CSOS Southsea Castle, Portsmouth
The 2021 Combined Services Orthopaedic Society (CSOS) meeting was held at the D-Day Museum and Southsea Castle in Southsea, Portsmouth on 22nd July 2021. The meeting was a significant challenge for the organising committee who postponed the meeting once and needed to keep a close eye on the Government’s lockdown easing rules. Despite this, they managed to pull off a very successful and unusually exclusive face-to-face event, there was certainly a palpable sense of excitement to be at a meeting which wasn’t hosted online!
The main meeting was preceded by a trainees’ Instructional course on 21st July with teaching on Damage Control Orthopaedics and a hands-on saw bone session on lower limb external fixation.
There was a high standard of presentations given by trainees ranging from final year medical students to specialist trainees with the prize winners below:
• Best Overall Presentation – Surg Lt Cdr Louise McMenemy for the summary of her recent PhD work in predicting outcomes with the Bespoke Offloading Brace (BOB) in foot and ankle injuries. A near impossible task of summarising her PhD findings in clinical and biomechanical data into the required presentation time.
• Best of the Best – Maj Charles Handford for his informative presentation on cost utility analysis in bilateral femoral osseointegration in trans-femoral amputation following blast injury. This found a decreasing QALY cost approaching the NICE criteria for cost effectiveness in the patients at the 5 – 6 year point post-procedure.
• Best Trainee Paper – Maj Abigail Johnson for her collaborative work in establishing a new tourniquet pressure safety margin. Aiming to create a formulaic approach in setting a minimal safe tourniquet pressure, her work with Professor David Warwick may lead to new national guidelines.
Special guests at the meeting included Mr Don McBride, immediate past president of the BOA and the Surgeon General, Major General Timothy Hodgetts. The Society heard a ‘state of the nation’ address by our chair, Colonel Alistair Mountain, and the meeting concluded with a strategic overview from the Surgeon General
The meeting crescendo was a very memorable Mess Dinner held on board HMS Victory, Admiral Lord Nelson’s flagship from the battle of Trafalgar. This special occasion honoured several military surgeons who have recently retired from military service including Surg Capt Sarah Stapley who received standing applause despite the rather restricted headroom. We also said farewell to Mr Ian Winson who concluded his term in office as our President of the Society, and handed the Presidency to Mr Simon Hodkinson. A beating the retreat and music during the dinner was provided by members of the Royal Marine band. Changing tempo slightly we all joined in with a local sea shanty group to finish the evening on a high!
Liam Kilbane, Tom Wood and Ian Winson