Friday, 13th January was a lucky day for some. Over 100 trainees, and the occasional consultant, divided equally between orthopaedic surgeons and geriatricians, gathered in Birmingham for the first British Orthopaedic Association/British Geriatrics Society (BOA/BGS) instructional course on fragility fractures. The organising committee comprised orthopaedic surgeons and members of the BGS Falls and Bone Health section and the programme truly reflected where our diverse interests meet, with an equal number of Orthopaedic and Geriatric speakers throughout the day.

The scene was set by an interesting presentation on Osteoporotic Fracture Patterns, by Mr James Elliott an orthopaedic surgeon from Belfast, whose unit admits 1,000 patients with fractured neck of femur per year. This was followed by a very clear presentation on Fracture Risk by Prof Roger Francis (Newcastle) and a useful and practical review of Metabolic Bone Disease by Dr Opinder Sahota (Nottingham). The morning finished on a high note with a very lively debate on acute management (medical and ethical dilemmas), led by Prof Keith Willett (Oxford). It was a very useful experience for all the geriatricians present to have to justify our clinical decisions in front of an audience of somewhat sceptical orthopaedic colleagues!

In the afternoon there were case based workshops on Fracture Management in the presence of Metabolic Bone Disease and Secondary Prevention after an Osteoporotic Fracture, followed by lectures on Surgery of Osteoporotic Fractures (Prof Chris Moran, Nottingham), Kyphoplasty and Vertebroplasty (Mr Kai Lam, Guys and St Thomas', London) and Models of Orthogeriatric Care (Dr Theresa Allain, Bristol).

As a geriatrician in the audience, and one of the organising committee, it was wonderful to get such a strong sense of team working between surgeons and physicians and fascinating to learn about the surgical challenges of operating on osteoporotic bones and some of the solutions to these operative problems, including what the future might hold.

Although this was originally planned as a one-off meeting we are delighted to hear that it has been regarded as so successful by the training committee of the BOA that they want it to become an annual event - so if you missed out this year you will have another chance next year.

Theresa Allain

The next Fragility Fracture instructional course will be Friday, 12 January 2007. SpRs and consultants are all welcome.

Further details of programme, venue and contact deatils will be circulated later in the year.