BIARGS, founded in 2010, is the main organization supporting British and Irish Gynaecological surgeons and nurses performing robot assisted surgery in both benign and oncological disciplines. BIARGS is a recognised Specialist Society at the Royal College of Obstetricians & Gynaecologists (RCOG) and is an affiliated member of the Society of European Robotic Gynaecological Surgery (SERGS).
The Society was started by keen robotic surgeons, initially small numbers which are growing year on year. Training and education being the main goals, the society has attracted trainees who are a significant number in our membership programme. Recognising robotic surgery will be an important tool used to train our future generations for safe surgery, BIARGS/RCOG SITM is designed to standardise this training. BIARGS has a training curriculum for robotic surgeons and first assistants including nursing and allied specialists who are significant participants in performing successful robotic surgery (https://biargs.org.uk/list-
It is my pleasure to work with a team of enthusiastic council officers and members (https://biargs.org.uk/council-members/), who are all keen to support the society’s main interest in facilitating education, training and the safe implementation of robotic surgery in gynaecology; and therefore, improving patient safety and surgical outcomes. Special thanks to previous council members and Immediate Past President Marielle Nobbenhuis who has worked endlessly and supported us to achieve our goals. A special thank you to our admin secretary Rebecca Bastian who is a great organiser and a valuable asset to our society. Going forward we will continue to be concentrating on training, certification, and accreditation.
BIARGS robotic gynae surgeon’s accreditation process with submission of annual dataset is growing and we plan to publish the data soon. Preliminary analysis supports robotic surgery which is a positive outcome for all robotic surgeons for reassuring our patients and commissioners. BIARGS is very grateful to the RCOG for supporting our accreditation process. Any society can make recommendations for positive change and hope surgeons working within clinical governance standards would want to contribute and join the process. We thank all the gynaecology robotic surgeons who have contributed so far and the list is growing (https://biargs.org.uk/list-of-gynaecology-robotic-surgeons/). If you wish to be part of robotic gynae accredited surgeonsplease submit simple annual data ( https://biargs.org.uk/how-to-become-biargs-registered-surgeon-certification/). Thanks to all other council members for their excellent work in teaching and promoting robotic surgery amongst the gynaecological community. Our society is growing and we look forward to continuing work together with other platforms to increase the robotic gynae procedures available for our patients. We are excited to work collaboratively with other gynaecological surgical societies especially BSGE, BSUG and BGCS to ensure our RCOG/BIARGS robotic SITM is successfully implemented across all deaneries.
Our collaboration with industry is growing and we are very grateful for support and sponsorship for our educational meeting held at RCOG June 2023 and BIARGS ASM held at RSM Nov 2023. Thank you CMR for being our platinum sponsors of BIARGS. It was fantastic to listen to UK gynaecological surgeons present their successful implementation and positive experience with the CMR system. It was fascinating to listen to RCOG president Ranee Thakar on her thought-provoking topic of the ‘Mesh scandal’ which encouraged us to progress the BIARGS accreditation programme for safe implementation of robotic gynaecological surgery. The BIARGS 13th Annual Scientific Meeting in November 2023 held at RSM London focussed on the latest developments in robotic surgery in gynaecology to raise the standards in surgical care for women. The scientific programme, delivered by experts in robotic surgery, sharedthe latest evidence, experience, techniques, and opinions. This was a very successful meeting and special thanks to Denis Tespov and HCA team for supporting and organising ASM 2023. BIARGS welcomed Gaby Moawad form Washington DC to deliver interesting lecture, sponsored by our long-term partners Intuitive Surgical. Thank you to our silver sponsors LAWMED, ASSUT UK, COOPER SURGICAL and bronze sponsors BBRAUN. Thomas Hebert, secretary /treasurer SERGS reinforced collaborative working of BIARGS and SERGS. BIARGS certified and accredited surgeons will get SERGS recognition too. Pre and post congress courses were very popular. Next year, 14th BIARGS ASM to be held in Liverpool will focus on training standards and multidisciplinary surgical practice in an exciting programme including Live robotic surgery and a social event you can’t afford to miss. Looking forward to seeing you at Liverpool at BIARGS ASM 2024.
Sharing BIARGS Immediate BIARGS work plan for 2024.
- Working on guideline for criteria for accreditation of robotic centres
- Requirements for recognised robotic trainer.
- Working on publication of first robotic BIARGS national outcome audit
- Robotic trainers been trained and accredited by “Training the trainers team” as part of training the trainers’ course.
- Robotic fellowships planned for 2024 on submission of application and selection of suitable candidates with bursary from BIARGS.
- Work collaboratively with other surgical societies including BSGE, BSUG, BGCS towards coordinating all training of robotic teams in every gynaecological robotic surgery.
- Developing MOU with RCOG, BSGE, BSUG and BGCS. Consider cross speciality affiliation memberships.
- Continue with monthly educational webinars held on 11thof each month with free registration.
- Three BIARGS robotic cadaveric courses planned for intermediate and advanced level for 2024 (watch out for early registration as limited numbers per course).
- Provision registration for BIARGS robotic gynae surgeons awaiting full accreditation on submission of annual data.
