BRITISH SOCIETY OF
PAEDIATRIC GASTROENTEROLOGY AND NUTRITION
NEWSLETTER 2001
December 2001
PRESIDENT’ REPORT
I would first like to thank Martin Brueton for his hard work as President of BSPGHAN from 1998-2001. These were times of great change in the organisation of medical specialities and required careful planning. As part of his work as President he chaired the CSAC which has overseen the successful visiting of paediatric gastroenterology centres across the country. The hard work of the visits was undertaken by John Walker-Smith, Deirdre Kelly and Peter Milla with the help of other colleagues standing in when necessary.
As a Society we face two main challenges over the next three years. The first is to provide a cohesive national network of centres of paediatric gastroenterology responsible for the delivery of health care and junior staff training across the nation. To achieve this we must speak with a unity of purpose. Much has been achieved in the last few years to reduce the sense that our speciality is centred upon a small number of major centres, but rather that we are a cohesive group. Obviously, the appointment of new consultants in areas that did not have one before has helped to broaden this collective base. In terms of a structure for paediatric gastroenterology we are working on the setting up of a National Grid which links centres together. This is directed through the RCPCH. While this will require some paperwork, such a model will help to foster a national identity for our subspecialty.
The second major challenge for our subspecialty is to continue to enhance the scientific work that we produce. Patients with chronic gastrointestinal disease demand that we understand more about the pathogenesis of their conditions. Furthermore, physicians feel the need for progress. We do not want to have the same body of knowledge when we retire as we did when we were appointed consultants. The Society has a large part to play in this. First, we are developing a network to establish multicentre studies. Second, we have established a series of working parties in different parts of gastroenterology whose role is to develop practice guidelines and to identify areas where further investigation is required. Third, we have three fora in which to present scientific work in this country: the Winter Meeting of the BSPGHAN; the annual meeting of the RCPCH and the annual meeting of the BSG. The BSG are keen to provide a fora where paediatric research can be seen alongside research in adult gastroenterology, hepatology and nutrition.
Finally, I hope to welcome as many of you as can manage to come to Barts & The London in January. My London colleagues and I look forward to seeing you then.
With best wishes
Ian R. Sanderson
President
i.r.sanderson@mds.qmw.ac.uk
The Society goes from strength to strength, with the membership now standing at 260 (with 73 being Associate Members).
Our great thanks to John Puntis and colleagues for organising such an excellent winter meeting in January 2001, which witnessed the further meetings of the Associate Members’ and Trainees’ Groups, as well as the highlight being the comprehensive victory of Consultants over training grade staff in a competitive and keenly fought soccer match held early on the morning after the dinner (many supporters were there in spirit if not in body).
We held a successful scientific meeting at York in April and at the meeting in 2002 plan to have at least one guest lecturer (Professor Isolauri on probiotics), with the format of mixing papers on gastroenterology, hepatology and nutrition, continuing after the success of the last 2 years.
2001 saw the end of Martin Brueton’s very successful reign as President, as well as the end of tenure of Council members, Adrian Thomas, Mark Beattie and Stephen Ryan and we thank them for their excellent contribution over their terms of office. We welcome our new President, Professor Ian Sanderson, and new Council members, Dr John Puntis (nutrition representative on Council), Dr Stephen Murphy and Dr Mike Thomson. Please give thought to replacements for myself as Secretary and Professor Stuart Tanner (hepatology representative) to take over in April 2002. Please could nominations for either/both posts be sent to me (having checked with the nominee first that he/she is willing to stand), with the closing date for nominations being the AGM at the winter meeting in London 2002, which is being hosted by Professor Sanderson and colleagues.
The final but very important point is the need to update members’ records, to include e-mail address, telephone number and fax number. We are keen that in the future, all BSPGHAN news will be communicated via the BSPGHAN website (Mike Bissett is our webmaster) and it is important that all members have access to the internet and have an e-mail address, so that the Council can contact all of you electronically. Please find enclosed a form - I would be grateful if the information could be either sent back to me using this hard copy or, preferably, by e-mailing me at secretary@bspghan.org.uk , so that I can update the list as soon as possible.
With my thanks and kind regards.
Dr Huw R Jenkins MA MD FRCP FRCPCH
Secretary & Convenor
Huw.Jenkins@UHW-TR.wales.nhs.uk
REPORT FROM THE COLLEGE SPECIALIST ADVISORY COMMITTEE ON PAEDIATRIC GASTOENTEROLOGY HEPATOLOGY AND NUTRITION
The year has been an important one for the Gastroenterology CSAC within the College. The vast majority of centres have now been visited and details of each training programme have been carefully appraised by the Training Advisors. As I said in the President’s letter we are very grateful to Professor John Walker-Smith, Professor Deirdre Kelly, Professor Peter Milla and others who have helped in the training visits. A new development for sub-specialty paediatrics is the National Grid. A number of sub-specialities have begun on the National Grid and Gastroenterology is in this first wave. The National Grid consists of groups of the training centres and this will be passed to the Grid Co-ordinators in December 2001. Local authorities will also be asked to supply details of what positions are available at the SpR level in a separate exercise. The CSAC has taken the view that the National Grid should be as inclusive of paediatric gastroenterologists as is possible.
The most interesting development is that we are suggesting a concept of three pathways in our sub-speciality. Because there is insufficient time within three years to train in gastroenterology, hepatology and nutrition, the CSAC is proposing three pathways where the majority will be in one of these specialities but with six months compulsory time spread within the three years on the other two. This is fully established for gastroenterology and plans are being developed to formalise the pathway in hepatology and nutrition. Final agreement with these ideas will of course remain with the Royal College.
As I said in my President’s letter, the general direction of the CSAC will be geared to one in which members of our sub-specialty come together with a single purposeful voice.
Ian R. Sanderson
President
i.r.sanderson@mds.qmw.ac.uk
ASSOCIATE MEMBERS’ REPORT
This forthcoming winter meeting of BSPGHAN will be the third meeting for the associate members and will provide another opportunity for the education, support and networking for nurses, dietitians, speech and language therapists, pharmacists and clinical psychologists working within Paediatric Gastreoenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition.
Currently, there are approximately 70 associate members of BSPGHAN, mainly nurses and dietitians. On May 15 th 2001, the committee of associate members organised the first independent educational day at the Village Hotel, Cardiff. The theme was ’The management of Children with Inflammatory Bowel Disease’ and we were fortunate to have several excellent speakers who provoked some interesting discussion. This day was attended by 40 delegates and supported by SHS, Calea and CICRA amongst others. Topics included; the evolution of IBD, medical and surgical management, and the evidence for dietary management and quality of life in children with IBD. Workshops held in the afternoon examined subjects such as, the development of transition clinics for young people with IBD, support and education for children and families and the challenge of dietary management.
The committee for associate members is already planning the second educational meeting, hopefully for September 2002. This meeting will address several subjects of interest within Paediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition and will, hopefully give the associate members an opportunity to present any research that they are involved in. If any of the associate members would like to contribute to this day or have any specific training/educational need then please contact either Clare Burnett ( clare.burnett2@orh.nhs.uk ) or Sian Thomas ( sian.thomas@UHW-TR.wales.nhs.uk ).
The success of the associate members of BSPGHAN has seemingly become internationally renown! So much so that the ESPGHAN wish to develop a similar group. Some of the associate members of BSPGHAN have been asked to liase with our European colleagues and create a post-graduate course for nurses and dietitians to be held in Taormina in June 5-8 2002. This is a very exciting opportunity both to attend this meeting and/or contribute for associate members in the UK. I encourage you to seek some sponsorship to visit Taormina and attend this meeting and the post graduate course. There will hopefully be a separate poster session for health care professionals other than doctors and this is a great opportunity to meet our European counterparts and present some of the excellent work being performed in the UK by nurses and dietitians etc. For further information, please contact Clare Burnett or Sarah Macdonald ( macdos@gosh.nhs.uk) .
As the associate members of BSPGHAN embark on their third year, an opportunity may arise for anyone interested in joining the committee of associate members. If anyone is interested or knows someone who would fulfil this commitment, please contact Clare Burnett or Sian Thomas.
I look forward to seeing everyone again at the Associate Members meeting in January to which we have invited Jill Brook from Birmingham Children’s Hospital to present to us, followed by a business meeting for all associate members. Please do try to attend as it is your interest and dedication that has made the associate members so successful.
Until January then! All Best wishes,
Clare Burnett, Clinical Nurse Specialist,
Chair Associate Members BSPGHAN
clare.burnett2@orh.nhs.uk
JOURNAL OF PAEDIATRIC GASTROENTEROLOGY AND NUTRITION
Impact factor 2000: 1.58 (2001 awaited)
jpgn@cnam.fr
BSPGHAN FINANCE
Balance as of 31 Aug 2001:
£31,835.
Dr Stephen Hodges. (Tel: 0191 2820324)
BSPGHAN WEBSITE
BAPS WEBSITE
SUB-GROUP AND STEERING GROUP REPORTS:
ENDOSCOPY
Much inclusive discussion has occurred within our membership body over the last 3 years culminating in a very useful and lively final agreement process in York earlier this year, where a combination of observed qualitative and quantitative endoscopy training requirements were endorsed. The skill acquisition rate from a small pilot training study at the Royal Free over the last 3-4 years helped to formulate and emphasise the need for a minimum number of endoscopies with the recognition that, as trainee learning rates vary markedly, some qualitative trainer-based ongoing assessment would be mandatory. Hence final recommendations were agreed upon, inserted into the handbook of recommendations of the Joint Advisory Group on endoscopy for the UK, and can be viewed at the BSPGHAN website. ( http://bspghan.org.uk )
The Steering Group will meet in the near future in order to begin the process of guidelines for best practice with regard to sedation and anaesthetic practice in paediatric endoscopy and will again involve canvassing the membership for opinions and current practice.
Any interim comments would, as before, be warmly welcomed.
Dr Mike Thomson
m.thomson@rfc.ucl.ac.uk
NATIONAL REGISTER OF PAEDIATRIC INFLAMMATORY BOWEL DISEASE
Since obtaining generous funding for the next three years from the Crohn’s and Colitis in Childhood Research Association (CICRA), the Paediatric Register of Inflammatory Bowel Disease (PRIBD) is going from strength to strength. It is undergoing a radical reorganisation, with a remodelled database to allow for more complex data analysis and addition. An epidemiologist, Mary Jane Platt, with considerable experience in register operation, has been appointed to the committee.
Currently we have 1410 patients registered, with Crohn’s disease (CD) accounting for 841 of these registrations, ulcerative colitis for 381 and indeterminate colitis for 159. The remaining cases are registered as orofacial granulomatosis (OFG) or CD and OFG. It is with your continued commitment to the register that we have successfully started to obtain consent from new patients and those already listed. Any centres that require advice or assistance in establishing a system for the consent process can contact Lucy Taylor on 0151 228 4811 x3566 or e-mail lbtaylor@liv.ac.uk . Our thanks go to all those who continue to commit time and effort in order to improve the PRIBD in respect to both content and data protection.
A programme of research and data analysis is now under way, with two papers in the pipeline. The first paper is a review of the data collected between May 1997 to June 2000. General characteristics such as age, sex and centre type have been identified and analysis details the characteristics of each disease group. The second paper analyses data collected between June 1998-June 1999 and compares the PRIBD data collected during this period with the incidence data generated by the British Paediatric Surveillance Unit inflammatory bowel disease survey. It is anticipated that the first register based research project will commence before the end of the year, investigating the epidemiology and aetiology of indeterminate colitis. A newsletter is under preparation and will be circulated to all participating centres in November.
IBD WORKING GROUP
Established in summer 2000 at the request of
the BSPGHAN Council to:
1) Develop evidence based guidelines for the investigation and management of paediatric IBD.
2) Co-ordinate multicentre research.
The group have had 5 meetings and are working alongside the BSG who are producing similar guidelines for adults with IBD. The guideline
development will involve identifying all of the relevant paediatric studies (published & unpublished) and for each treatment option we will need to ask:
1) whether there is any evidence that the situation is different for children c.f. adults,
2) if so, what difference should this make to the recommendations for treatment?
It appears there are approximately 8000 publications relating to paediatric IBD but probably less than a quarter of these will be
directly relevant. The relevant papers then need to be assessed for quality and recommendations made for treatment (depending on the strength of the evidence). The group is being assisted by the Royal College of Paediatrics & Child Health Clinical Effectiveness Co-ordinator and the Centre for Evidence Based Child Health in Liverpool.
The original intention was to produce a paediatric chapter for the new BSG guidelines which are due to be published imminently and to produce a joint BSPGHAN/RCPCH document by April 2002. Unfortunately funding problems are currently preventing achievement of either of these objectives.
Best wishes,
Dr Adrian Thomas,
agthomas@manu.demon.co.uk
fax: +00 +44 (0)161 220 5072
phone: +00 +44 (0)161 220 5566
BRITISH ASSOCIATION OF PAEDIATRIC SURGEONS
Main overlapping interest is in the British Intestinal Failure Survey with which BAPS are mostly in agreement. No other major points of information at present re BSPGHAN.
Mr Mervyn Griffiths
Mervyn.Griffiths@suht.swest.nhs.uk
FORTHCOMING MEETINGS AND DEADLINES:
BSPGN WINTER MEETING
17-18 Jan 2002, London.
Abstract deadline: 30 Oct 2001.
Application deadline: 1 Dec 2001.
Details:
Prof Ian Sanderson
i.r.sanderson@mds.qmw.ac.uk
BAPS
16-19 July 2002, Cambridge
Abstract deadline: TBA
ROYAL COLLEGE OF PAEDIATRICS AND CHILD HEALTH 6th SPRING MEETING
15-18 April 2002, York
Abstract deadline: 30 th Nov 2001
www.rcpch.ac.uk
RCPCH, 50 Hallam Street, London W1N 6DE
44 (0)207 307 5600
BRITISH SOCIETY OF GASTROENTEROLOGY
17-20 March 2002, Birmingham.
Abstract deadline: 6 Nov 2001-10-28
British Society of Gastroenterology
Telephone: 0171 387 3534
Fax: 0171 487 3734
ESPGHAN
5-8 June 2002, Taormina, Sicily
Abstract deadline: approx 8 th Jan 2002
2 nd CONGRESS OF THE INTERNATIONAL PEDIATRIC TRANSPLANT ASSOCIATION
7-10 April 2002, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
IS CANCELLED
NASPGHAN
23-27 Oct 2002, San Antonio
Abstract deadline: early June 2002.
DIGESTIVE DISEASES WEEK
19-22 May 2002, San Francisco
Abstract deadline: 7 Dec 2001.
Electronic submissions only: www.ddw.org
Other meetings:
THIRTEENTH ANNUAL COURSE IN PAEDIATRIC GASTROENTEROLOGY
2-4th December 2002, The Royal Free Hospital, London.
Dr Simon Murch
s.murch@rfc.ucl.ac.uk
webpage: www.royalfreepaedgastro.com
FIFTH MASTERCLASS IN MODERN PAEDIATRIC ENDOSCOPY
4-6 th December 2002, The Royal Free Hospital, London.
Dr Mike Thomson
m.thomson@rfc.ucl.ac.uk
webpage: www.royalfreepaedgastro.com
IMPORTANT NOTE
Would all members please be kind enough to e-mail or send the enclosed form to Huw Jenkins with their up to date contact details, most importantly e-mail addresses , so that future communication and newsletters may occur by this route. Thanks.
Newsletter produced by Dr Mike Thomson - apologies for any errors or omissions.
Copyright © 2006 British Society of Paediatric Gastroenterology Hepatology and Nutrition