Being an ABS Regional Representative

Rick Linforth, Consultant Breast Surgeon at Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHSFT, outlines some of the responsibilities of an ABS Regional Representative.

I have been the Yorkshire and Humberside Regional Representative for the past three years, where I have had the opportunity to engage with colleagues on shared challenges and solutions, take part in ABS projects and abstract reviews, and attend national meetings. 

I would say that becoming an ABS regional representative includes the following main responsibilities:

Being a member of the Clinical Practice and Standards committee (CPSC)

The CPSC chaired by Ms Karina Cox is the driving seat for updating the Association’s national guidance. With the continuous evolution of our understanding of the axilla, one topic of recent focus (lead by Prof John Benson) has been updating the Association’s recommendations including SLNB, TAD and de-escalation in the elderly. This was discussed at the recent ABS MDT Meeting in London and will hopefully be published in Spring 2025. The CPSC meets four times a year, twice in person at the Royal College of Surgeons of England and twice via Teams. Both national and regional issues are discussed with project updates such as Aspire (Breast Pain Pathway Rapid Evaluation) and shortages of Radiology/Pathology.

Representing the views of members in your region

Communicating with members of you region is facilitated by the ABS and this allows you to get to know colleagues who will often have similar issues to your own.  It’s great to hear their innovative solutions which can be shared with others. The Regional Rep is thus a facilitator in collecting this information from the membership, sharing it with the committee and feeding back suggested actions. Alas not everything has a solution…

Co-ordinating a regional ABS meeting bi-annually

In 2022, I worked with Dr Sue Hartrup and Lucy Davies to set up our Regional Meeting at the Royal Armouries in Leeds. We received over £10,000 sponsorship from our industry partners which funded room hire, refreshments and AV equipment, meaning a free event could be held for over 100 of our members. We had both an educational and an ABS update with invited speakers including the ABS President/Vice President and CPSC Chair. These meetings help connect regional themes and service issues with the ABS Executive team. The day was well received by all and I look forward to the next one.
It has been a privilege and a pleasure to have held this post for three years and I would strongly recommend it to anyone who is interested in professional leadership, training or education.

If you would be interested in becoming an ABS Regional Representative, you can find out more about the nomination process here