The BSIR abstract submission system is open for submission of abstracts for Oral Presentation, Scientific and Educational Posters.  More information can be found on the Annual Meeting page, here. 

The system is also now available for submission of Case Studies for the BSIR 2013 Annual Meeting Scholarship Awards.  Further details can be found here and here.

Deadline for abstract and case study submission is 20th June, 2013 (midnight).

Further information on vacancies and nomination forms for the BSIR Elections can be found here, in the Society section.

Further information on vacancies and nomination forms for the BSIRT Elections can be found here.

Deadline for receipt of all nominations is Friday 24th May 2013 (midnight).

We all know how difficult it is to combine clinical training in Radiology with getting research experience, and once you are a consultant its even more difficult.  A few of us have been trying to boost research opportunities for Radiology trainees and, after several years of hard work, we are delighted that the Wellcome Trust has agreed to provide a Radiology-dedicated research training fellowship.  This is now advertised, details below...  This is a brilliant opportunity for an academically inclined trainee radiologist to get three years funding to undertake a PhD - the Wellcome Trust funding provides enormous kudos.  As with all research training fellowships, success will depend on the individual's academic potential, the supervisor/host institution, and the project itself.  The ideal project would be based in radiology but link with another discipline and have supervisors from radiology and the other discipline, such as an organ-specific clinical specialty, pathology, medical physics, informatics, public health, etc.  If you are at all interested in this wonderful opportunity, please contact Prof Jon Moss (jonathan.moss@glasgow.ac.uk) or Prof Joanna Wardlaw (joanna.wardlaw@ed.ac.uk) for further advice.

The Wellcome Trust, in partnership with the RCR, is providing dedicated research training fellowships to support radiology research.  Fellowships are normally for two to three years for trainees who wish to undertake high-quality research in an appropriate unit or clinical research facility, leading to a PhD or MD qualification.  They provide research expenses (consumables, travel, support to attend scientific meetings, fieldwork and data collection) and a fellow's salary.  The deadline for the next round of applications is 1st July 2013.

Applicants should follow the standard process described on the Wellcome website, here.

The MHRA have issued a device alert regarding retrievable inferior vena cava (IVC) filters, all models and manufacturers.  The full details of the alert are available at the following link:

http://www.mhra.gov.uk/Publications/Safetywarnings/MedicalDeviceAlerts/CON270690

This year nominations are invited for the positions of Vice President and Secretary on BSIR Council, along with one Committee Member on each of the following Subcommittees - Registries and Audit Committee, Communications Committee, Education Committee, Membership and Rules Committee and Scientific Programme Committee. Further information and nomination forms can be found here, in the Society section.

For the first time BSIRT will also be using the online voting system.  Nominations are invited fo the positions of Vice Chair (2 years), along with five further members of the BSIRT Committee (1 year), who will each sit on one of the following - BSIR Registries and Audit Committee, BSIR Communications Committee, BSIR Membership and Rules Committee, BSIR Scientific Programme Committee and BSIR Safety and Quality Group.  Further information and nomination forms can be found here.

Deadline for receipt of all nominations is Friday 24th May 2013 (midnight).

As part of the BSIR's attempts to raise awareness of Interventional Radiology procedures, we plan futher media activity.  One area, which was identified following last year's ASM, was that some journalists, and others, found it difficult to understand and 'visualize' the procedures that we were highlighting.  In the coming campaign we think that drawings are diagrams will potentially help overcome some of those hurdles.  The BSIR is full of individuals with all manner of talents, some of which are more apparent than others!  If you are able to produce drawings and diagrams which might help, we would love to hear from you.  We anticipate that we will focus on three or four areas around the ASM 2013, so we would not expect this to be anything too burdensome.

If you can help, or know someone who could, please contact Sheila at the BSIR Office at bsircouncil@bsir.org

The MHRA have issued a device alert regarding measurement software on some Vitrea workstations.  The full details of the alert and details of other Radiology alerts are available at the following link:

http://www.mhra.gov.uk/safetyinformation/healthcareproviders/index.htm

The NIHR have announced vacancies for funding board members, panel members and panel chairs for several programmes including the Health Technology Assessment (HTA) Programme.

Further details can be obtained from the NIHR website at the following link:

http://www.hta.ac.uk/workwithhta/application.shtml

This year nominations are invited for the positions of Vice President and Secretary on BSIR Council, along with one Committee Member on each of the following Subcommittees - Registries and Audit Committee, Communications Committee, Education Committee, Membership and Rules Committee and Scientific Programme Committee.  Further information can be found here, in the Society section.

Nominations will be accepted from 25th April until 24th May 2013. Nomination forms can be found here.

Electronic voting will then be open from 1st until 30th June 2013.  Members will need to log-in to their account on the website to be able to vote once the system goes live.

For the first time there will also be electronic voting for positions on the BSIRT Committee.  Further information can be found here, in the Juniors section.

The full version of the BSIR film 'The System' is available for BSIR members to view online now, in the Education Section of the website.  Members must log in to the website with username and password to access the login viewing page.  The resource materials can also be downloaded.

Please note, the BSIR retains copyright of the film 'The System'.

Background

The ethos of the film on Patient Safety was to use possible real life patient experiences and events to produce an worst case scenario outcome.  It is hoped that this can be used as a teaching model producing an opportunity for Interventional Teams to sit down and discuss learning outcomes and develop pathways and systems to maximise patient safety.  Additional copies have been made available.  If you wish to receive a copy, please contact office@bsir.org.

A flyer from the Royal College of Radiologists, regarding scientific abstracts and audit poster competition for CR ASM 2013 and including upcoming deadlines, is available to view here.

Contacts for further information are listed in the flyer.

Mike Dean, former President of BSIR, died 28th February 2013 at Royal Shrewsbury Hospital, where he had worked for more than 40 years.  Mike was one of the original pioneers in Interventional Radiology as well as a former Dean of the RCR and an inspiration and friend to a great many of us in the Interventional Radiology community.  We would like to express our sincere condolences to Mike's family and many friends and he will be enormously missed by all who knew him.

To read some BSIR members' thoughts please down load  

Dr Raman Uberoi 

Professor Anna Belli

Professor Peter Gaines 

The BSIR, along with other organisations, were asked to respond to the NHS Commissioning Proposals and, with the help of members, BSIR formulated responses to those relevant to interventional radiology.  The BSIR responses completed so far can be viewed at the links below.  Further responses will be added in due course.

BSIR Response A2     BSIR Response A6a     BSIR Response B3f    

Letter re B3e     Letter re B - Renal

We have just been informed that, for the first time, specialist societies may provide support for renewal applications for awards.  Applicants who wish the BSIR to consider supporting their application should inform the society of their renewal and provide a completed renewal application to the society.

Please inform BSIR Council of proposed applications and send completed citations to bsircouncil@bsir.org.

As many of the BSIR membership will be aware, the vascular CRG has been working to develop a revised specification for patients with vascular disease which will be entitled "Specialised Service for Vascular Disease (Adults)".  This is shortly to be published, but an exact date has not yet been given.

As part of the process, members of the RCR/BSIR/VS liason group have produced an appendix relating to the provision of vascular interventional radiology services in hospitals not designated as arterial centres.  The appendix can be viewed here.

It is hoped that this additional document will provide guidance and support for interventional radiologists who continue to undertake a vascular intervention in peripheral units which may not be providing comprehensive vascular services.

BSIR can provide supporting citations to members during the ACCEA awards process.  ACCEA have indicated that there will probably be a round of awards in March 2013.  The process has a very tight timeline for supporting applications and we need to be informed of proposed applications and have access to the completed citation by mid April to permit the applications to be ranked (part of the required process) and submitted before the deadline.

Links to previous forms are below, these may not be identical to the forms for this year and should not be used for submission but will allow members to prepare applications and CV.

Further information can be found here.

ACCEA Application Form 2012       ACCEA Form B 2012       ACCEA Form D 2012 

ACCEA Form E 2012          ACCEA Form F 2012

Please inform BSIR Council of proposed applications and send completed citations to bsircouncil@bsir.org

NICE are currently recruiting for members to join a Quality Standards Advisory Committee (QSAC) to support delivery of the library quality standards topic.  NICE quality standards are a set of concise, prioritised statements and associated measures that focus on topics relevant to health and/or social care.  Quality standards describe high-priority areas for quality improvement in a defined care or service area.

Information on the posts, including how to apply, is available on the NICE website, here.  The deadline for applications to these posts is 27th February 2013 (5pm).

This year the course will be held in the Deakin Centre, Addenbrookes Hospital, Cambridge  CB2 0QQ.  More information can be found here.

For further information and registration, please contact: Ruth Moss, BSIR, PO Box 2769, Bearsden, Glasgow G61 4WR, Tel: 0141 942 8104, Fax: 0141 942 8278 or meeting@bsir.org.

We have just been informed that applications are being invited for the Chair and a member of the Interventional Radiology Specialist Commissioning Clinical Reference Group (A15).  This group will be vital in shaping the delivery of specialised commissioning within England.  Unfortunately the closing date is very soon, 25th January 2013.

Brief details are available here and include hyperlinks to further information and an on-line application form.  There are also other CRG posts vacant and these are detailed in the above linked document.

This is not a post that the BSIR may nominate or recommend individuals for.  We are however, very aware of the future importance of the IR CRG and would ask suitably qualified Interventional Radiologists to consider submitting an application.

Please see the email sent round to all members today regarding BSIR 2013 Annual Membership Subscriptions and methods of payment.  Please also make sure that your contact details are kept up-to-date, if you have moved hospitals or had any change in status.  This can be done online.

For any membership queries, please contact office@bsir.org

The Cancer Thermal Ablation Fund (www.rfablation.co.uk) is offering a limited number of travel bursaries for established or aspiring UK interventional oncologists to attend:

The International Oncology Sans Frontieres Congress, May 30th - June 1st, Cernobbio, Italy (IOSFC2013)

or

The European Congress of Interventional Oncology 2013, June 19th - 22nd, Budapest, Hungary (ECIO2013)

Funds will cover early bird registration in March, economy class travel and hotel expenses to a maximum of £2,000, on production of the appropriate receipts and a CME certificate showing a minimum attendance of 12 CME.  Please apply by email to Dr A Gillams at alliesorting@gmail.com with name, address, position, contact details, choice of conference and a statement of up to 300 words on your interest in IO and on how attending this meeting will assist your ability to deliver IO services in the UK.  Closing date is Tuesday, 5th March 2013.