Archived News

NOVEMBER 2010

Winter Combined Meeting

Online booking for the Winter Combined Meeting at The Medical Society of London on 20th January 2011 is now available. Alternatively you can download a programme/booking form here.
Click here to see the flyer for this event >

October Newsletter available in Members' Area

MARCH 2010

Radley College Education Day

Approx 45 members both doctors and nurses assembled at Radley College to be educated in a very rounded way with two very significant morning speakers and a very interesting afternoon of interactive education. It was a windy and blustery day which meant some interesting times for the accompanying spouses party, but it was very enjoyable for all who attended and very well organised both educationally and socially.

The morning began with a talk from Professor Hugh Watkins who is the Professor and Head of Cardiovascular Medicine at the University of Oxford. His special interest is in genetics and genetic medicine and in particular with regard to cardiomyopathy. He gave a very rounded and informative talk with regard to the actual risk of dying a sudden death as opposed to the various views, which are upheld with the regard to the purpose of screening or otherwise. I am pleased to say that a copy of his report is attached to the web site, a few key points which I found most interesting. I noticed that you can expect in the United Kingdom to have between 200-500 deaths per year, a high figure but not (fortunately) an every day occurrence for general practice. A very interesting survey done in America where they felt screening was appropriate they managed to create out of their population of 50, worried well, which for me made the case very strongly against wide spread screening and Professor Watkins certainly came down on the side of very cautious screening, using it only in the context of assessing those with symptoms which may put them at risk, taking extremely comprehensive and detailed family history of sudden unexpected death, and appropriate investigations. For general practice they seemed to cover all the appropriate eventualities and I was pleased with the detail he went and it is all there in his presentation.

We went straight on to discuss young peoples health led by Dr Dick Churchill chair of the RCGP adolescent task group. This was an interesting two part talk running through the way in which adolescent medicine has developed and changed in the last fifty years or so and yet a very wonderful presentation teasing out for us a whole series of questions about attitudes and health related issues etc with teenagers. There was some good news, and there was some bad news, noting the increased appearance of alcohol consumption but also noting that to a certain extent sexual activity has reduced and so teenage pregnancies have come down by 10% in the age groups of our populations. This was another fascinating presentation and I am pleased to inform you that this is also available on the web site.

After a very enjoyable lunch in the pavilion and some important networking we returned to the auditorium for two concurrent presentations based on “Every Child Matters” and “Staying Safe”. Dr Moore (MO at Radley) presented some very interesting figures with regard to injuries at his school directly associated to all types of sport very much focusing on the rugby field his talk is also on our web site and is a very useful presentation for us all to think about and reflect on when advising with regard to managing this sport in our schools.

The other talk by Jane Lambert (Lead Nurse at Radley) focused on keeping children safe it gave us a lot of information about the various ways in which we need to be protecting the children in our care using all available resources.

The last of our sessions involved individual group work after which we all reported back with a lot of interesting debate.

After a very interesting, and a somewhat restful tour of the school in two groups, we went to the very well equipped and organised medical centre to regroup and change for a lovely evening reception in the mansion house, which was followed by dinner in the great hall, a very satisfying end to a wonderful day. Thanks to all those that contributed such a lot in the way of hard work.

February 2009
Following the January AGM and new rule will be added to the Rule Book as the role of Honorary Trustee has been clarified:

4a. Two Honorary Trustees will be chosen from senior members of Council and, ideally, will have held office in the Association. They will be ex-officio members of Council and the Standing Committee. Their role will be to oversee the affairs and running of the Association, to promote its good name and to act in an advisory capacity to Council when necessary. The Trustees will have no financial responsibility for the Association.

The Honorary Trustees are:

Dr Patrick Kaye MRCS LRCP MRCGP DRCOG
Formerly M.O. to Harrow School
Dr Roger Harrington MB BS MRCGP DRCOG DFSRH
Formerly M.O. to Stowe School

January 2009
Dr George Rankine

George had been a MOSA member since the early 70’s. He was involved for many years on Council and undertook the role of Hon Sec and then President at different times.

He remained an active and interested attendee for many years after his retirement, and was well into his 80’s when he died peacefully in the summer of 08 at home.

November 2008
Dr Philip Bosworth

“Bos” became a MOSA member when he joined the staff of Bryanston School as M.O. taking over from his senior partner. He became active on MOSA Council in the late 80’s and was for several years the Hon Treasurer succeeding Dr Alex Fernandez. He subsequently took on the role on Hon Editor until 2005.

Bos was elected to take over as MOSA President in January 2009 but he sadly died unexpectedly 2 months before taking up this post and few months before his scheduled retirement form the NHS.

October Newsletter

October Newsletter added - available to members only