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OCTOBER 2000 Prior to the Presidential Address, the Annual General Meeting of the Section was held whereby Mr D Allan was unanimously elected as Vice President, to serve as President for the 2001/2002 session. Mr J Bruce was elected to serve as a member of Council until 2003. Mr M Mughal, Honorary Secretary, handed over the Presidential Medallion to the incoming President, Mr I MacLennan (Consultant Surgeon, Manchester Royal Infirmary), who thanked Mr Bancewicz for his work and commitment to the Section throughout the previous session. He also thanked Mr Mughal for his kind introduction. Mr MacLennan then proceeded to give his Presidential Address entitled:- "Do it once, do it right" The parallel between Engineering and Surgery was discussed. An account of Sir Henry Royce who founded his Cooke Street factory in Hulme in 1892 and his subsequent partnership with Charles Rolls, signed at the Midland Hotel in Manchester, was described. Royce had a number of notices in his factory that were equally appropriate for surgery as for manufacturing – including the exhortation; ‘Do it once & Do it right!’ This phrase was reviewed in the context of incisional hernias – both their occurrence and their repair. The Stoppa technique or repair was described with illustrative operative cases. An interested team of colleagues including nurses, physiotherapists and anaesthetists is essential to reduce morbidity. A ten-year series of 160 cases or large recurrent incisional hernias was described along with the lessons learnt from their management. Following a lively question and answer session, much applause and acclamation was evident from the audience. Before the meeting at 6.15 for 6.30 pm an informal dinner was held in honour of Mr MacLennan in Chancellors Restaurant when he was joined by some sixty members and guests. The Society and Section gratefully acknowledge the generous support of Janssen Cilag.
NOVEMBER 2000 Mr I MacLennan, President of the Section, was in the chair and introduced the presenters for the evening’s Symposium entitled "Sports injury" as follows. Mr Robert Pearson, Consultant Surgeon at the MRI gave a talk on groin injuries sustained by athletes. He described the severe and abnormal strains sustained in different sporting activities. Groin injury was particularly common in footballers. The acute groin injury was easier to diagnose and treat than chronic groin pain. The best adjunct to clinical examination in the acute situation was MR scanning which accurately diagnosed muscle tears and osteitits pubis. The diagnosis of sportsman’s hernia was more difficult. The history is usually long, the pain is worse on straining or kicking, and worsens during exercise. Examination usually revealed a widened superficial ring and treatment by surgery was usually successful. Rehabilitation was a very important part of the treatment. Mr Tony Banks, Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon at Bolton followed with a talk on weight lifting, an activity in which he had a personal and a professional interest. He explained that this is a considerable underrated activity with many benefits. Evidence is accumulating which shows that that regular weight lifting increases bone mineral density and muscle mass. Weight lifters have less back problems, a common cause of time off work in the U.K. He cited a Canadian study, which showed that introducing weight training to older women increased their bone mass by 25-30% within a very short time. He exhorted us all to take up this beneficial activity. The symposium concluded with a fascinating talk by
Gordon Falconer, (Consultant Obstetrician & Gynaecologists at Hope Hospital) on
the work of a medical officer for the activity of car racing. He described how medical
facilities at races have improved considerably over the years. In the old days the medical
centre was often only a Nissen hut containing a dental chair and a drip set. Now most race
circuits have purpose built units with properly equipped triage areas and specialist
cutting equipment. All the medical officers are volunteers who have ATLS training. He
finished his talk with a video, which apart from showing spectacular crashes and rescue
illustrated how well modern racing cars are built to protect the driver.
The Guest Lecture and 50 Years Celebration of the Section of Surgery of the Manchester Medical Society, took place on Tuesday 12th December 2000 at 8.15 pm in Chancellors Conference Centre, University of Manchester. Mr I MacLennan, President, was in the chair and introduced the evening speaker Mr N Walker, Veterinary Surgeon to Chester Zoo, who gave his lecture entitled "Exotic large bowel disease" He gave a fascinating lecture on the special difficulties faced by vets in making a diagnosis and treating disease in a wide range of exotic animals. Observation of the animal provided important clues, but diagnostic tests were often very difficult, particularly in large animals that had to be caught first. He illustrated his talk with examples from a diverse range of animals. There was for instance, the baby rhino with a recurrent rectal prolapse that turned out to be a form of intussusception that eventually required a laparotomy to put it right. There was the constipated elephant that required, amongst other things, 5 litres of liquid paraffin daily! Elephants are trained to accept a rectal examination, and it is apparently possible to perform an ultrasound examination by inserting via the rectum an ultrasound probe mounted on a three-foot extension! There was Regis the eight-foot long comedo dragon who became disorientated. This is a rare creature with a toxic bite that turned out to be suffering from sunstroke. An intravenous infusion was impossible because of its tough scaly skin and the fluid had to be administered intraperitoneally. It is likely that some of the conditions seen in animals in captivity are the result of an altered environment and diet. He concluded by saying that specialisation was becoming a feature of veterinary medicine in the same way that it had affected human medicine. Mr Walker’s lecture drew many questions from an appreciative audience. Mr Robert Pearson gave a vote of thanks. The Society and Section gratefully acknowledge the generous support of Janssen-Cilag Ltd.
A meeting of the Section of Surgery of the Manchester Medical Society took place on Tuesday 9th January 2001 at 8.00 pm in Chancellors Conference Centre, University of Manchester. Mr MacLennan then introduced the guest speaker Ms Anne Alexander, a partner at Alexander Harris Solicitors, Altrincham. Her firm specialises in clinical negligence plaintiff work and her lecture was entitled: - "Learning from litigation" During the early 1980’s Ms Alexander stumbled across a case of anaesthetic awareness during caesarian section. The case was settled and the anaesthetist was found to be responsible for a total of five such cases and was sent for retraining. Ms. Alexander subsequently developed a special interest in clinical negligence and is now a partner in the largest plaintiff clinical negligence firm of lawyers in this country. Ms Alexander went on to explain that many patients litigate in order to obtain an apology, others to ensure a change in practice or improve the system. Her firm uses qualified nurses to screen cases and take on only 10-15% of all enquiries. Ms Alexander told the meeting that over the last year or so the funding system for negligence claims had changed. Formally only the very rich and the poor (with legal aid) could litigate. With the introduction of "no win no fee" this has changed. Additionally, lawyers now specialise and those doing clinical negligence work have to be specifically licensed – there are only 250 such firms in the UK. Wolf introduced greater openness and speed with more opportunities for early settlement – the expert is now the property of the court. Lessons can undoubtedly be learnt from litigation and the concept of risk management is now with us. Improvements are still needed with note keeping and being less protective. An apology may well prevent litigation. NHS Inquiries provides a mechanism for lessons to be learnt from a patient’s tragedy and recommendations need to be carried through. At the end of the presentation there was a lively question and answer session and Mr Raymond Carroll gave a vote of thanks. Prior to the meeting, members and guests attended an informal dinner in Chancellors Restaurant held in honour of Ms Alexander.
Mr Baguneid (winner of the 1999/2000 Kenneth Bloor Memorial Travel Fund Scholarship) gave a short presentation describing his visit to Cape Town to further his work involving tissue-engineered grafts. Mr Ian MacLennan, President of the Section, then introduced the speaker, Sir Alex Ferguson CBE, who gave a talk entitled: "Management" He traced his own career from player to manager of the most successful football club in the world. There had been no transition phase between these two roles and no training for it. He cited the following as the keys to his success: high ambition, ability to take difficult decisions, instilling and maintaining team discipline and foresight. More recently, after nearly 27 years as a manager he was beginning to delegate more, and had introduced innovative training techniques, such as using a sports psychologist. With a year to go before he retires, he has ensured the future success of his team by having players with a spread of ages. He gave his talk without any audiovisual aids, keeping a record audience spellbound. There followed a lively question and answer session and he received a prolonged ovation at the end. Prior to the meeting, members and guests attended an informal dinner at the Postgraduate Health Sciences Centre in honour of Sir Alex.
Before the meeting at 6.15 for 6.30 pm an informal dinner was held to which the five presenters for the annual Astra/Zeneca Trainees Prize attended and were joined by members and guests of the section. Apologies were received from Mr M Mughal. Mr I MacLennan, President, was in the chair and introduced the trainees as follows:- Dr H Doran Mr R A Hannon Mr D Vimalachandran Mr C Kyriakides Mr C Morris Mr MacLennan emphasised how well presented the papers were and thanked the presenters for the interest they had generated. Mr Allan, Vice President of the Section, announced at the next meeting on Tuesday 3rd April 2001 that the winner was Mr Clive Morris and presented him with the prize.
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