BGS Structure
The BGS National Council has devolved and a new English Council has been set up. The English Council will have 2 trainee representatives. There already exists Scottish, Welsh and Irish Councils, all of which have trainee representation. These Councils report to the BGS UK Management Committee (formerly the BGS Executive).

Trainees Group Constitution A revised constitution (circulated to trainees by post prior to the meeting) was proposed. The essential changes were to allow more flexibility within the Trainees’ Committee itself, and also to recommend that Council representatives (2 English, 2 Scottish, 1 Welsh and 1 Irish) be voted for at national meetings by their peers. The proposal that this revised constitution should be approved and adopted with immediate effect was passed by a majority vote indicated by a show of hands. The revised constitution is on the trainees’ website (www.bgstraining.org.uk). The next election for the 5 posts on the Trainees’ Committee will be at the BGS Autumn Meeting in October 2003. The Council representatives will be elected at this stage (members of the current Trainees’ Committee will provide representation to the English Council until then).

Dr Cath Church

SpR Assessment/New Curriculum
All SpRs taking up posts from 1st Jan 2003 will be trained according to the New Curriculum. Assessment methods are still to be piloted. It is unlikely that these will be applied retrospectively but this has yet to be confirmed.

Stroke Training
Jo Kwan, Honorary Chair of the Trainees Group of the British Association of Stroke Physicians (BASP), gave a short presentation.
There has yet to be agreement on the duration of training (although it is likely to be an extra year), and whether/how much of previous training in stroke medicine will count towards this.
For the new Stroke Curriculum, look at www.basp.ac.uk/baspexecdocs
If you are interested in stroke training, contact Jo on jk@1to1.org.

EWTD/Shifts
I would be grateful if you could all return the EWTD/Shifts questionnaire (if you haven’t received one, please contact the BGS office or me at c.j.church@newcastle.ac.uk

Research Training
RIA grants, Start-up Grants and travel bursaries are available. A research register is currently being set up.

The Research Surgeries were badly attended this year – it is unclear whether this was due to bad publicity or a general lack of interest from trainees.

A large proportion of abstracts were rejected this year for a variety of reasons e.g. lack of ethical approval; lack of data. Feedback is always given to those whose abstracts are rejected.

General
Dr Roger Harris (rogerh@adhb.govt.nz; www.adhb.govt.nz) and Dr Shankar Sankaran (www.sah.co.nz) are Elderly Care Physicians based in Auckland, New Zealand. They can offer placements for UK trainees and would be keen to be contacted directly. Trainees should enquire locally as to whether this training would count towards their CCST. There was concern that many regions are discouraging trainees from taking time out abroad in order to push them through to CCST – it was stressed that this shouldn’t be the case if the time out is to be counted towards training.

Date of next meeting
This will be held during the Autumn BGS meeting in October 2003.

Cath Church
Chairman : Trainees Group

Promoting a Career in geriatric medicine

Doctors C Church and C Turnbull have updated the information concerning a career in geriatric medicine.

Two versions are available on the Society’s website. The first version is aimed at people who prefer reading on screen. The second (‘smart’) version is for career fairs.

The .rtf version can be downloaded, printed, photocopied and handed out to medical students. We hope it will be a valuable tool for careers’ fairs. The on-screen and downloadable versions are available at: www.bgs.org.uk/training/train.htm

Attention all Geriatric SpRs!!

European Federation of Internal Medicine course
- an opportunity not be missed!

Held for trainees undergoing higher medical training across Europe. It is organised by the European Society of Internal Medicine (ESIM). In the UK all SpRs, regardless of medical specialty are eligible to apply.

The Royal College of Physicians (London) adverts should be posted on notice boards of postgraduate centres. To apply, send a CV plus an application form. Selections are made by the RCP (London).

I was one of the lucky SPRs in medicine during 2002 and the only one from the geriatrics speciality to attend the ESIM-5 course at Alicante, Spain. Tickets, accommodation, meals, entertainment – everything is taken care of so it is just a matter of packing one’s bags for this trip of alifetime.

During the week, trainees who had assembled from all over Europe, presented interesting and rare cases. The main sessions had the theme of ‘Medical Emergencies’ last year. All the evenings were packed with pre-arranged entertainment programs / visits followed by sumptuous meals. This was a wonderful opportunity to meet higher medical trainees from across Europe, sing and dance together, get a feel for the different training programs and develop continued e-mail links.

The hospitality of Professor Merino (President of ESIM and from Spain), his constant presence attending to finer details, and the gorgeous weather certainly made it an unforgettable experience. A detailed report can be seen at BGS the website (BGS Wales) and I would strongly urge Geriatric SPRs to be on the lookout for any future ESIM course.

Abhaya Gupta
Consultant Elderly Care
West Wales Hospital, Carmarthen
E-mail : guptaabhaya@hotmail.com