The Association’s 2009 International Surgical Congress took place from 13th to 15th May 2009 at the Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre in Glasgow, and continued the international and pan-surgical focus introduced to the meeting in 2007. Over 30 Colleges, Specialty Associations and International Societies participated in the meeting and over 1,600 people were on site over the three days, of which 1,037 were medical delegates.

The theme of the meeting was ‘Delivering a Modern Surgical Service’ and the main symposia and lectures focused on generic surgical issues, with special emphasis on surgical education, training, revalidation and the impact of EWTD on the delivery of surgical service.

Mr Andrew Lansley MP, Shadow Secretary of State for Health, officially opened the Congress during the Corporate Patrons’ Drinks Reception on the Wednesday evening, and the scientific programme opened with an in depth look at the logistics and impact of Revalidation.  This was followed by Dr Mike Watson (Medical Director, NHS Education Scotland) exploring the question 'The CCT; Holy Grail or Barrier to Excellence?’ and an inspirational session from Willie John McBride MBE, the former British Lions and Irish rugby captain.

Important themes such as a ‘Bad Day On-Call’, innovations in surgical practice, organisation of trauma care, enhanced recovery and bariatric surgery were all covered in symposia and generated lively debate, as did the ‘Hot Topic’, which asked ‘Should emergency abdominal surgery be centralised (and all DGHs become NHS treatment centres?)’.

In addition to lectures from the four Royal Colleges, this year’s Congress saw the inaugural lectures of the American College of Surgeons and the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons, delivered by Dr Jack W McAninch (Vice President, ACS) and Professor Ian Gough (President, RACS) respectively, and provided a much valued international perspective on delivering a modern surgical service.

There were the usual short paper, e-poster and poster presentations and a programme of taught courses and workshops addressed a varied range of topics from ‘Surgical Site Infections’ to ‘How to Write a Clinical Paper’ and ‘Advancing PowerPoint Skills’.  In addition Glasgow saw the introduction of a new ‘Meet the Clinical Experts’ session to great acclaim. This enabled small groups of surgeons to sit down with acclaimed experts from a wide range of specialties and discuss important clinical issues.

In total, 1,076 abstracts were submitted to the meeting, of which 565 were presented in oral, e-poster and poster format.  In addition to being presented orally, e-posters were also shown on plasma screens around the exhibition hall and will be available to view on the conference website www.asgbi.org.uk/glasgow from the end of this month, along with photographs and footage of selected sessions.

The meeting delivered an interesting and enjoyable mix of scientific and political sessions, a lively social programme, diverse industry exhibition and a number of innovative features including a futuristic Innovations Zone, International College Lectures, the chance to ‘Meet the Clinical Experts’ and an inaugural Gala Dinner raising money for the Association’s international charitable activities.

Next year’s Congress will address ‘The Challenges of Surgery’ and will take place from 14th to 16th April 2010 at the BT Convention Centre in Liverpool. Commit the dates to your diary now and we look forward to welcoming you to Liverpool next year!