Ms Naheed Farooq North West and Mersey Season’s Greetings to all. As the New AUGIS representative for North West & Mersey region I would like to introduce myself. I work at Salford Royal Hospital, the new single centre for Oesophagogastric cancer and complex benign surgery in Greater Manchester which launched on 1st September 2018. It is with much relief that we have marked the end of a long drawn out 15 year process to become a team of 8 surgeons working collaboratively to manage the 3.2 million population of Greater Manchester. Clearly dealing with this volume of work on one site comes with many challenges and hence much remains to be done as the service evolves. We are proud however to provide alongside our elective programme, a consultant delivered 24/7 emergency service for the complex benign and malignant emergency OG problems for the conurbation. We would encourage our neighbouring hospitals to liaise with us directly for advice or transfer of such patients. We hope over time the benefits of a centralised OG service will be demonstrated in our outcomes. All data for our patients is already being collected prospectively and in collaboration with our oncology colleagues at the Christie hospital we hope at last to see some meaningful research outcomes for OG out of Manchester. In the meantime we continue to contribute to ROMIO, HARP2, OCCAMS, Innovation, MK3475-659/Keynote 659, IDEAS & Add Aspirin. GMOGs is not the only specialist service of this size in Manchester, the Regional HPB service at the Manchester Royal Infirmary marks its 5th year in 2019. It continues to beaverybusyservicewithalmost1,000patientdiscussions at the pancreas, primary liver and liver metastases MDTs in the last calendar year. There is a clear commitment to developing the minimally invasive HPB service and maintaining their research profile. UGI subspecialist training remains a concern in the region. Specialist centres performing only complex operations fare worse in addressing the needs of particularly junior trainees. We need to find ways, perhaps novel ones of providing appropriate operative experience for trainees at all stages. I would encourage trainees interested in a career in UGI surgery (cancer, benign & bariatric) to get in touch with me personally to discuss training opportunities in the region and particularly for the more senior trainees, fellowships that may be of benefit post-CCT. We look forward to welcoming you all to the region for the AUGIS conference 2019 being held in Liverpool. There will be much to interest everyone I am sure. It will be the standard format Wednesday 25th to Friday 27th September 2019, please save the date in your diaries. Furthermore, not of course to detract from main AUGIS meeting, we plan to have a smaller scale local gathering in the Spring to network with colleagues in the region. It will be an opportunity for newly appointed consultants and seniortraineestomeetwithlongerestablishedconsultants in the area. I would be happy to hear from anyone that has topics they would like to present at this forum. In the interim for any AUGIS related concerns you would like to me to put forward on your behalf please feel free to get in touch. Very best wishes, Ms Naheed Farooq Naheed.farooq@srft.nhs.uk AUGIS Winter 2018 Newsletter 24 Reports from the Regional Representatives The Greater Manchester Oesophagogastric Service (#GMOGS) In this issue our recently elected Regional Representatives report from their North West and Mersey and Oxford and Wessex regions Mr Zahir Soonawalla Oxford and Wessex The South Central region includes the Cancer Alliances of the Thames Valley (Oxfordshire, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Milton Keynes, Swindon) and Wessex (Hamshire, Dorset, Isle of Wight), including some hospitals that lie geographically within other networks. The region has several district and tertiary hospitals covering the entire spectrum of benign and cancer Upper GI services. The option of several centres with excellent clinical programmes and enthusiasm for advanced minimally- invasive surgical procedures makes this region a popular choice with trainees. The South Central region has made significant strides this year, with collaborations between centres leading to the initiation of several surgical trials; the Southampton HPB team in particular deserve credit for this. The posterior section arm of the ORANGE II Plus randomised trial of minimally-invasive versus open liver surgery is now recruiting at Southampton and Oxford. The DIPLOMA randomised trial of minimally-invasive versus open surgery for distal pancreatic cancers also opened at Oxford and Southampton this year. Mo AbuHilal has also been instrumental in driving forward national collaboration to establish a registry of minimally-invasive liver resections (MiLaps). The registry is now live and I would urge all UK HPB units to enter their data. Bariatric surgery across the region continues to flourish, with ongoing recruitment to Biband Sleeve at Southampton, Portsmouth and Bournemouth. The South Central region excels in clinical innovation. Southampton has carried out the first 7 cases of pancreatectomy with intra-operative radiotherapy to the surgical bed, with no major initial concerns. Following NHS England approval, Oxford has resumed offering total pancreatectomy with islet auto-transplantation for chronic pancreatitis. A clinical trial of near-infrared fluorescent imaging during liver resection is underway at Oxford. The region has established centres that routinely perform minimally-invasive oesophageal resections, and is able to provide oesophagogastric trainees with excellent opportunities. The Southampton and Oxford Neuroendocrine centres will be hosting their joint 3rd Annual South Central NET Study Day on 18th January 2019. The development of NET Centres of Excellence has been hugely successful in centralising the care of these patients, who often did not get to see a specialist for their treatment. Having recently taken over as regional representative, I feel that an area that we could improve on is with developing educational events and training opportunities within the region. Educational events have to date been held within individual subspecialties, rather than across the spectrum of Upper GI surgery – this summer Michael Silva hosted the Annual Midlands HPB meeting at Bailliol College. I am keen to explore ways in which trainees across the South Central region could benefit from regional training days, joint research projects, and inter-deanery training opportunities, and would value your suggestions. AUGIS Winter 2018 Newsletter 25 Reports from the Regional Representatives