7-9 March 2022 • Edinburgh, UK • Nicholas Boxall, Chair (Elect), BSoT, ST6 Urology, Health Education East of England; and Neil Harvey, BSoT Chair, ST7 Urological Surgery, North West Deanery.
The BSoT conference kicked off on Monday 7 March with courses catering to medical students, foundation doctors covering the breadth of urological conditions and skills, and for core trainees a chance to get grilled in face-to-face viva scenarios in advance of National Selection. For all the delegates, these were fantastic educational opportunities, and for the faculty, after two long years, to again get involved in what matters most to us – training!
The resounding highlight for everyone within the BSoT committee was the opportunity finally to interact face-to-face with people rather than via a screen. For a significant proportion of us, this was the first time we had ever met face-to-face, and indeed for some delegates the first true conference they have ever had the opportunity to attend.
Tuesday 8 March was the first day of lectures and debates, with the primary theme of what each urological subspecialty interest module from the 2021 urology curriculum can offer, including sub-specialty evidence updates and examples of technical excellence with some index procedures from each speciality. The morning focused on aspects of andrology and oncology, with masterclasses on ileal conduit and Nesbit’s procedure.
(Top left) BSoT Chair, Neil Harvey, opening the conference. (Top right) Committee members with
BAUS Vice President Jo Cresswell on International Women’s Day during the conference. (Bottom left)
Delegates getting hands-on simulation experience on the teaching course.
The other running theme throughout the conference was sustainability – in training, in the NHS and in ensuring we sustain ourselves, from a mental as well as financial wellbeing perspective. Prior to lunch on the Tuesday, delegates presented their work on sustainability and promoting health in urology. A lively debate was then held on whether single-use scopes were acceptable from a sustainability perspective followed by a discussion on sustainability in quality improvement. It is important to view sustainability in urological practice with a global viewpoint and we were privileged to hear about the BAUS and The Urology Foundation initiatives and fellowships with Urolink. Partnerships that everyone at BSoT is proud of and keen to see develop.
Dovetailing with sustainability are the principles of equality, diversity and inclusivity, and within our practice we cannot deliver a sustainable service without forensically reflecting upon our own organisation and what we can do to improve things for trainees. We were privileged to have the current BAUS Vice President, Miss Jo Cresswell, chair this session and share the BAUS initiatives on equality and diversity. We also had talks about returning to work and training with health issues. Something that is increasingly important on the training agenda for BSoT is the alternative training pathway and we received an excellent overview of this including its challenges. To finish the day, we had an open forum on how BSoT can better represent trainees.
The second day focused primarily on wellbeing for trainees. After presentations on quality improvement, an update on BAUS national audits and an overview of the Intercollegiate Specialty Board Exam in Urology, we held a session on mental wellbeing. We received presentations on peer mentoring schemes, burnout and skills in resilience. Following this, we had a talk on financial wellbeing which is perhaps something we get little direction on but which now, more than ever, is an important topic.
In the afternoon we finished off by hearing about subspecialties in endourology, female neurological and urodynamic urology, and advanced general urology. Within advanced general urology, we finished the day by debating which of all the common bladder outflow procedures is the best.
It was fantastic to have three days of face-to-face talks, debates, workshops and networking. Following this, we are looking forward to our programme at BAUS 2022 where our Chair, Neil Harvey, will be handing over to our Chair-Elect, Nick Boxall. We are already working on our plans for BAUS 2023 while making plans to continue the BSoT conference in its biennial format in 2024.
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