The British Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (BAPIO) held its annual conference on 20-22 September, 2024 in Bristol. The theme of the conference was ‘Rebuilding the NHS.
The first day of the conference was focused on Collaborations to Rebuild the NHS, with a particular emphasis on collaborations between India and the UK. The day was opened by Prof. Geeta Menon, Chair of BAPIO, and speakers during the day included Dr. Seema Baliyan (MD, Charkos Global), Dr. Patrick Brooke (MD, IC24), Dr. Andrew Furlong (MD, University Hospitals Leicester NHS Trust), Dr. Hemant Nemade (MD, University Hospitals of Northamptonshire) and Dr Satish Babu (Director of Academics & Quality, SMSIMSR, India). All the speakers provided their perspectives on the potential to leverage cross-border collaborations to improve NHS services. During the day, Ms. Tista Chakravarty-Gannon, Head of Outreach Operations at the General Medical Council, ran a workshop on the topic of A paradigm shift to anti-discrimination.
Day one of the conference concluded with a Research & Innovation competition where selected doctors presented their proposals on a range of academic topics. The judges were highly impressed by the calibre of the presentations and deliberated at length before selecting the winners. The first prizes for the oral and poster presentations were sponsored by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh (RCPE) and the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH), respectively.
The second day of the conference was opened by Prof. Parag Singhal, National Secretary (BAPIO) and Chair of the Conference Organising Committee, followed by a welcome address from Dr. Ramesh Mehta, President (BAPIO). The delegates had the opportunity to hear a message from Rt Hon Darren Jones, MP and Chief Secretary to the Treasury as well as hear a perspective on the NHS in the 21st century from Mr Jeremy Miles MS, Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care, Welsh Government. Keynote speakers for the day included Sir Malcolm Grant (Former Chairman, NHS England), Prof Steve Powis (National Medical Director, NHS England), Mr. Shaun Gallagher (Director of Strategy & Policy, GMC), Prof Sheona MacLeod (Director of Education and Training, NHS England), Prof Maria Kane (Group CEO, North Bristol and UHBW NHS Trusts), Prof Stuart Walker (Managing Director, University Hospital Bristol and Western NHS Foundation Trust), Mr Richard Mitchell (Joint CEO University Hospitals Northamptonshire and University Hospitals Leicester) and Prof Anupam Sibal, Group MD at the Apollo Group of Hospitals. In particular, Sir Malcolm Grant eloquently articulated his view that while the NHS is not broken beyond repair and therefore, does not require a complete overhaul, it is suffering from chronic issues which need to be dealt with appropriate remedies, some of which were discussed during the sessions. Prof Steve Powis, in his talk, highlighted various ongoing and planned initiatives which could improve the NHS and praised the work done by BAPIO Training Academy in setting up its training programmes.
In order to get the views of frontline medical workers on their views on the conference theme, BAPIO had invited its members and the wider workforce to submit proposals on specific ideas that could help make NHS services better and more cost-efficient. Selected proposals were chosen to be presented and these speakers covered a range of topics including how to build on the NHS Long-term Workforce Plan, how to help female healthcare staff deal with their periods in hospital, the causes of medical burnout, how to improve trainee and patient experiences, the importance of climate resilience and the potential use of tele-dermatology.
Furthermore, delegates present on Saturday were privileged to hear from Sadguru Sri Madhusudhan Sai, Global Humanitarian and Spiritual Leader, who spoke eloquently about how India and the UK can learn from each other to improve health delivery. Following Sadguru’s talk, BAPIO and the Sri Madhusudan Sai Institute of Medical Sciences and Research (SMSIMSR) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to work together to promote affordable healthcare in India as well as help the NHS. Furthermore, Sadguru has agreed to be the Patron of the Indo-UK Healthcare Alliance and BAPIO is certain his involvement will further boost the great work the Alliance is already doing.
After a packed day of thought-provoking and insightful lectures, over 230 delegates attended the BAPIO Gala Dinner. The evening saw superlative singing and classical dance performances from BAPIO members and their families as well as the presentation of the highly coveted BAPIO awards in a number of categories. The night concluded with most attendees dancing energetically to popular Bollywood numbers.
The final day of the conference consisted of sessions organised by various BAPIO forums, including the paediatric forum, health & well-being forum, GP forum and the British Indian Nurses Association (BINA). Speakers included Dr. Jan Dudley (Registrar, RCPCH), Dr. Chaand Nagpaul (Past Chair, BMA Council), Dr. Sunil Kumar (Lifestyle Medicine Consultant) and Mr. Marimouttou Coumarassamy (Chair, BINA). These sessions covered topics such as how to improve induction for international medical graduates, the interface between adults and children/young people, the implications and next steps following publication of the Darzi report, the importance of the nursing workforce, the continued need to focus on the implications of differential attainment and the pivotal role of GPs in rebuilding the NHS
The conference was brought to a close by a vote of thanks led by Dr. Shankar Sikri, BAPIO Chief Operating Officer, who praised the conference organising committee for putting together a very successful conference. He also highlighted that Indian origin and other ethnic minority doctors have played an indispensable role in the success of the NHS over the last 75 years and now that the NHS is in need of a rebuild, BAPIO and other similar organisations must be an integral part of the rebuilding process.
