Recent News

PRESIDENT'S SPRING/SUMMER NEWSLETTER 2011

Name Change to the Australian and New Zealand Society of Cardiac and Thoracic Surgeons (ANZSCTS)

The Special Resolution to alter the Society name proposed by David Shaw was approved at the Queenstown AGM and has subsequently been endorsed by Consumer Affairs Victoria. We now plan a new logo and any suggestions for such from members will be most welcome.

RACS ASC 2012, Kuala Lumpur

Preparations are well advanced for the Cardiothoracic component of the RACS ASC in May 2012 to be held in Kuala Lumpur. The scientific program is being organised from Sydney with co-ordination from Paul Bannon and assistance from Michael Vallely, Brian McCaughan, Tristan Yan and Morgan Windsor. The international visitors will be Valerie Rusch (New York), Alexander Paterson (St. Louis) and Scott LeMaire (Houston). The meeting will have both a cardiac and thoracic focus. Combined sessions will be held with the Vascular and Upper GI surgeons.

ANZSCTS ASM 2012, Hobart 

The 2012 ANZSCTS ASM will be held in Hobart at the Hotel Grand Chancellor from November 11 to 14 and the conveners are Ash Hardikar and Mark Murton. A Techno Practicum College will again be organized by Homayoun Jalali. There will also be the usual Nursing and Trainee Education Days.

RACS ASC 2013, Auckland

ANZSCTS will be participating in the RACS ASC in May 2013 in Auckland. The Convener will be Mr Indran Ramanathan.

ANZSCTS ASM 2013, Darwin

The 2013 ANZSCTS ASM will be held at the Darwin Convention Centre during the month of August. The exact dates and the Convener are to be confirmed.

Relationship between the RACS and the Specialty Societies

Following the Australian Orthopaedic Association’s due diligence process the AOA Board indicated that the AOA would apply to the Australian Medical Council for accreditation to conduct its own orthopaedic surgery training program. This would amount to separation from the RACS. After consultation with the Presidents of the other 12 Specialty Surgery Societies (including myself) and the conduct of a plebiscite of AOA members and orthopaedic trainees the AOA Board resolved to defer any application to the AMC.

A Governance Review Steering Committee consisting of all 13 Specialty Surgery Society Presidents, the RACS President and RACS Vice-President will oversee the following two Working Parties:
1. Governance Review Working Party
2. Educational Relationships Working Party

Both Working Parties will be chaired by Mr Garry Wilson, the Expert Community Advisor on the RACS Council and will have broad Specialty Society and RACS representation along with external expert input. Our CEO, Michael Nugara, will be on the Governance Working Party and I will be on the Education Working Party. Both Working Parties have been asked to provide a preliminary report to the February 2012 RACS Council meeting.

The Governance Review Working Party will address the role of the RACS Council, its Boards and other governance structures as well as the role of the Specialty Societies and the Specialty Elected Councillors.

The Educational Relationships Working Party will focus on achieving:
1. An updated version of the Memoranda of Understanding/Service Agreements between the RACS and the Specialty Societies which underpin the AMC/MCNZ approved training programs
2. A partnership based arrangement between the RACS and the Specialty Societies
3. Explicit compliance requirements
4. A possible faculty based model with simplified governance
5. Improved lines of communication between all partners, external regulators and stakeholders

It is in the area of education and training where the relationship between the ANZSCTS and RACS has come under recent strain. I will keep members informed of the policy reforms as they evolve.

Members will be pleased to know that the policy concerning restricted scope of practice fellowship has been extensively revised and also that an Appeals Committee can no longer award a fellowship.

ANZSCTS Policy/Position/Guideline Writing Panels

The panel addressing the establishment of new cardiac surgery units (Peter Skillington, Gil Shardey & Ash Hardikar) has completed its document which will be presented to the next Executive meeting. Opportunity for member feedback will follow thereafter.

A revascularisation appropriateness guidelines group has been established in collaboration with the Cardiac Society. The ANZSCTS representatives are Paul Bannon, Michael Vallely, and Marco Larobina. There are three interventional Cardiologists, and the intention to invite three non-interventional Cardiologists to participate. The objective is to develop guidelines suitable for the Australasian communities on coronary revascularisation.

A policy on percutaneous valve insertion (Hugh Wolfenden, Jayme Bennetts, Andrew Clarke) will also be developed in co-operation with the Cardiac Society.

If members have suggestions regarding other issues which require addressing by a writing panel please forward them to myself or to the ANZSCTS Secretariat.

Post-fellowship Education and Training (PFET) in Thoracic Surgery

A draft submission has been presented to the RACS PFET Board Chairman by the Society and the Board of Studies for initial feedback concerning the proposed PFET program in Thoracic Surgery. Support for such has been obtained from General Surgeons Australia and the New Zealand Association of General Surgeons. It is hoped that our proposal will be ready for evaluation by the RACS PFET Committee early in 2012.

RACS Academy of Surgical Educators

There has been a call for membership of the Academy. I would encourage members to consider applying to join the Academy as either a Member or a Faculty Member. Details may be found in the January/February 2011 edition of Surgical News on page 44 or at www.surgeons.org under ‘Fellows’.

ANZSCTS Web Site (www.anzscts.org)

The ANZSCTS web site was launched at the Queenstown ASM. Member feedback has been positive and suggestions for further enhancement are most welcome.

CMBS Item Number Working Party

Richard Chard on behalf of ANZSCTS will coordinate a working party (to include Michael Wilson and Michael Vallely) to address a number of item issues with the AMA and Medicare/CMBS. David Marshman as Past-President will also assist.

Rheumatic Heart Disease Surgery in Australia
 
A Special Interest Group comprising representatives of the Indigenous Council of the Cardiac Society and ANZSCTS (Trevor Fayers, Robert Tam and Chris Merry) has been formed to address strategies to optimize the surgical care of indigenous Australians. The initial approach will be to interrogate the ANZSCTS Database to get a handle on the surgical management of these patients recognizing that some institutions with a large patient indigenous load have to date not participated in the Database. It is hoped that funding can be obtained for a Project Officer to assist with this work.

Cardiothoracic Representative on RACS Council

The nine year term of Mark Edwards will be complete in May 2012. The RACS has recently called for nominations for this position which close on February 1 2012. I ask members to consider nominating for this important role. Should there be more than one nominee a ballot with voting by Cardiothoracic fellows will be conducted by the RACS.  Mark and I would be happy to discuss the role with anyone who may be interested.

Member News

The following members have recently retired from cardiac and / or thoracic surgical practice: Alan Boyd, Bruce Davis, Michael Gardner, Kevin Matar and Morteza Mohajeri. Each has made their own major contribution to Australian Cardiothoracic Surgery. The Society congratulates each on an outstanding career and wishes them all well for their future endeavours.

Congratulations to Alistair Royse upon being appointed as a Professor of Surgery at the University of Melbourne.

Current ANZSCTS Executive

President                                                                            Julian Smith
Vice-President and Chairman, Board of Studies       Michael Rowland
Honorary Secretary/Treasurer                                       Robert Costa
Immediate Past-President                                            David Marshman
ANZSCTS Representative on RACS Council            Mark Edwards
Chairman, Science and Education Committee        Peter Skillington
Elected Australian representative                               Andrew Cochrane
Elected New Zealand representative                         Harsh Singh

Chief Executive                                                               Michael Nugara
Chief Operating Officer                                                 Nick Danes

I would like to thank the Executive, the CEO and COO as well as all members for their support of ANZSCTS in 2011 and wish everyone a very pleasant Festive season.

Julian A Smith
President
ANZSCTS