart attack

> Acute Cardiac Care

> Life style issues in Heart Failure

> Bioabsorbable stents in PCI

> Stem cells

> Focus on cardiogenic shock

> Mitral Valve disease

Simulator at BCS Annual Conference

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The BCS Exhibition will showcase the latest developments in Cardiovascular medicine and new technologies. Companies from the wide arena of Cardiovascular medicine will be present, making our Exhibition the largest in Cardiovascular medicine in the UK. 2012 will bring an exercise theme to the meeting linking to cardiovascular disease, rehabilitation, training and sport. This will be in the form of lectures but also demonstrations and education within the Exhibition itself, on stands and in a new ‘Sports Arena’. This year the Programme Committee will be providing more education around the stands in terms of case presentations, interpretation data, reading ECGs etc. The Simulator Area will include a greater variety of simulators and there will be more booking slots available.

The BCS Annual Dinner in 2012 is being held in the Midland Hotel on Tuesday 29th May. Due to their success at the 2011 event, we will again be having both the jazz band and magicians. Booking a table is now possible, and tickets can be booked online at the BCS website.

For details of the full programme and online registration and full details of the programme, go to www.bcs.com

BCS AwardsEach year during the Annual Dinner, the President gives out the BCS awards which currently include:

> the Young Research Workers Prizes

> the Michael Davies Early Career Award

> the Mackenzie Medals

Michael Davies Early Career Award

This award is to honour researchers who have recently established themselves as independent investigators and who have made an outstanding contribution to cardiovascular science. The award is open for applications from clinicians and non-clinicians who have an affiliation with a UK institution. The award is £1,500 with certificate and is a single award made annually. Prof Paul Evans was awarded the Michael Davies Early Career Award in 2011.

> National Training Day based on the new Curriculum (one of two BCS runs each year)

> Linked sessions with the American College of Cardiology (Future cardiovascular imaging, ACC highlights)

> Keynote Named Lectures:

> Prof Alec Vahanian (the Thomas Lewis lecture ‘A journey through percutaneous valve intervention’)

> Prof Rory Collins (the BCS Lecture ‘Changing cholesterol levels: past, present, future’)

Attending the BCS Annual Conference will help:

> consultants gain valuable CPD points, review up to date Cardiovascular knowledge and collect evidence for future revalidation

> Trainees gain coverage of Curriculum areas

> keep those working in Cardiology up to date with new innovations, findings and practice changes in the field

> gain an update on key Guidelines from ESC & NICE

The educational content of the BCS Annual Conference is based on the European Curriculum, and this years’ Training Day will cover the following topics:

> Cardiopulmonary exercise test

> Pharmacological stress in diagnostic

> The Syndrome session

> The Heart in systemic disease

> SAC session

Prof Keith Fox presenting the MDEC Award to Dr Darryl Francis, June 2010

Magicians, Jazz

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Young Research Workers Prize

This prize was established by the Society to recognise excellence among young researchers intending to pursue a career in cardiovascular clinical medicine or research. Since 2001, the prize has been awarded annually at the BCS Annual Conference and its winners reflect the diversity of research projects being submitted and judged. The 2011 Prize winner was Dr James Ware, with four runners up being Dr Afroze Abbas, Dr Patrick Calvert, Dr Matthew Kahn, Dr Jennifer Richards.

Mackenzie Medal

The Mackenzie Medal is awarded by the Society in recognition of outstanding service to British Cardiology. Two medals are given out each year, at the BCS Annual Dinner. The 2011 Mackenzie Medals were given to Prof Kim Fox and Prof Stuart Cobbe.

Prof Stuart Cobbe accepting the 2011 Mackenzie Medal

Prof Keith Fox presenting the 2011 Mackenzie Medal to Prof Kim Fox

Dr James Ware, Young Research Workers Prize 2011


4544 Arrhythmia Alliance (A-A)Founder and Trustee: Mrs Trudie Lobban MBE

Arrhythmia Alliance (A-A), The Heart Rhythm Charity, continues its mission to provide information, support and guidance to those affected by heart rhythm disorders.

2011 was a successful year for A-A, with some notable achievements. Recently, the charity received a British Medical Association Award for one of its paediatric resources, Emily’s ICD and the organisation is currently undertaking the Information Standard accreditation scheme, to promote the quality, accuracy and reliability of our publications.

From October 2nd – 5th 2011, Arrhythmia Alliance and HRUK hosted the sixth annual Heart Rhythm Congress. HRC remains the largest and fastest growing cardiology meeting in the UK welcoming over 3,000 delegates. HRC 2011 provided a first class educational opportunity to members of the medical, allied professional and industry communities, offering a wide range of symposia, debates, patient group discussions, and was well supported by exhibitors with the largest exhibition to date.

International medical experts presented to packed out rooms during notable sessions including ‘Innovative Therapies to Advance Patient Care’ chaired by and featuring a presentation from Dr Paolo Della Bella of the Institute of Cardiology, Milan. The hottest topic of the congress proved to be ‘Devices in Inherited Cardiac Conditions’ thanks to excellent presentations on Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy by Dr. Perry Elliott, ARVC by Dr Pier Lambiase, Long QT Syndrome by Dr Elijah Behr and Brugada Syndrome presented by Dr Derek Connelly.

HRC 2012 will be held from the 23rd to 26th September at The ICC, Birmingham. Details can be found via the website, www.heartrhythmcongress.com

During 2010 and 2011, Arrhythmia Alliance travelled across the UK, hosting sixteen Cardiac Update Courses, reaching over 800 medical and allied professionals. 2010 marked the first year that the courses offered CPD Points and were certified by the Royal College of Physicians.

We have been delighted to feature expert faculty from various fields of Cardiology including Professor John Camm in London and Dr Mark Anderson and Dr Peter O’ Callaghan in Carmarthen, Wales. Oxford’s course received excellent feedback with Dr Tim Betts chairing the day and our first visit to Newcastle proved a huge success thanks to the faculty including Dr Janet McComb, Dr Andreas Wolff and syncope expert Dr Steve Parry.

The website link, http://www.heartrhythmcharity.org.uk/news-and-events/aa-events/medical-courses provides further details about Cardiac Update Courses in 2012.

Affiliated Groups Reports

Founder and Trustee:Mrs Trudie Lobban MBE


4746Reaching out nationally and internationally

We have continued to develop stronger links with our affiliate partners BANCC, and BSH; both with co-opted representation now on BACPR Council. In May 2011 we held our second annual joint meeting at the BCS Annual Conference and the 2012 BCS Annual Conference offers for the first time a whole BACPR-BANCC day programme devoted to prevention and rehabilitation. Internationally we have been developing partnerships specifically with the European Association of Cardiovascular Prevention and Rehabilitation (EACPR) and with the Canadian Association for Cardiac Rehabilitation (CACR). Our 2011 BACPR Conference in Brighton entitled ‘Partnership Working to Improve Care’ reached out both nationally and internationally, being delivered in association with BACPR-EPG, BANCC, BDA Heart UK, BHF, BSH, PCCS, EACPR and CACR.

Our international collaboration with CACR extended further to co-working on a joint members’ newsletter (CICRP), and co-chairing an international meeting in Vancouver in October 2011 that has led to the drafting and endorsing of an International Charter in Cardiovascular Prevention and Rehabilitation, which will be presented at the WCC in Dubai, April 2012.

The BHF-BACPR Celebrating Cardiac Rehabilitation Award

The single biggest engagement process we have had for many years was the BHF-BACPR Celebrating Cardiac Rehabilitation Award; a considerable project skillfully led by Professor Gill Furze (BACPR President-Elect and Scientific Officer). Over 40 cardiac rehabilitation programmes from around the UK entered into a competition highlighting their service innovation and quality, with the three finalists (Eastern and Coastal Kent Community Health NHS Trust; Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust; and Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust) presenting at the 2011 Conference in Brighton. At the conference Gala Dinner, Dr Mike Knapton (Associate Medical Director of the BHF), awarded the winning trophy and prize to jubilant members of the Eastern and Coastal Kent Community Health NHS Trust cardiac rehabilitation programme. The BACPR would like to thank the BHF for their support to the Celebrating Cardiac Rehabilitation Award.

Meeting Standards and Supporting Quality Service Provision

Following continued work throughout 2011, we’re delighted to announce the publication of the new BACPR Standards and Core Components for Cardiovascular Disease Prevention and Rehabilitation 2012. This second edition builds on the success of the original 2007 version by

The end of 2011 saw the number of A-A Affiliated Groups rise by 16%. The new support and information groups are a mixture of both AF patients and more generalised arrhythmias, spread from as far south as Torbay to Sheffield, with groups in Scotland and Northern Ireland in the pipeline.

The initiative has been welcomed by both the patients and the medical professional community. In December, a new A-A booklet was launched called Guidelines to Establishing a Patient Support Group. This resource outlines to patients, carers and healthcare professionals, not just how easy and simple it is to establish a group, and the support they can receive from the charity.

Affiliates, patients, carers, medical professionals and networks from across the UK joined our annual Heart Rhythm Week (formerly known as Arrhythmia Awareness Week). Thousands of activities too place, including the launch of a new Know Your Pulse Film, providing a life-saving education in just two minutes. Across Bristol, London, Scarborough, Warwickshire, Dundee and Derby, pulse check events took place, with healthcare professionals taking people’s pulses throughout the week. 8,000 fans attending the Warrington Wolves versus Salford Reds match on 12th June had their pulses checked to see if they had an undiagnosed heart rhythm problem. Health checks and advice were offered.

Through the efforts of our supporters, we achieved more than 100 pieces of media coverage for Heart Rhythm Week with over 300,000 resources distributed to raise awareness and education. In 2012, Heart Rhythm Week will be held 21st – 27th May. More information can be found via the website, www.hrweek.org.uk

This year, Arrhythmia Alliance has continued its success in establishing National Partners worldwide. Our Founder and Trustee, Trudie Lobban, MBE continues to travel nationally and internationally to help raise awareness and support those individuals and groups keen to establish arrhythmia services in their country.

Arrhythmia Alliance has exciting plans for 2012 to continue working towards improved diagnosis, treatment and quality of life for the millions of people with cardiac arrhythmias worldwide. For more information about forthcoming events and charity initiatives please visit www.heartrhythmcharity.org.uk

British Association for Cardiovascular Prevention & Rehabilitation (BACPR)President: Jenni Jones

With our new name in place “the British Association for Cardiovascular Prevention and Rehabilitation” from late 2010 many developments have occurred in the past year under the accomplished leadership of Dr John Buckley (President 2009-2011).

Dr John Buckley (BACPR President 2009-2011) [far left] and Jenni Jones, BACPR President [far right], together with leaders and partners from Europe, the US and Canada at the BACPR 2011 conference.

The Winning Team: Eastern and Coastal Kent Community Health NHS Trust with Dr Mike Knapton

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can be opened up. We have already received good feedback from a number of Presidents already, and look forward to opening up channels of communication with them in the near future.

We continue to regularly collaborate with prominent bodies such as NICE, BHF, RCN, CCNAP in the development and reviews of current practice and we strive to represent cardiovascular nurses when we do that.

I have just returned from CCNAP 2012 (March 16th-17th) at which BANCC were represented in 3 meetings with International colleagues, 1 invited oral presentation, 1 abstract presentation and 1 poster presentation. The agenda for the Copenhagen meeting was packed with contemporary presentations by International experts in cardiovascular nursing and was undoubtedly an exciting and thought-provoking event.

We realise at the moment there is no information or data available which demonstrates just how many cardiovascular nurses are currently practising in the UK. Jacqueline Hunt (Honorary Secretary) in particular and the membership and marketing workstream, have been tirelessly gathering information to try and find the answer to this question. This will not only prove useful now, but in the future, as it may demonstrate how the numbers may change.

Jacqueline and her membership and marketing workstream colleagues, are also in the process of redeveloping the BANCC website. The new pages will have a more prominent BANCC identity and user friendly portals to find out more about what BANCC can offer its members.

Christi Deaton, our cardiovascular nursing research lead, has carried out an important piece of work to look at which educational institutions in the UK offer research expertise for cardiovascular nursing. Christi focussed on the 36 Universities that submitted for Nursing and Midwifery in the 2008 RAE, plus a few others where she knew that there were CV nurse researchers. This is not an exhaustive search, and it was made more difficult because nursing does not organise its programmes or research by organ systems, websites do not make it easy to find information, and nurse researchers may be in non-nursing departments. BANCC would appreciate any feedback. Further details can be found on our website.

Fast approaching, BANCC Council are all very excited to launch the inaugural BANCC Annual Study Day on 27 April 2012, Crowne Plaza Hotel, Nottingham. Andrea Manley and colleagues have done a fantastic job of organising an exciting agenda, expert national speakers and an appropriately central and accessible venue. We are very grateful to the BHF for their financial assistance in sponsoring the event in these hard economic times. I for one am thoroughly looking forward to an exciting learning and networking event – I look forward to seeing our members and other nursing colleagues there.

Into the summer then, we meet again at our now familiar haunt of Manchester Central at the British Cardiovascular Society Annual Conference. This year, for the first time, sees us co-host a BCS

incorporating the latest developments in the clinical evidence base for cardiac rehabilitation. There are seven standards together with seven core components, which aim to ensure programmes are clinically effective, cost effective and achieve sustainable health outcomes for patients. By adopting these standards and core components this will lead to the realisation of modern and effective cardiovascular prevention and rehabilitation services for the future. Our 2012 BACPR conference is themed ‘Setting the Standard – Challenges and Achievements’ and in a continued commitment to partnership working is being held in Edinburgh in collaboration with Cardiac Rehabilitation Interest Group Scotland (CRIGS).

Engaging with the members

The BACPR has continued with its vision to reach out to its membership with more exclusive services and communications. We have developed a new website, with a members’ only area hosting a wide range of informative resources. We’ve also made significant advances in providing higher quality newsletters and informative publications. For the first time BACPR-BCS joint membership is now an additional option.

Providing relevant and quality education

Our Education department continues to develop a wider array of courses relevant to the future of cardiac rehabilitation and not just the exercise component. We have now delivered more courses for lead clinicians and service managers on meeting Standards and Core Components, Psychology, Diet and with courses planned in the area of clinical and pharmaceutical management.

In a year of many achievements our thanks extend to all our members and council members for their dedication and support, together with our key partnerships, in achieving our mission – to promote excellence in cardiovascular disease prevention and rehabilitation.

For more information on BACPR visit our website at: www.bacpr.com

British Association for Nursing in Cardiovascular Care (BANCC)Acting President: Scott McLean

The past year has been a busy time for BANCC in which respective Council Members in their ‘workstreams’ have been tirelessly working away on their projects and activities.

I shall start off with our efforts to network more effectively with national and international counterparts and external stakeholders. Catriona Jennings (my President Elect) and I wrote a joint letter in January 2012 to the Council on Cardiovascular Nursing and Allied Professions (CCNAP) and Presidents of key national cardiovascular nursing societies. The aim is to generally introduce BANCC and outline its objectives and future goals so that channels of communication

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The Young Investigator Prize was won by Jennifer Cole (Imperial College, London), seen here with Professor Martin Bennett. ‘Toll-Like Receptor 3 Expression is Increased in Atherosclerosis and Confers Protection Against Early Atherosclerotic Lesion Development and Weight Gain in Apolipoprotein E Deficient Mice’.

The highly successful meeting with a record number of delegates was made possible by a generous grant from the British Heart Foundation. Dorian Haskard stepped down as Chairman of the BAS, and we are very grateful for the hard work and care he has used in leading the society.

The autumn meeting organised by Manuel Mayr, Andrew Baker and Roger Foo at Queen’s College Cambridge was entitled “Micro RNAs and other non-coding RNAs”, and covered the exciting and emerging role of non coding RNA species as central regulators of cardiovascular physiology and disease, and their potential for future therapies. The John French Lecture entitled “The influence of shear stress on vascular inflammation and injury” was given by Dr Paul Evans (Imperial College, London).

Following a generous bequest from the Binks Trust, the BAS has introduced a new travelling fellowship scheme, to allow young scientists to visit other laboratories, and learn new techniques. Further details are available from the BAS secretary Professor Sarah George ([email protected]).

The next meeting of the BAS will be the joint meeting with the BSCR at the BCS Annual Conference, entitled “New frontiers in cardiovascular imaging from basic science to clinical application“, and will be held from 28-29th May 2012 in Manchester.

Further details can be found at http://www.britathsoc.org/

Chair: Professor Martin Bennett, University of CambridgeSecretary: Professor Sarah George, University of BristolTreasurer: Dr Christopher Newman, University of SheffieldCommittee: Dr Jason Johnson, University of Bristol Dr Tim Chico, University of Sheffield Professor Paul Evans, University of Sheffield Dr Stephen Wheatcroft, University of Leeds Dr Cathy Holt, University of Manchester Dr Chris Jackson, University of Bristol

Affiliates Day with colleagues from BACPR. As you might expect this will major on prevention and exercise, given that there is rather a large exercise-focused event taking place in East London a few more weeks down the line! Nonetheless we have retained sessions on the acute care of the cardiovascular patient and I’m sure the carefully constructed agenda will appeal to many delegates.

…and finally, looking ahead to 2013, it will be with great pride that I accept the proverbial ‘CCNAP flame’ in Copenhagen in lieu of CCNAP 2013 which will be held in the UK, in Glasgow. This will be a marvelous opportunity for us to showcase the best of British when we co-host this important international meeting. Work is already well underway on this exciting project and I will undertake to keep our members updated in the year ahead.

So, a busy year! As ever, BANCC is and remains the society for cardiovascular nurses.

For further information on BANCC, please visit our webpages at www.bcs.com/bancc, tel: 020 7380 1918, email: [email protected]

British Atherosclerosis Society (BAS) Chair: Prof Martin Bennett

The British Atherosclerosis Society (BAS) holds two meetings a year, one jointly with the British Society for Cardiovascular Research. Meetings are held over two days, and are attended by 100-200 delegates. Historically meetings have been centred on a theme, with more clinical topics at the joint meeting with the BCS, to encourage integration of basic science with clinical translation.

In 2011, the joint BAS/BASC meeting embedded in the BCS Annual Conference was entitled “Stem Cells and Cardiovascular Disease – From Promise to Reality”, and focused on stem and progenitor cells in cardiovascular biology and treatments. An international faculty delivered a series of state of the art talks, highlighting the therapeutic possibilities and how stem cells can help model cardiovascular disease.

The BAS Hugh Sinclair Lecture was given by Professor Renu Virmani (USA), a world-renowned vascular pathologist whose work has provided the foundation for many concepts in vascular biology.

Clinical Science generously sponsored a Best Poster Prize, which was won by Michelle O’Doherty (the Centre for Vision and Vascular Science, Queen’s University Belfast), seen here with DR Chris Newman, BSCR Chairman. ‘Paracrine Release of Interleukin 8 by Myeloid Angiogenic Cells Promotes Angiogenesis in the Ischaemic Retina’

Professor Renu Virmani delivers the Hugh Sinclair Lecture

ChairProf Martin Bennett

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Finally, we are now dealing with two national reviews of congenital heart disease services which may radically alter how care to these patients is delivered in the UK in years to come. BCCA is committed to the principles of the paediatric review but is increasingly concerned about the effect that delays in the process could have on services, staff and patients in England. We feel that this review must be brought to a conclusion in the near future and we continue to lobby to this effect. Separate to the Safe and Sustainable Review of Children’s Cardiac Services, the NSCG has now started a similar review of adult congenital cardiac services. BCCA continues to press for some alignment of these two reviews and we remain concerned that separation of these processes could lead to major difficulties in the future.

For more information, visit our website at www.bcs.com/BCCA

British Junior Cardiologists’ Association (BJCA) President: Dr Mohamed Jelian Secretary: Dr David Holdsworth

The British Junior Cardiologists’ Association (BJCA) is the voice of cardiology Trainees in the UK with respect to training, education and research issues.

Tushar Raina stepped down from his role as BJCA president in July 2010, and was replaced by Mo Jeilan, SpR East Midlands deanery (previously BJCA secretary), who will take over on an interim basis with a view to handing over to a newer generation (ST level) Trainee within twelve months of his appointment. David Holdsworth has been appointed BJCA secretary.

Membership Management

Current BJCA membership stands at 870. It is important that the membership comprises all UK cardiology Trainees actively engaged in training and research prior to attaining CCT, and that it excludes those who are no longer actively engaged in training; having moved overseas or been appointed to consultant posts. It is also important that new cardiology Trainees (immediately upon appointment to ST3 posts) are contacted by the BJCA, made aware of the benefits of both BJCA and BCS membership and advised on how to apply for membership. To this end BJCA will be undertaking a ‘clean-up’ of its membership database over the next few months, to ensure that all membership details are up to date, and setting up processes to initiate contact with all new cardiology Trainees.

British Congenital Cardiac Association (BCCA)President: Dr Tony Salmon Honorary Secretary: Dr John Thomson

It has been another busy year for BCCA. Much energy continues to be put into developing and updating standards for clinical practice across a very diverse field. The lengthy process of developing standards for transcatheter intervention in adults with congenital heart disease has finally borne fruit in the form of newly published guidelines that were developed in collaboration with BCS and BCIS. Although it is accepted by all those involved that these standards may need refining over time, they are seen as an important start in the interests of adult patients with congenital heart disease. Standards in other areas have also been developed by the Association in the hope that these will positively benefit clinical practice and inform those responsible for commissioning services. This is particularly important in the light of the 2 current National Service Reviews.

BCCA is actively looking at moving towards charitable status, in line with other BCS Affiliated Groups. Assuming that this proves to be an appropriate model for us, we would hope to make changes to the constitution to enable this to be introduced over the next two years.

We are involved in many scientific meetings but in particular we are looking carefully at the structure of our own AGM. This is a very popular meeting but the format has changed little since we began. The meeting is becoming increasingly expensive for the host units and this causes considerable anxiety. We have appointed a scientific secretary specifically to look at this problem as well as to take a critical look at the scientific content and other issues.

There are increasing numbers of general paediatricians with an interest in the care of children with congenital heart disease. Many have been trained through tertiary congenital heart disease centres and work in local hospitals with close links to their specialist centre. We need to ensure that the congenital heart disease community commits to developing these networks, with the support of commissioners, and to improving care for children with congenital heart disease nearer to their homes. In this regard the BCCA is working closely with the ‘Paediatricians with Expertise in Cardiology Special Interest Group’ (PECSIG) to ensure that this welcome increased resource provides the maximum positive impact on the care of these patients.

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> Professional representation with the Royal College of Physicians and Department of Health

> PLUS MORE!

Visit www.bcs.com/bjca or contact BJCA on [email protected] or +44 (0) 20 7380 1918

Trainee Survey

Since 2004, there have been 5 Trainee surveys (2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009/10). The results of the first four surveys are available on the BJCA survey archive page. The fifth survey’s data has been presented at national meetings in 2010 and 2011. It is shortly due to be published in the BJC. The 2012 survey is underway and results will be feedback at the BCS Annual Conference Training Day (Monday 28th May). BJCA aims to publish the results of the 2012 survey within 6 months of its completion.

New Initiatives

BJCA has a number of new initiatives, including:

> An information gathering exercise is planned to inform and direct communication between the Trainee body and BCS and SAC

> A document, constituting a “Toolkit for new cardiology Trainees” will be drafted ready for distribution to new ST3s in August 2012. The theme for this document will be “What I wish I’d known the day I started cardiology training”

> Revised webpages containing course listings and reviews, fellowship information and links to online resources available to UK Trainees in Cardiology

For more information on the BJCA contact us on [email protected] or visit our website www.bcs.com/BJCA

British Nuclear Cardiology Society (BNCS)President: Dr Parthiban Arumugam Honorary Secretary: Dr Kshama Wechalekar Treasurer: Kshama Wechalekar

This last year was very momentous for the BNCS. We celebrated our 30th anniversary with an excellent trip down memory lane from Prof Avijit Lahiri.

Our AGM included well attended sessions on physics and clinical applications of solid state cameras, the newer selective adenosine stress agents, dyssynchrony assessment and a literature

The benefits of joining BJCA are:

BJCA Only Membership (Cost = Free for as long as you are in training)

> Established regional Trainee deanery representatives elected locally in 24 regions in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Each regional representative maintains a database of regional Trainees

> Established representation on all major national cardiology committees including (SAC, BMA, British Cardiovascular Society, BCIS, BSCI, BSCMR, BSE, BSH, HRUK, BHVS)

> Regular news updates (e.g. relevant courses/conferences/events) mainly via your regional deanery representatives and other communications from the Association’s office (e.g. BCS Annual Conference, BJCA Annual Survey, BJCA Annual Conference)

> Support for local educational events

> 20% discount on certain OUP Medical Handbooks

> Free administrative and web management support for communication and education resources

> Access to the BJCA section of the BCS website

BJCA/BCS Joint Membership (Cost = £100 per year. Less than half of the cost of Ordinary Membership for Consultant Cardiologists)

> All of the above PLUS...

> Free access to Heart online

> Paper Heart at a discounted subscription of £80

> Free registration to the BCS Annual Conference

> Complimentary ESC Textbook of Cardiovascular Medicine, from 1st July 2012 (upon request)

> Free access to CardioSource in collaboration with the ACC

> Discounted rates for all BCS Courses (e.g. Cardiology Review Course)

> Automatic membership with the ESC

> Membership e-bulletins with news from the world of Cardiology and access to the members only area of the BCS website, including details of discounts for members

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As a multi-modality cardiovascular imaging society we are ideally placed to be actively involved in giving advice on cardiovascular imaging to the DoH, Royal Colleges, cardiac networks and individual hospitals.

Our website www.bsci.org.uk continues to be developed and provides useful information on cardiovascular imaging for both members and non-members. Recent additions include: suggested Cardiac CT Tariffs, Cardiac curriculum and a guide to revalidation.

Our 2011 Annual General Meeting was held in Manchester at the Museum of Science and Industry (MOSI) – well worth a visit. The Meeting went back to back with the BSTI. Our joint training meetings with the cardiology division of the Royal Society of Medicine go from strength to strength. The last meeting involved review of 50 “live” cases.

Over the last year the BSCI has made significant progress on a number of important ongoing imaging issues:

> Cardiac CT accreditation – a voluntary process to help individuals to ensure they are providing a high quality cardiac CT service in their individual departments

> Completed radiology and cardiology specialist training curricula accepted by the RCR & SAC

> Provided Single Best Answer questions for the RCR

> At a SGM amended the constitution to create a more efficient executive committee and allow aid our application for charitable status

> Gained charitable status with the Charity Commission

> Produced suggested tariffs for Cardiac CT

> Guidelines for revalidation

The main issue still facing cardiac imaging, particularly CT and CMR is the lack of training opportunities. This applies to cardiology and radiology Trainees in both the core and sub-specialty curricula, as well as established consultants wishing to develop new areas of practice. We feel this is being addressed with more cardiac imaging centres coming on-line and therefore more potential trainers.

We look forward to a further busy year ahead.

For further information, visit our website www.bsci.org.uk

review. The best abstract was won by Dr Smith and colleagues, from Glasgow Royal Infirmary, on RNV assessment in heart failure patients’ pre and post beta blockade. For the very first time, the abstracts will be published in Nuclear Medicine Communications. Dr Kshama Wechalekar was elected to the council and will start her tenure as Secretary.

We continue to represent Nuclear Cardiology at a national level and are increasingly involved in revalidation discussions. This is likely to be the biggest challenge facing our society and members in 2012.

On a personal note our greatest challenge in 2011 was the complete re-draft of the MPS guidelines, co-ordinated by Dr Mark Harbinson (Belfast). These are going through the final stages of review and ratification, prior to publication.

Our membership numbers remain stable with excellent attendance at our AGM. It is also good to see newer members joining our ranks, reflecting continuing interest in the specialty. As always, our society and AGM offers excellent value in terms of CPD accreditation points at a very reasonable cost.

The International Congress in Nuclear Cardiology (ICNC) meeting in Amsterdam was well attended with good UK representation. Highlights included further data from the development of the 18F Flurpiridaz PET perfusion agent, flow quantitation assessment with PET tracers (particularly Rubidium) as a clinical tool, and the utility of solid state cameras. For the first time, our colleagues from the USA were mentioning dose reduction strategies at every possible opportunity.

The first day of the spring BNMS meeting was devoted to cardiac topics. In particular sessions focused on cardiac perfusion with PET, heart failure and the NICE approach to chest pain and stress testing.

Our website has had a few teething problems, but we have now moved into electronic payments to allow easier membership applications and renewals.

This year our annual meeting will be on Monday 3rd December. See you there!

For further information, visit our website at www.bncs.org.uk

British Society of Cardiovascular Imaging (BSCI) President: Dr Roger W Bury

The Society aims to represent the views of Radiologolists and Cardiologists at both membership and committee level.

Medicine is rapidly changing from the clear divisions of individual specialities to a merging of specialities into clinical teams that are able to provide the most holistic care for our patients.

President: Dr Roger W Bury

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British Society for Cardiovascular Research (BSCR)Chair: Dr Yvonne Alexander

This Annual Report covers the activities of the British Society for Cardiovascular Research (BSCR) for the period 1 April 2011 to 31 March 2012.

BSCR Main Meetings

There were two main meetings which fell within the period of this report. The spring 2011 meeting was a joint meeting with the British Atherosclerosis Society held as part of the BCS Annual Conference in Manchester. Organized by Yvonne Alexander, Colin Berry and Sarah George, it was entitled “Stem Cells and Cardiovascular Disease – From Promise to Reality.” A report of this meeting was published in the BSCR Quarterly Bulletin (Vol. 24, No. 3). The Autumn Meeting, on September 5th-6th and held at The Institute for Child Health, University College London, was organised by Derek Hausenloy, Sean Davidson and Michael Duchen. The Autumn Meeting took as its theme “Mitochondria in Cardiovascular Disease: Emerging Concepts and Novel Therapeutic Targets.”

Workshops and Symposia

No workshops were held during the period covered by this report.

Committee, Officers and Elections

The Committee met on two occasions, on June 13th in Manchester and on September 5th at UCL. Chris Newman left the Committee at the end of 2011, having completed his three-year term of office as Chair. Carolyn Carr was elected onto the Committee as his replacement, with Yvonne Alexander taking over as Chair. Professor Colin Berry was co-opted onto the Committee. The composition of the Committee is shown overleaf.

Annual General Meeting

The AGM took place on September 13th at UCL. Chris Newman was confirmed as a Fellow of the BSCR at the AGM.

British Society of Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance (BSCMR) Chair: Prof Henry Dargie

The BSCMR continues to grow and now has over 180 members.

The aims of the Society are to:

> promote clinical practice and research into cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) and to disseminate the useful results of such research

> further the advancement of education in CMR for the public benefit

We hold an annual Society meeting, and also contribute scientific and educational sessions to the BCS Annual Conference.

The 6th BSCMR Annual Meeting, held in Leicester in March 2011, was another great success and the meeting continues to grow. The CMR Investigators’ Prize presentations and posters yet again evoked great interest, and the award winners were as follows: 1st Prize: Dr Alex Pitcher (Oxford), 2nd Prize: Dr Christopher Steadman (Leicester), 3rd Prize: Dr Ankur Gulati (London) and 4th Prize: Dr Tim Fairbairn (Leeds).

The 7th BSCMR Annual Meeting will take place in Birmingham on 14 March 2012, and will again include the popular ‘Read cases with the experts’ sessions and Investigators’ Award.

We were pleased to be involved in several sessions in collaboration with the Imaging Council at the BCS Annual Conference in June 2011, including another very popular and well attended ‘Read cases with the Experts’ session, and look forward being involved again in 2012.

The BSCMR was, and continues to be, actively involved with a number of projects focusing on education, training and clinical practice, including:

> BSCMR (for the Cardiac Imaging Council) voluntary peer review process for departments performing cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) – piloting at present and to be launched more widely later in 2012

> Development of core and advanced CMR training guidelines in collaboration with SAC, SCMR and BCS

> Membership of the BCS UK Cardiac Imaging Council

> Involvement with NICE guidelines

> Input to an in depth review of CMR service provision in the UK through a national survey of all CMR centres at regular intervals (last survey results were published in JCMR in 2011)

As always, we look forward to continuing our work for the UK CMR community next year.

Please visit our website www.bscmr.org for more about the Society and its projects.

Professor Henry Dargie presenting Dr Alex Pitcher with 1st Prize for the CMR Investigators’ award (March 2011)


60 6160 British Society of Echocardiography (BSE) President: Dr Guy Lloyd

The BSE continues to expand its activity around the core values of promoting good practice, education and representation in the field of Echocardiography. It employs three staff who manage the society’s activities and has offices at the Docklands Business Centre. BSE council oversees the activities of the society while much of the work is done in the very active formal committee structure. Rick Steeds chairs the education committee which has subcommittees for meeting programme generation, guidelines and protocols, online education and research and audit. Helen Rimington chairs departmental accreditation, Jeff Ball communication and this year Ranjit More handed over the mantle of accreditation to Keith Pearce after a successful tenure which saw the repatriation of the accreditation process back into the

BSE. Tracy Ryan leads the finance committee.

Accreditation

Accreditations remain central to the mission of the BSE; this is increasingly important because of the expanding use of echocardiography for early assessment and monitoring throughout the modern hospital. In addition to standard transthoracic BSE accreditation and ACTA/BSE TOE accreditation, a revamped two track accreditation in critical care echocardiography has been developed in close collaboration with the Intensive Care Society, this is scheduled for launch during the Autumn Meeting 2012. This adds to the existing accreditation available for Community Echocardiography. The BSE continues to endorse FEEL for the delivery of peri arrest point of care cardiac ultrasound. Further discussions with the Society for Acute Medicine are underway and the results should be ready to unveil in late 2012.

Departmental accreditation

The BSE continues its drive to promote departmental accreditation as a benchmark of a quality service. This year 6 departments accredited and there are a further 5 under review. This year the reaccreditation process was taken online and an innovative online quality assurance support tool went live for the first time. This puts QA structures at the centre of the activities of BSE accredited departments. Much of this work has been generously supported by the British Heart Foundation and has been created in Collaboration with the Media company TwoFour.

Education

The BSE Annual scientific meeting remains the bedrock of the educational platform and 2011 saw a very comprehensive programme with good attendance in Edinburgh. The 2012 meeting will be held in Harrogate in early November. There is an expanding range of meetings organised by the

Sponsorship

The journal, Clinical Science, continued to sponsor a prize at each meeting for the best poster presentation. The Society is also grateful for sponsorship from the British Heart Foundation and numerous manufacturers and societies.

Special Awards

The Society’s extremely generous bequest from the estate of the late Bernard and Joan Marshall has been used to support a Young Investigator Award, won by Joseph Burgoyne (King’s College, London); a Research Excellence Award, won by Joseph Wu (Stanford University, USA); and to fund a Distinguished Lecture, which was given by Salvador Moncada (Wolfson Institute for Biomedical Research, London) at the Autumn Meeting.

The Bulletin

Four issues of the BSCR Bulletin were published.

Chair:

Dr Yvonne Alexander (01/08 – ) University of Manchester

Secretary: Dr Christopher Jackson (01/08 – ) University of Bristol

Treasurer: Dr Michael Curtis (01/08 – ) King’s College, London

Committee members: Professor Colin Berry (01/12 – ) University of Glasgow

Dr Samuel Boateng (01/11 – ) University of Reading

Dr Carolyn Carr (01/12 – ) University of Oxford

Professor Barbara Casadei (01/09 – ) University of Oxford

Dr Sean Davidson (01/11 – )

University College, London

Dr Andrew Grace (01/09 – )

University of Cambridge

Dr David Grieve (01/08 – )

Queen’s University, Belfast

Dr Derek Hausenloy (01/09 – )


Dr Richard Heads (01/09 – )

King’s College, London

Dr Cathy Holt (01/09 – )

University of Manchester

Bulletin Editors:

Dr Nicola Smart (09/99 – )


Dr Melanie Madhani (09/09 – )

University of Birmingham

For further information, visit our website www.bscr.org

President: Dr Guy Lloyd

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We now have almost 800 members and a new Board was elected and Observers from other disciplines recruited in June 2011.

14th Annual Autumn Meeting 2011

This key event in the BSH calendar continues to grow substantially and this year we were delighted to welcome around 470 participants, from a broadening range of disciplines, and 19 exhibitors to a particularly successful meeting. There was enthusiastic interest in the diverse presentations, which prompted much discussion, and an overwhelming determination to improve outcomes. The meeting was held in late November at the Queen Elizabeth Conference Centre in London, and the theme for the meeting was ‘Care for the individual patient’. The programme included the second Philip Poole-Wilson Lecture, presented to great acclaim by Professor John Burn, and the conference concluded with a considered, stimulating and thought provoking commentary by Tom Treasure.

A range of reports and articles from the meeting have and will be published in 2012.

BCS Annual Conference 2011

The Society was involved with three successful sessions at the BCS Annual Conference, in collaboration with other BCS Affiliated Groups. Programme titles included:

> Remote monitoring – paradigm shift or just another fad (Joint session BSH/HRUK/BANCC)

> Life style issues in heart failure (Joint session BSH/HCP(UK)/BACPR)

> Run for your life – exercise and the heart (Joint session BCS/BSH/BACPR)

Highlights from these meetings were published as a BSH newsletter (issue 28) which was circulated to members and can be found on the BSH website.

BSH Medical Training Meeting 2011

This relatively new event in the BSH calendar was repeated with another very successful meeting on 9 February 2011 attended by around 70 participants. The meeting was highly valued and enjoyed by the delegates, who appreciated the quality of the programme and the high calibre of speakers, and the ready opportunity for interaction.

BSE education committee: Advanced Imaging in June caters for highly specialised indications for multimodality imaging and the presentation of cutting edge techniques; an increasing portfolio of core training days provides basic level training and revision, and this year we will hold a joint meeting with the Irish Cardiac Echo Society in Belfast.

2011 saw the release of the BSE iPhone app Echocalc. This free to download facility has been a phenomenal success with over 6000 downloads from all continents. Plans are now far advanced for an android and blackberry version.

The education committee has continued its remit to produce guidelines with the first guidance internationally on safe practice of TOE and TOE probe decontamination now available.

Plans for a new online educational recourse will be released during 2012. The four key features are a range of interesting echo based case studies, an online interactive version of the BSE protocols, a fully searchable echo pathology library and finally a huge range of distance learning modules. This investment in echo education has been a joint collaboration with the British Heart foundation.

Echo

Echo, the journal of the British Society of Echocardiography, under the editorship of Gordon Williams, is a vital educational and communication tool with the BSE membership. The journal has expanded rapidly with an increasing range of articles, case reports, news and opinion pieces. The journal is also available to members online and with associated moving images.

Details about all activities of the BSE can be found at www.bsecho.org

British Society for Heart Failure (BSH) Chair: Dr Suzanna Hardman

The past year has once again been very busy for the society, with the 3rd Medical Training meeting and the first Heart Failure Nurse Study Day, both in February 2011, sessions at the BCS Annual Conference in June 2011 and the two-day Annual Autumn Meeting in November 2011. We were again involved in generating interest and activities surrounding the second pan-European Heart Failure Awareness Day, which was held in May 2011.

The BSH also continued its involvement with the Heart Failure audit, NICE guidelines and Quality Standards, work on Training and Revalidation and many other vital projects in the heart failure arena both in the UK and Europe. Heart failure is an area of growing interest and is increasingly attracting the attention of the Trainees. As a society we are forging more links with diverse other societies, whilst increasingly turning to our patient group for advice and inclusion.

Photo courtesy of Robert MastersTop row: Roy Gardner, Andrew Clark, Simon Williams, Jim Moore, Henry Dargie (former Chair), Suzanna Hardman (Chair), Dominic KellyFront row: Nigel Rowell, Theresa McDonagh, Jayne Masters, Annie MacCallumOther BSH Board members or Observers not pictured: John Baxter, Alison Duncan, Paul Kalra, Iain Squire.

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During the year, the BSH contributed to the audit strategy, implementation and academic outcomes and report. The Society is keen to encourage greater participation in the audit and to publicise the emerging results, using mailings, membership information, the BSH website and conferences to achieve this.

With over 50,000 patient episodes entered, the audit is now providing reliable information by which the clinicians, the acute Trusts and HF networks are able to monitor local care and by comparing these services with specific standards and national trends, modify their services and improve outcomes. Information available to patients through the annual reports and other publications will also empower them to make informed decisions about their care and treatment.

The latest report is available at: http://www.ucl.ac.uk/nicor/audits/heartfailure/additionalfiles/pdfs/annualreports/annual11.pdf

Information about the audit, including reports and a list of participating sites, can be accessed via the National Institute for Cardiovascular Outcomes Research (NICOR) website: http://www.ucl.ac.uk/nicor/audits/heartfailure

> Heart Failure Awareness Day – 6 May 2011: This was the second year in which BSH was involved in a Europe-wide initiative led by the Heart Failure Association (HFA) of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC), to stimulate and promote activities for a UK Heart Failure Awareness Day.

Some excellent initiatives were organized by our members with a wide range of activities taking place throughout the country, exemplars of which can be found on the BSH website. The BSH was pleased by the level of activities that took place and look forward to the next Heart Failure awareness day on 11 May 2012.

> The BSH website Considerable activity and energy has been invested in working towards the launch of a new web-site for the Society.

We would like to thank our members for their continued enthusiasm, input and participation in activities during the year, and the Friends of BSH for their generous and loyal support.

For more information on the above projects, further projects and future plans, please see the BSH website www.bsh.org.uk or contact the BSH Secretariat on [email protected]

The training day was specifically designed for SpRs to meet the educational needs of the heart failure component of the core curriculum in cardiovascular medicine, as well as the needs for advanced training in heart failure. It also provided a comprehensive overview of heart failure for Trainees in internal medicine and care of the elderly, and GPSIs.

BSH Nurse Study Day 2011

The introduction of a study day designed specifically for nurses was developed in response to a strong demand expressed by our nurse members, and we were delighted with the great interest and attendance at our first BSH Nurse Study Day, which took place on 12 February 2011. This meeting was designed to educate and interest heart failure nurses early in their role as well as those with more experience. The day provided evidence based knowledge from leading UK specialists in heart failure management and in-depth discussion around particularly challenging and controversial management issues facing nurses caring for patients with heart failure.

Based on the excellent feedback from the meeting and requests to repeat it, it has been decided to make the Nurse Study Day an annual event.

A selection of initiatives and collaboration with other groups

In addition to our meetings, the BSH has again been involved in a number of important initiatives and collaborations during the past year, including:

> The National Heart Failure Audit: The National Heart Failure Audit, launched in July 2007, remains an extremely important initiative for the BSH.

It was developed jointly by the BSH and The NHS Information Centre for health and social care (The IC), by whom it is managed, and was commissioned by the Healthcare Quality Improvement Partnership (HQIP).

The heart failure audit provides information on heart failure care during acute hospital admissions across the UK, including patient profiles, length of hospital admission, interventions, medication and outcomes. It is a consistent finding that the quality of care during an index admission appears to determine immediate and subsequent outcomes, with place of care, the involvement of Cardiologists and the prescribing of three life-modifying drugs all being associated with increased likelihood of survival at twelve months.

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Heart Care Partnership (UK) (HCP UK)President: Ken Timmis MBE JP LCIE

The National Heart Patient Charity Registered Charity No. 1131564

Empowering cardiovascular groups to improve awareness, education, prevention and treatment options.

In September 2011 we lost one of the most remarkable men I have ever known when David Geldard MBE died suddenly, after we all thought he was recovering well from a serious operation. He had given much valuable service to cardiac patients and their carers across the nation especially through his membership of Heart Care Partnership (UK). There are countless folk who will long remember David with gratitude and affection which is borne out by the many tributes paid to his memory, not the least that of Professor Sir Roger Boyle CBE, who spoke at his funeral. We have planned our first HCP conference on 29th May as part of the BCS Annual Conference which is dedicated to him and are presenting the first bursary prize in his memory. If you are free for any of that day, why not look in on us. I can promise you some excellent speakers including the incoming BCS President and a high ranking politician, amongst many others.

Now that we have become a registered charity we have been able to make a successful application to the British Heart Foundation for funding, which has enabled us to organise this conference and provide the bursary.

Our most valuable asset is the expertise and experience of our Trustees in their other roles within the NHS and charity fields. In this way we are able to cover many aspects of patient concern and provide the BCS with a comprehensive insight into patient views. We can also represent a wider range of patients. We have also established links with the British Heart Valve Society (BHVS), the Princess Royal Trust for Carers, the DH Adults with Congenital Heart Disease Steering Group, where Paul Willgoss MBE is a member, and the European Congenital Hearts Group which Paul chairs. We have lent support to Professor Colin Berry of Glasgow University in a clinical trial of patients who may have recurrent angina and heart attacks in the years after CABG, and we supported the Bromley Rehab team in their fight against closure.

I have tried to pick up some of the representations left by David Geldard in joining the Patient work of the Society for Cardiothoracic Surgery (SCTS) in Great Britain and Ireland and the Cardiovascular Scoping workshops of NICE.

Our Founding Trustee and Clinical Lead, Dr Jane Flint, continues to forge useful links in moving forward with Women’s Heart Health issues (see her separate report on page 32). She represents our case as a Professional Trustee of the British Heart Foundation, identifying valuable patient skills on Prevention & Care Committee and working with our Core Grant project. Her last effort as recent National Clinical Adviser for Cardiac Rehabilitation (CR) to NHS Improvement has been the Fourth Survey of CR Development across the English Cardiovascular Networks, within which we have teased out Network Patient Leads from at least half of the organisations as we go to press, to be invited as sponsored attendees to our HCP Conference. It is gratifying to be assured of patient representation from some source on the vast majority of Network Boards. We are also receiving early positive feedback on a joint patient/professional HCP (UK) published out-patient leaflet: “What the user wants to know, and how they would like to be told”. Jane has also revised the specialty chapter for the 5th edition of the RCP’s “Working with Patients” publication 2011.

Our Secretary, Carol Reilly, continues to work tirelessly in patients’ interests and her Black Country Patient and Carer “Cardiac and Stroke Training Programme” has gained recognition outside the Black Country boundaries and has prompted us to take this nationally. The training programme was awarded UKFST endorsement 27 October 2011. She does, however, find it difficult to get Newsletter articles, so pens to paper please ([email protected]).

The Congenital Heart Disease team of Suzie Hutchinson, Julie Wootton and Paul Willgoss have continued to champion the needs of children and adults born with congenital heart problems, as the Specialist Commissioning team and NHS move to make changes in the surgical service needed throughout England. The aim is to provide a Safe and Sustainable service that will take paediatric cardiac care forward and ensuring that minimum standards of care are available for every child wherever they live. The Safe and Sustainable process has been delayed because of individual legal campaigns but the hope is that the shape of the national service provision will be decided by the Autumn of 2012. Suzie Hutchinson with youth and parent users, presented the needs of children with complex heart disease to an international audience of clinicians at a conference held in Birmingham in the Spring of 2011.

Dr Felicity Astin has been raising awareness about the importance of patient and carer involvement in cardiovascular care across a range of fora. Locally she raises awareness of their

Heart Care Partnership(UK)

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UK

President: Kenneth Timmis

The late David Geldard (left)

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involvement in research and education within the Faculty of Medicine and Health, University of Leeds, as part of a West Yorkshire Cardiovascular Network Patient and Public Involvement group. She also presented a workshop at the Spring Meeting of the Council of Cardiovascular Nurses and Allied Health Professionals about patient and carer involvement. This led to lively discussions during which delegates shared examples of best practice in patient and carer involvement from their respective European countries.

Working with SADS UK Anne Jolly continues to drive forward “The Big Shock” Campaign, highlighting that in 2000 the Department of Health funded an initiative to locate 680 defibrillators in public spaces. However, this did not include schools. To address the situation SADS UK continues to work with schools, providing defibrillators and training to help save young lives, and urging Government to bring forward a strategy to make this lifesaving equipment available in all schools.

Trudie Lobban MBE continues to be a tireless worker for Arrhythmia Alliance, The Heart Rhythm Charity (see separate report in this publication), as it continues its mission to provide information, support and guidance to those affected by heart rhythm disorders. It recently increased the number of its Affiliated Groups by 16% and also received a British Medical Association Award.

Liz Clark has been a patient representative on the NICE Chest Pain Guideline and on the Angina Guideline. She has been involved with the Royal Pharmaceutical Society who are developing the professional standards for hospital pharmacy

Sadly, Peter Diamond, who has connections with THRIVE, is having to lay aside his national work on health grounds, but it is good to hear that he continues to work in his locality. On behalf of the rest of the Trustees I would like to record our thanks to Peter for all that he has contributed over the years. Both his work and advice has been timely and welcome.

All our Trustees continue to work actively in their various spheres of expertise, which is vital to our continued representation. All in all we have a very active team for which I, as their President, am truly grateful.

In closing I would wish to thank all the Trustees for their loyalty and support and for all they do to serve patients and carers across the nation.

See www.bcs.com/hcp for further details or email [email protected]

Heart Rhythm UK President: Dr Stephen S Furniss

Heart Rhythm UK is an Affiliated Group of the British Cardiovascular Society and the Arrhythmia Alliance, and is dedicated to improving all aspects of cardiac arrhythmia care and electrical device based therapies. It provides an essential link between professionals working within pacing, devices and electrophysiology in the UK.

The issue of funding for the society’s national database continues to be a challenge but significant progress has been made. Healthcare Quality Improvement Partnership (HQIP) funding via NICOR has been withdrawn and continuation for this past year has been via a one-off grant from industry and from a grateful patient. It is hoped that Heart Rhythm UK’s representation on NICOR can be increased and it is likely that funding will either return via HQIP or be via a capitation fee system. The oversight of the database has been revised with a new committee led by Francis Murgatroyd and Nick Linker.

Once again the Society’s main annual meeting (Heart Rhythm Congress) proved very successful with further increase in attendance and income and very positive feedback. The Scientific Programme for this year’s programme at a new larger Conference Centre in Birmingham is well advanced and will once again be an exciting meeting.

Heart Rhythm UK continues to grow its membership particularly from within the cardiac physiologists. Individual accreditation in the form of the Heart Rhythm UK exam is now well accepted and robust systems are in place. The quality of the exam is increasingly appreciated in Europe and Nick Linker is leading collaboration with the European Heart Rhythm Association on a pan European accreditation exam.

The issue of quality standards continues to be a challenge and we have been engaged in several areas. AF ablation commissioning guidance has been produced as well as general commissioning guidance. Further review of arrhythmia care quality standards and departmental accreditation continues. We are working with IQIPS on overall physiological service accreditation, with AFA in parliamentary pressure groups on producing quality standards and with BSE and BCS in departmental accreditation process.

For more information on the work of HRUK, visit our website www.hruk.org.uk

Peter Diamond

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Society for Cardiological Science and Technology (SCST)Chairman: Su Baxter

2011 saw another very busy year for the Society with continued involvement in several projects essential to the ongoing delivery of diagnostic and therapeutic cardiology services across the United Kingdom (UK).

The Modernising Scientific Careers (MSC) agenda gathered pace with the commencement of the new training framework which saw the first national intake onto Practitioner and Scientist Training Programmes in England (PTP and STP respectively). The Society worked closely with colleagues from Heart Rhythm UK and the British Society of Echocardiography (BSE) to complete the criteria and training manual for STP during the year, with continued support from the BCS and the British Heart Foundation (BHF). Work has started on the development of the criteria and competencies for the Higher Specialist Scientific Training programme (HSST) and SCST continues to contribute to that process. During 2011 the Society held a highly successful information day for heads of department to update them on progress around MSC.

The Society was accepted as a member of the Science Council during 2011 and now plays an active role in its activities, working alongside other member bodies.

Work previously undertaken by the Society in the development of a collaborative quality assurance and accreditation tool, now known as Improving Quality in Physiological Services (IQIPS) has enabled a number pilot programmes to be set up during 2011. It is expected that feedback from these pilots in early 2012 will inform the national roll-out of the system.

The Society continues to support the Registration Council for Clinical Physiology (RCCP) through the Professional Bodies Education Committee (PBEC) in accrediting degree courses in Clinical Physiology (Cardiology) and providing Professional Body Moderators to ensure standards of training are maintained. The Society continues to fully support the RCCP in their efforts to gain state registration for Clinical Physiologists.

The Annual Scientific and General Meeting of the Society took place as part of the BCS Annual Conference in Manchester. SCST welcomed the opportunity to structure the meeting over a whole day within the BCS programme of events and to work alongside them. A similar format is planned for 2012.

Throughout the year the Society has continued to provide information and guidance, and to promote educational opportunities for those working in the field of cardiac physiology through communication via our website plus a monthly publication sent to members. The latter was relaunched in 2011 under the new title of The Journal of the Society for Cardiological Science and Technology (JSCST). We also took the opportunity in 2011 to strengthen our links with BCS, moving our website onto their in house platform. This has allowed us to build on the previous content and to enhance our internet presence. The Society now has its own Facebook group, ‘SCST – The Society for Cardiological Science and Technology’ (https://www.facebook.com/#!/groups/136121566454035/) and is exploring ways that digital technologies can further facilitate the work of the Society.

Plans for the Future Period

SCST will continue to work collaboratively to develop the HSST and Assistant/Associate Practitioner roles under MSC in 2012, as well as exploring options for Professional Body qualifications for members, and to support RCCP in working to agree a regulatory framework for physiologists at all levels.

Two new qualifications are being developed in electrocardiography, the Certificate in Practical Electrocardiography and the Diploma in Electrocardiography. We are working closely with the BHF in developing training courses to support the Diploma for their specialist nurses across the country.

Thanks must go to all who have given of their time and effort to support SCST over the past year, despite an ever increasing workload. The Society looks forward to further positive developments in 2012.

For more information please see our website www.scst.org.uk

Chairman:Su Baxter

7372 BCS CourSeS

See www.bcs.com/education for details of these courses or email [email protected] to register your interest.

to autumn 2012BCS & Mayo Clinic “Cases, Controversies & Updates” in Cardiovascular Medicine. For Cardiologists and Senior trainees*

15 – 17 October 2012Key faculty from the BCS and Mayo Clinic are again coming together to provide an in-depth look at difficult cases, current controversies and latest updates in Cardiovascular Medicine.

BCS & RCP Cardiology Update for General Physicians* 10 October 2012An annual update for General Physicians covering Cardiac drugs, stable angina and other essential topics for those covering Cardiology in the community. Visit the RCP website to register for this course, www.rcplondon.ac.uk

National Training Day* 26 November 2012For UK Cardiology Trainees, this is the second National Training Day of the year and will address topics from the Cardiology Curriculum that may not be covered elsewhere.

A Year in Cardiology* 14 December 2012Providing a succinct review of the years’ hot topics with particular emphasis on clinical practice and a round-up of key developments in the sub-specialties. This symposium is a must for Consultants and Trainees wishing to keep abreast of major advances in Cardiology.

* Held at the Royal College of Physicians (RCP), London

From Spring 2012A Career in Cardiology* 17 February 2012An essential one-day course for all doctors wishing to pursue Cardiology as a long-term career. Covering the ST3 selection process from application form through to interview and the varied sub-specialties available in Cardiology.

BCS & Mayo Clinic Cardiology Review Course* 19 – 23 March 2012Matched to the Cardiology Curriculum, this 5 day course gives a great overview of current cardiovascular medicine. Suitable for Cardiology Trainees, Specialist Doctors and Consultants wishing to refresh their knowledge.

Research in Cardiology: What, why, when and how?*

27 April 2012A national symposium designed to enthuse, nurture and promote the next generation of cardiovascular researcher. An essential course for all Trainees wishing to conduct Postgraduate Research in Cardiovascular Medicine.

BCS Annual Conference - Manchester28 – 30 May 2012The 90th BCS Annual Conference will again return to manchester Central, hosting a wide variety of educational sessions, international speakers and a full exhibition. Free for BCS Members who register before the early bird deadline.

National Training Day28 May 2012Held at the BCS Annual Conference, the first National Training Day of 2012 will include cardiac syndromes; the heart in systemic disease; stress, exercise and ECG testing.

British Cardiovascular Society 9 Fitzroy Square, London W1T 5HWTel: +44 (0)20 7383 3887 Fax: +44 (0)20 7388 0903 Email: [email protected] Limited by guarantee. Registered in England No: 3005604 Registered Charity No: 1093321www.bcs.com

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