09 July 2020

I am honoured to be appointed as the Chair of The Pelvic Floor Society. The executive committee members and I wish to thank Andy Williams for all his hard work, his amazing vision and leadership over the last four years, as he steps down from the Chair. I am so pleased that Andy will stay on the committee for the next 12 months as past Chair, providing not only his wisdom but also his unique sense of humour.

I am also delighted to announce that Carolynne Vaizey has been elected as Chair in Waiting and will take on the position at the end of my two year tenure period. Carolynne’s credentials speak for themselves and the success of the recent Annual Conference in Plymouth is largely down to her hard work and foresight. It is a testament to our society’s strength that we now have succession planning, providing stable leadership as the society grows and matures. As we recover from Covid-19, the health and well-being of pelvic floor patients is at risk of being overlooked and we must ensure that these patients, often with devastating quality of life conditions are supported in these challenging times. We also need to support the clinicians and AHPs who work so hard to look after patients with these complex conditions. Education, training, research, clinical governance and information sharing need to be at the forefront of the society. I believe that our future ambition should include these key areas for development as we continue to mature.

• People To drive and support training, education and mentoring of pelvic floor specialists, a major challenge for us, particularly in Covid-19 recovery period whilst utilising new digital technology to deliver this.
• Policy and Process It is incumbent on us as a society to deliver and develop open and transparent policies in the treatment of pelvic floor disorders particularly in dealing with the consequences of mesh surgery. It is likely that using a national mesh registry and the measurement of patient reported outcome measures will be a mandatory requirement within this field of medicine.
• Technology I anticipate there will be major changes in delivering education, training and clinical practice post Covid-19 and as a society we will have to adapt our practices to meet these requirements. We will have to develop new ways of working, liaising more closely with the community continence teams to deliver first line management, as well as using technology to develop ‘telehealth’ for our patients.
• Information Strategy Provide an open and transparent public profile to maintain and increase public confidence, particularly the challenges of dealing with patient groups and the media.

To achieve this will take a lot of hard work and commitment, not only for myself but from the whole committee. I believe that we can overcome the challenges we now face and build on the excellent work and leadership delivered by Andy in the previous four years. Finally I am delighted to introduce TPFS new executive committee, with some new though familiar faces. The society’s success is largely due to the hard working team that makes up the exec. Karen Telford TPFS Chair Past Chair: Mr Andrew Williams Chair in Waiting & Programmes Committee Chair: Miss Carolynne Vaizey Honorary Secretary: vacant Honorary Treasurer: Mr Shahab Siddiqi Research and Development Committee Chair: Mr Tom Dudding Education and Training Committee Chair: Mr Jonathan Randall Quality Assurance, Clinical Governance and Accreditation Committee Chair: Mr Mark Mercer-Jones AHP Committee Chair: Mrs Jane Dixon Membership Secretary: Mr Wesley Lai External Affairs Officer: Mrs Jennie Grainger ACPGBI Council Representative: Mr Mark Chapman Scottish Chapter ACPGBI Rep: Miss Dorin Ziyaie Welsh Chapter ACPGBI Rep: Miss Julie Cornish Irish Chapter ACPGBI Rep: Mr Reza Kalbassi Dukes Club Trainee Rep: Miss Annabelle Williams BSG Rep: Dr Adam Farmer Patient representative: Ms Sarah Squire  

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