'The theme of our recent BOA Congress in Manchester was "Enhancing Recovery" - not just for people requiring replacement joint surgery, but for all who have sustained injury. Getting elite athletes back to serious contention in their chosen sport is the ultimate in enhancement of recovery. Throughout the Olympic and Paralympic Games we all saw that the dedication, mental toughness and perseverance of our athletes enabled them to recover from injury and compete.

We have lessons to learn from our sportspeople and we should introduce these in our day-to-day practice to the benefit of all our patients.

Faced with the efficiency challenge in the NHS and the structural reforms underway across healthcare, all clinicians have their part to play in making the system work while sustaining the highest levels of quality care to our patients. Entitled Restoring your Mobility, our Practice Strategy sets out a five point action plan. Implementation has already started in two key areas where we are working collaboratively with a wide range of partners to develop and deliver (1) commissioning guidelines in the form of comprehensive pathways for the most common orthopaedic conditions requiring surgery; and (2) significantly enhanced post market surveillance of orthopaedic implants.

There is much more to be done, particularly as we work with the Department of Health to ensure that the new delivery landscape of Any Qualified Provider maintains a level playing field of surgical training, education and research without imposing an unsustainable burden on the NHS.'

'My year in office will focus on this last aspect in particular.'

This site will endeavour to follow Martyns year in term and continue to update on recent news from the BOA.

For more information or to vist the BOA  website click here