BSOA - British Society of Orthopaedic Anaesthetists

15th of November 1996

We are privileged to be here today to participate in a meeting, which has been so informative and captivating. Many of those who expressed their interest in attending did so too late to be granted such privilege. Orthopaedic Hospitals and the Trusts, which manage them, have responded vigorously to the discipline of the market. Because their work is by and large easier for accountants and managers to get their teeth into than other branches of surgery and medicine our operating theatres have come to be identified as profit engines of particularly cleanness of line and form. There can be few of us here who cannot at times in the last five years felt a little like the diminutive figure of Charlie Chaplain caught between the twin cogs of balanced budget and patients charter. Closer cooperation with surgeons and the setting up of preoperative assessment clinics, the use of local anaesthetic infusions into the mobilisation period and a greater anaesthetic input into the treatment of musculo-skeletal pain have; however, all been areas where accurate appraisal of costs and benefits have enabled anaesthetists to move forward the total quality of patient care with the support of both accountants and managers alike. However a wide variety of pressures may well brought to bear. Regional variations in salaries and pensions are becoming evident along with regional variations in support for anaesthetic training in orthopaedics. Orthopaedic anaesthetists are set to live through interesting times. The out of the way single specialty hospital is shortly to find itself disturbed by the modem and the website. If we set out now to exchange addresses this year then by next year we could easily be finding that our few remote anaesthetic departments have capitalised on their geography to lead the way in communication and sharing of resources. The British Society of Orthopaedic Anaesthesia is to be set up this year as a Company limited by Guarantee. We propose that there should be an election of Officers by ballot in time for or at the next meeting at the Royal Orthopaedic Hospital in Birmingham in November 1997. We ask you to support those putting themselves forward as an ad-hoc committee right now and enable them to put together a program and a set of rules for the coming year.

Dr Tom Neal FRCA

Royal Orthopaedic Hospital

Birmingham