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BAUS Annual Meetings
The 2020 BAUS Annual Scientific Meeting will take place from 9 to 11 November 2020 at the International Convention Centre, 2 Brindley Place, Birmingham. The meeting, initially scheduled for June 2020, was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Click here to view the BAUS 2020 promotional video on BAUS TV.
President's Welcome
The Immediate Past-President of BAUS, Mr Duncan Summerton, offered the following welcome to members and guests attending the 2019 meeting:
“On behalf of BAUS I am delighted to welcome you to the 2020 Annual Meeting in Birmingham. It is impossible to have envisaged the events which have occurred since our last, very successful, Glasgow meeting in June 2019. That now seems a long time ago. This meeting was originally due to take place in June 2020 but, on 19 March, we took the decision, in the light of the COVID-19 crisis, to postpone until later in the year and I’m delighted that we are able to hold the 75th Annual meeting at the same venue.
"Because of this, by the time of the actual meeting, I became the Immediate Past President and my successor, Tim O’Brien, will have taken over the role of President. I wish him and Jo Cresswell, who became Vice President in June, all the very best for the future. This year, as you will be aware, marks the 75th Year of the formation of our organization. When BAUS was formed in 1945, 29 surgeons interested in Urology met with the purpose of discussing the challenges of urological practice and training and the arrival of the “new” NHS. Three quarters of a century later we now have almost 2000 members and are facing the biggest healthcare crisis in a generation.
"2020 also happens to be the 25th year since The Urology Foundation (TUF) - previously the British Urological Foundation until 2009 - was formed by a joint initiative between BAUS and the British Journal of Urology (BJU). The British Association of Urological Nurses (BAUN) is also 25 years old this year and the Royal Society of Medicine (RSM) Section of Urology is an impressive 100 years old. All these organisations joined forces to mark 100 years of urological care in the UK. We laid great plans for a rolling celebration and series of events to mark these important milestones, increase public awareness and raise funds for all of urology, under the common banner of “Urology 2020 – 100 years of excellence”. These plans have largely been put on hold by the current situation. This meeting will help them to resume and they will carry on into next year, culminating in a celebratory meeting and gala dinner which has been pushed back a year to October 2021.
"I am pleased to announce, however, that the hardback book which we commissioned to commemorate these significant milestones - “Stonecutters - a history of British Urology” - has been written by Mr Jonathan Goddard and will be available to all members in Birmingham and by post to those who cannot attend physically.
"When we decided to build the meeting around the theme of “FutUrology: Celebrating the Past, Present and Future of Urology”, none of us were aware of just how much the landscape was about to change. 2020, so far, has been a remarkable year and one which has seen many challenges and huge changes in our practice and lives in general. This will be reflected in the programme and there are specific sessions related to the effect of and lessons learned from the COVID-19 crisis on each of the three days. We will all observe a 2-minute silence on Monday 9 November at 1100hr to honour all those who have succumbed to this terrible infection, in particular all healthcare workers and especially our colleague Mr Abdul Mabud Chowdhury, Consultant Urologist, who lost his life to COVID-19 in April, and a 2-minute silence on Wednesday 11 November at 1100hr as part of Remembrance Day.
"At the time of my writing (May 2020) we plan for this BAUS to have a face-to-face format with the possibility of registering as a virtual delegate and there are contingency plans in place, depending on the government policy and the evolving situation in the UK, so that the meeting will be able to take place in any eventuality. It should also be noted, to co-ordinate the end of this year, the usual standalone Oncology and Endourology Section meetings have been postponed, and that content moved into this meeting.
"Birmingham was chosen 3 years ago as we wished to return to the excellent ICC venue. We were last here in 2000, which some (including myself) remember as a great meeting. For others, this will be the first time that they will experience the meeting set in this regenerated, diverse and vibrant city – somewhere different from the last few years. As Birmingham is very central (geographically) with excellent transport links it will, I suspect, prove to be a very popular choice.
"I am sure you will agree that this year’s programme is excellent with a very exciting line-up of accomplished speakers, sessions and topics. I will not go into too much detail here as this is all highlighted in your programme. I think that there definitely will be something of interest for every delegate and the only difficulty will be in choosing which of the excellent talks, sessions, courses and events to attend. It is satisfying to see so many sessions run for and by our trainees (BSoT and BURST) who, I know, will make these a great success. For the first time, lunch is included for all delegates, and hopefully, with social distancing, the exciting social programme will also be an excellent opportunity to network, meet old friends and make some new ones.
"Many congratulations to our medal winners this year who are Professor Prokar Dasgupta (St. Peter’s Medal), Professor Margaret Pearle (St Paul’s) and Mr Simon Harrison (BAUS Gold Medal) – all extremely well-deserved. I am delighted that we will this year also get to hear Mr David Nott deliver the BAUS 75th Anniversary Humanitarian Lecture in person: he had to cancel his previous talk in BAUS 2016, as he had to deploy to a warzone.
"I am very grateful for the huge amount of work done by the Programme Committee, led by our Honorary Secretary, Asif Muneer, in organising this meeting, very ably assisted by Ian Pearce (Honorary Secretary Elect), and the BAUS events team of Harry Heald and Louise Finch. It takes a great deal of effort to make such a large and complex meeting run seamlessly. I must also thank our Sections, abstract markers, and all the speakers, chairs and presenters for giving up their time and expertise so readily. Our industry partners have generously, and without question, supported this rescheduled meeting and for this we are very grateful. Please do visit the stands and interact with them.
"However, the entire meeting would not be as successful and enjoyable without your input and interaction as a delegate – so, thank you. This meeting should prove to be a real opportunity for us all to regroup after what has been, for many, a difficult and challenging year. I would hope that we are all able to recharge our urological, professional, and social batteries and re-connect with the whole urological community – which has pulled together excellently over the last few months."
Programme
Click here to view the preliminary meeting programme.
Session Video Recordings & Meeting Abstracts
Session are only recorded and displayed if the presenters give their consent to recording & publication. Although the majority of presenters did agree to this, some did not, so the BAUS TV account does not include every presentation at BAUS 2020.
Click here to view the session video recordings, categorised by topic (when available).
Download the BAUS 2020 abstract booklet, which includes details of all the conference sessions and download Jonathan Goddard's book "Stonecutters - A History of British Urology" (when available).
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