Helping with oesophageal cancer research

Affiliates are encouraged to contribute to research into the information needs of patients undergoing curative treatments for oesophageal cancer. Please take a look at the 'Around the Regions' section which contains an appeal for information from Professor Jane Blazeby of Bristol. Prof Blazeby says: "We are interested in this information because we hope to identify the minimal core information that patients need." Prof Blazeby is asking for examples of the written information given to patients undergoing potentially curative treatments for oesophageal cancer.

Please take the time to help with this important area of research.

Congratulations to Kelli

Kelli Edmiston, dietician for bariatric surgery at the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, was the winner of the best affiliate poster at the Oxford Meeting. Kelli’s poster is now on the website - in the Oxford section - for everyone to see and read. I really recommend that everyone takes a look - and is inspired to submit posters to future meetings!

Affiliate successes at Oxford

It was great to see everyone who attended the AUGIS Scientific Meeting in Oxford. I thoroughly enjoyed both the Affiliate sessions and the scientific programme. I certainly gained some motivation and new knowledge to take back to practice and I hope you did too.

For those of you who didn’t attend the conference, you haven’t missed out too much - Affiliate presentations are available on the Augis website at http://www.augis.org/affiliates/affiliates_oxford_2010_report.htm

I’m sure they will inspire you to make the trip to Belfast for next year’s Meeting.

Congratulations to Kelli Edmiston, dietitian for bariatric surgery at the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, winner of the best affiliate poster. Kelli’s poster will soon be on the website for you to take a look. I hope it inspires more of you to submit a poster in the future.

Finally, I would particularly like to thank the Oxford team - Anne Phillips, Annie Gilbert and Liz Ward - for working with me and for their support.

Don’t forget to bookmark the AUGIS website as there will be updates soon which will be of particular interest to those working in oesophago-gastric cancer.

Looking forward to Oxford

Dear Affiliates

I look forward to meeting many of you next week in Oxford for the 14^th AUGIS Annual Scientific Meeting. I’ve had a sneak preview of some of the affiliate presentations and I’m confident you will not be disappointed.

The best affiliate poster will be announced at the end of the affiliate bariatric session on Friday 10^th September.

I hope you have a great time in Oxford both professionally and socially!

Get in touch!

I am currently working with AUGIS on ways to develop the affiliate section to make it more relevant to us all.

One way to do this will be to provide regular updates on current issues and events within the specialities of upper GI disease and bariatrics which are particularly relevant to affiliates.

We would like to make the Affiliate section of the website more interactive and give you the opportunity to share issues and publicise events happening in your workplace. This could include study days, publications, projects that affiliates may find informative or other events.

We hope this will prove to be a simple but effective way of disseminating good practice on a national level.

There will be a regular ‘regional update’ link on the affiliate page which will highlight recent information updates according to region.

Feel free to get in touch!

Welcome from Affiliate Representative Jane Tallett

Dear Affiliate Member,

I am delighted to have this opportunity to introduce myself as the second Affiliate Representative on the AUGIS Council.

Firstly, I would like to thank all of you who voted for me and giving me this chance to work with the Council for the next four years.

For those of you who do not know me, I have been working as a nurse specialist in cancer care for the last 10 years. I am currently employed as an UGI cancer nurse specialist at the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital Foundation Trust. I set up the nurse specialist service five years ago and was fortunate to be joined 18 months ago by an additional nurse specialist. Prior to this I worked as a colorectal/stoma care nurse specialist for six years at a District General Hospital.

The last three years has seen a significant increase in affiliate membership to AUGIS, which is a credit to Dawn Elliot, who has undoubtedly worked hard to set up the affiliate group. Dawn will continue to work with me over the next year in the development of projects that she has been closely involved in, particularly the national awareness campaign for oesophageal and gastric cancer.

My initial focus as the Affiliate Representative is to gain your feedback on how you, as a member wish to develop the affiliate group. As affiliates we have a great opportunity within the forum of AUGIS to work together to share practice and inform service provision in the fields of bariatric care and UGI disease. In order to do this and promote our influence, I need your feedback, in particular, on the structure and content of the affiliate session within the annual AUGIS Conference along with your ideas for future projects/developments.

Please contact me if you wish to discuss any issues or share your views with me. I look forward to hearing from you and seeing you next September in Oxford at the AUGIS Annual Scientific Meeting.

Regards,

Jane Tallett, BSc (Hons), MSc, RN
Upper Gastrointestinal Cancer Nurse Specialist
Gastroenterology Day Unit, Level 2
Norfolk and Norwich University NHS Trust
Colney Lane, Norwich, Norfolk,NR4 7UY
Direct line: 01603 288845
Via Switchboard: 01603 286286 (bleep 0867)