BSOA - British Society of Orthopaedic Anaesthetists

15th of November 1996

The British Society of Orthopaedic Anaesthesia (BSOA) is an organisation whose time has come. There are now in this country in spite of recent political policy 11 specialist orthopaedic hospitals which thrive because they have something special to offer. I believe independent trust status favours their continuation but it also highlights the increasing need for individuals with common interests to join forces to strengthen the presentation of their views. Orthopaedic surgery constitutes roughly one fifth of surgical activity in this country and since most anaesthetists provide anaesthesia for various surgeons perhaps half of them are involved with anaesthesia for orthopaedics. If we look to the hundred or so anaesthetists employed in the specialist hospitals for leadership in the BSOA there are a thousand or more who will have questions needing answers and solutions to problems that arise in this field. It will be the role of the BSOA, through the interchange of ideas and experience and the results of research, to enhance the anaesthetic management of patients requiring orthopaedic surgery and to encourage the proper training of anaesthetists in this field. The BSOA will join 16 other rational specialist anaesthesia societies: so diverse is anaesthesia for orthopaedic surgery that its interests will overlap those of many of these societies. On the one hand this will lead to a wide variety of topics for discussion at meetings and on the other it may allow members to 'rationalise' their membership portfolio. The society will seek to organise meetings at least annually within this country to foster dialogue between practitioners in this country and abroad and for the presentation of research.

Dr Michael Hetreed FRCA

Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital

Stanmore

Middlesex