Dr John Thomson, Honorary Secretary, British Congenital Cardiac Association

Department of congenital heart disease, E floor, Jubilee Wing, Leeds General Infirmary

Tel: 0113 3928184 email:

20 August 2010

Via email

BCCA Newsletter – Summer 2010

Dear Colleagues,

Firstly my apologies that this communication is a little late, like most of you all I’ve been busier than ever and focussing on the safety raft of a summer break, which went all too quickly.

There have been a few movements on and off BCCA Council, Ed Ladusans and Jonathan Parsons have both demitted. David Barron has taken up one of these positions as clear winner of the recent election but unfortunately for the second time in a couple of years we had a tie for the other remaining position between Marcus Haw and Sue Hobbins. Voting in this re-run election has closed and a separate announcement of the result will be made in due course. The issue of tied elections is an important one because it absorbs a lot of our time and prevents new council members taking up their position, which in turn reduces the effectiveness of the council. For this reason I will be proposing a minor change in the voting system at the AGM later in the year which will separate candidates in the event of a tie - I intend to keep it as simple as possible so none of you need to worry about grand political coalitions at BCCA!

BCCA AGM, Winchester Guildhall 17th -18th November 2010

Please make sure you have the dates for the BCCA meeting hosted by the Southampton team in Winchester this year. The programme is finalised barring a few minor adjustments and following on from recent BCCA meetings there are some “stellar” names from the world of congenital cardiology travelling to support the meeting and deliver what I am absolutely certain will be high quality and stimulating educational material. As I have said before, the BCCA annual meeting has become a top quality event over recent years whilst still remaining relatively affordable and should not be missed.

James Gnanapragasam is the local lead and CFS Events are the conference organisers - both can be contacted on the following email addresses in the event of queries and there will be further communications from me in the very near future reminding you of details relating to booking and abstract submission:

The BCCA conference website is open nowfor registration at

Information on travel and directions, the Gala Dinner, submission of Abstracts, and the programme for the event is available here.

The closing date for Early Bird Registration is 30th September 2010.

Please note that Winchester is quite a small City, and accommodation is quite limited. The website has details of several suitable hotels close to the Guildhall, plus the new Holiday Inn hotel, which is a few minutes drive away. Shuttles will be arranged from the Holiday Inn Hotel both to and from the Guildhall.We would strongly advise that you arrange your accommodation as early as possible in order to avoid disappointment.

If you have any queries regarding the event, please do not hesitate to contact the CFS Events registration team on:+44 1438 751519 or email: or

2. Safe and Sustainable review

As you all will know, Ian Kennedy’s assessment process is now complete and we are awaiting the outcome of the process before a period of public consultation. The BCCA has no additional information to share on the process but we will keep members updated if any becomes available. At this sensitive time we would ask all BCCA members to be careful and sensitive in any dealings with the media. Recent briefings, whilst probably well meaning have caused considerable upset to patients and families as well as colleagues around the UK who have kept their counsel during a difficult time. The BCCA issued a statement (on the BCS website) following some of the latest briefings and this will remain our position until we know anything more about the outcome of the process. We are always happy to provide a considered BCCA view/statement if necessary and would rather be contacted by any member who is approached by the press before a statement is made rather than after!

3.Subscriptions and membership

Subscriptions remain a serious thorn in our side. Despite Joe De Giovanni’s efforts over recent years our subscription yield remains very low. Our incoming Treasurer, Andy Tometzki is determined to do something to address this and I would ask that you please ensure that your membership remains current and that your electronic subscription payments are correctly set up to ensure that you are not removed from the membership list. If you are unsure about your membership status or any aspects of the subscription process please contact either Andy or Azeem Ahmad our administrator who will be able to help:

/ /

4.GUCH specialist accreditation

You will have received a recent email from me relating to the BCCA sponsored document on adult congenital heart disease specialist accreditation (available on the website). To briefly re-iterate, the BCCA did not feel it appropriate to get involved in direct designation of individuals as specialists in the field (an approach fraught with danger) but did agree with the GUCH Patients Association on the need for clarity for patients when seeking appropriate specialists. Each unit will have been contacted by GUCH PA asking for clarification in this area. We would encourage co-operation.

5. Madeleine Steel travel fellowship

The 2011 Madeleine Steel travel fellowship application process is now open. The Madeleine Steel fellowship is an annual fellowship (£6,000) awarded on a competitive basis to doctors (trainees and consultants) and allied professionals (including nurses, clinical physiologists etc) working in congenital heart disease in the United Kingdom. The award is used to enable the holder to travel to a centre of excellence in North America to gain further experience, learn a new technique or conduct research. Exceptionally, an application to a centre outside North America will be considered. Can applicants send me details of their application on a single A4 sheet. This should include a description of what they propose to do, the anticipated costs and what the fellowship funds will be used for. Applications will be considered at the Spring 2011 meeting of the BCCA Council. The deadline for applications will be 31st January 2011.

6. BCCA website

For a number of years we have had webpages within the BCS website. Whilst perfectly functional, council is of the opinion that the BCCA webpages are looking a little tired and could offer more and so we are looking at upgrading and improving them. John Simpson and Azeem Ahmad are working on this project.

If any of you have any further suggestions or ideas you feel should be incorporated please let us know ().

7. Forthcoming meetings

Direct links are listed where I have them, otherwise visit our website for details:

How to write a scientific paper, 15 – 17 September 2010, Dolmen Hotel, Qawra, Malta

PECSIG 3rd National Annual Meeting – Paediatric Cardiology for Paediatricians 2010 Conference, 16 – 17 September 2010, Birmingham Conservatoire, Birmingham City University

Contact: Valerie Carter, Dr Anjum Gandhi’s secretary, Tel: 0121 424 7657,

Email:

7th Advanced Symposium on Congenital Heart Disease in the Adult,

20 – 21 September 2010, RoyalCollege of Surgeons of England, London

Contact: Cathy () or Wendy (),

CFS Events,Tel: 01438 751 319

8th UBHT Adult Congenital Heart Disease Study Day, 28 September 2010,

Bristol Heart Institute

Contact: Sheena Vernon, ACHD Nurse Specialist,

Email:

Sequential Segmental Analysis of Congenital Heart Disease, 14 October 2010,LeidenUniversityMedicalCenter, Leiden, The Netherlands

Symposium on Borderline Hypoplastic Left Ventricle, 15 October 2010,

LeidenUniversityMedicalCenter, Leiden, The Netherlands

20th World Congress on Ultrasound in Obstetrics and Gynaecology,

10 – 14 October 2010, Prague, Czech Republic

BCCA Annual Meeting 2010, Winchester Guildhall, 17-18 November 2010

As always please let Azeem Ahmad ( or ) know of any changes to your personal information, in particular your email address so we can keep the membership database up to date.

Finally, please encourage any suitably qualified colleagues to consider membership of the BCCA. Application forms are available to download from our website:

Best wishes and enjoy the remaining summer!

John Thomson

Honorary Secretary