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Dear Colleagues, Welcome to November's edition of eNews, this month has a lot of content and provides you with many updates that I am sure will be of interest to you. You should by now have received your membership renewal notification for 2012, I would like to remind you that the deadline to renew your membership is 30 November 2011, please ensure that you take this opportunity to update your personal details. If you have any questions about the renewals process, please do not hesitate to contact our secretariat by email: renal@mci-group.com or by telephone: 0870 458 4155. As I mentioned in my last newsletter, an opportunity exists within the group of Trustees of the Renal Association for the position of Honorary Secretary, the deadline for expressions of interest for this role is 30 November. If you have an interest in the day to day management of the affairs of The Renal Association I would encourage you to apply. I would be happy to speak to any interested parties in more detail about the role. Please submit your applications as soon as possible in order to be considered for this key role in The Renal Association. More details are listed in the body of the newsletter. I would like to draw your attention to the joint one day meeting The Renal Association are holding with the British Clinical Diabetologists (ABCD) on 23 February 2012 at the ICC, Birmingham. This meeting brings together internationally renowned leaders in the field of diabetes related renal disease. I would encourage you to submit abstracts to this meeting and attend. I am sure it will be of benefit to all. Please click here for further information. Preparations are going well for next year's standalone Renal Association Conference on 12 - 14 June in Gateshead. The exciting scientific programme with many guest speakers from the Mayo Clinic is available online via our website and I ask all members of The Renal Association to support the meeting and to encourage colleagues to attend. As a reminder the early bird registration deadline is Friday 30 March 2012 and the abstract submission deadline is Thursday 19 January 2012. We look forward to receiving your submissions. Should you wish to contribute to any future newsletters, please write directly to our secretariat. With my best wishes,  Lorraine Harper
Honorary Secretary | | | | | Honorary Secretary Expressions of interest are sought for this post. The Honorary Secretary will serve for an initial period of 4 years. The Honorary Secretary will normally be appointed as a Trustee of the Association and provides general support to the President, Trustees, Executive Committee Members and affiliated individuals. The Honorary Secretary plays a key role in delivering the annual meeting. Expressions of interest are sought by Wednesday 30 November 2011; the job description for the role of Honorary Secretary and the application procedure can be found by clicking here | The Renal Association is very keen to support, and have input from, trainees who have committed to a career in nephrology, and is offering 1 year's free membership to Clinical Trainees and Phd students joining the Association in 2012. This offer would apply for one calendar year, commencing 1 January 2012. Please forward this offer to any colleagues or friends who you think might be interested and ask that they contact renal@mci-group.com for more information. | Call For Membership Fees For 2012 You should all have now received your membership renewal for 2012, thank you to all of you who have already returned your forms, to those that are yet to do so please return no later than 30 November 2011. | Kidney Care Updates Please here to view the latest updates from NHS Kidney Care. | NSF Headlines November: Working for Better Kidney Care | Specialty Certificate Examination in Nephrology 2012: Registration Now Open Examination Date 14 March 2012 Registration dates Overseas centres: 9 November 2011 - 16 December 2011 UK centres 9 November 2011 - 6 February 2012 The Renal Association, in partnership with the Federation of Royal Colleges of Physicians of the UK, delivers the Specialty Certificate Examination (SCE) in Nephrology. The SCE is a compulsory component of assessment for Certificate of Completion of Training (CCT) for all UK trainees whose specialist training in Nephrology began in or after August 2007. The examination complements workplace-based assessments to ensure that trainees have sufficient knowledge to practise safely and competently as consultants. The SCE is available not just to UK trainees and possession of the MRCP(UK) is no longer a requirement for taking the examination. Please click here for further information | GMC Approval of a Standalone CCT in Intensive Care Medicine (ICM)(2011) Following the GMC approval of a standalone CCTin Intensive Care Medicine (ICM)(2011) some trainees may wish to consider dual accreditation in Renal Medicine and Intensive Care Medicine. The Renal Curriculum Group has worked with the Faculty of Intensive Care Medicine on behalf of the Renal Association and Royal College of Physicians to undertake a cross-mapping exercise to identify shared competencies that can be dual counted as leading to dual CCTs in ICM and Renal medicine. It is planned that recruitment to dual CCTs will take place in 2012 for entry in August 2013. Trainees may enter either programme first and have the appropriate competencies dual counted for the second CCT, provided that the timeframe between commencing the first and second CCTs is not greater than 18 months. For further information please click here | Parliamentary Debate on Organ Donation & Transplantation We are pleased to attach a summary and transcript of yesterday's very positive debate on organ donation and transplantation, which can also be viewed online at http://bit.ly/tYqkcJ (the footage starts at 1 hour 30 minutes into the recording). The debate was led by Paul Uppal MP, the Vice-Chair of the APPG for Transplantation, and arose from a joint meeting of Transplant 2013 and the APPG with Anne Milton MP, the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Public Health, in June. To highlight the debate Mr Uppal also published an article on ePolitix, which is online at http://bit.ly/sTBERQ. | Invitation to Participate in QAPP Study Dear Health Care Professional, We would like to invite you to participate in a research study. The purpose of the study is to measure preferences for different types of dialysis. The research, which uses a quantitative discrete choice experiment approach, is being conducted by Warwick Medical School and University Hospital, Coventry. The aim is to identify how current dialysis variability fits with the preferences of renal patients and health care professionals. Participation involves answering a questionnaire; this will take about 30 minutes. Please contact Dr Sunil Daga and Dr Robert Higgins if you would like to be mailed more information and a participant pack (Information leaflet, consent form and questionnaire). Many thanks for your help. Dr Sunil Daga (Sunildaga@nhs.net) Dr Robert Higgins (robert.higgins@uhcw.nhs.uk) | Call for Research Proposal in Lowe Syndrome You are invited to apply for research funding from the Lowe Syndrome Trust. The genetic basis for Lowe Syndrome is a defect gene OCRL1 that results in the deficiency of an enzyme Phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate-5-phosphatase (OCRL1). Lowe's oculocerebrorenal syndrome is a disorder affecting the brain, eyes, kidneys and bones. New research funds are available of up to £100,000 to fund a PhD studentship, or research project, investigating any aspect of the pathology and pathophysiology of Lowe syndrome, including studies of, or relevant to OCRL1 function. Previous Lowe Syndrome Trust grant recipients are also encouraged to apply. Closing Date of Applications 3 December 2011. For further information or application form please contact Lorraine Thomas at The Lowe Syndrome Trust +44 207 794 8858. www.lowetrust.com email lowetrust@gmail.com | Workforce Planning - Please Help! As you all know we need more nephrologists in the UK and currently have plenty of trainees. To strengthen our case and to improve planning, it is essential that we have a clear understanding of your clinical workload and other responsibilities from the RCP Consultant census. Unfortunately, as a specialty we don't seem to be very good at providing these data-as of this month only 28% of nephrologists have completed the census. PLEASE take a few minutes to complete your online census, it REALLY is important. You should have received an email containing your unique URL from the RCP, but if not please they will send one to you by contacting them via the following email address medicalworkforce.unit@rcplondon.ac.uk Thank you! | Interactive 3D Human Kidney Tool Healthline.com recently launched a free interactive "Human Kidney in 3D" tool you may be interested in. You can view it by clicking here. | | Courses, Meetings & Events |  The Renal Association Conference 2012
The Sage, Gateshead The Renal Association Conference will take place at the Sage, Gateshead on 12-14 June. We will be joined by faculty from the Mayo Clinic, and an exciting programme has been designed that will appeal to anyone interested in the kidney, its diseases and their treatments. The conference aims to unite clinicians, laboratory scientists, nurse specialists, GPs and all specialists who have any interest in learning about kidney function and kidney disease, including interactions with the kidney and other systems. We are also pleased to announce that registration and abstract submission is now open for the 2012 conference in Newcastle/ Gateshead. The deadline for abstract submission is 19 January 2012; the early bird deadline for registration is 30 March 2012. We look forward to seeing members in Newcastle in June 2012. | Renal Advanced Nephrology Course Tuesday 3 - Saturday 7 January 2012, Corpus Christi College, Oxford Registration is now open! Please click here to register and for further information or here to view the programme | The 1st Joint Meeting of the Association of British Clinical Diabetologists and The Renal Association Thursday 23 February 2012, The International Convention Centre (ICC), Birmingham We are pleased to announce that The Renal Association will be holding a joint one day meeting with the Association of British Clinical Diabetologists (ABCD). This meeting brings together internationally renowned leaders in the field of diabetes related renal disease. Please click here to view the programme and to register. | International Vincenza Course 2012 on Peritoneal Dialysis 12-15 June 2012 - Vincenza, Italy The 30th International Vicenza Course on Peritoneal dialysis will present a series of lectures dealing with anatomy and physiology of the peritoneal membrane, the most recent acquisitions in the area of peritoneal transport, the present and future techniques, new devices and dialysis solutions, as well as recently published or on-going clinical trials. Please click here to view the programme | Kidney Research UK London Bridges Walk Sunday 8 July at 1100 This is an event that anyone can enter, young or old, and offers the chance to pass by many of London's most spectacular sights, such as the London Eye, Big Ben and the Tower of London. The route is approximately 7 miles long. You will be joining kidney patients and their families and friends, as well as other dedicated supporters, all wearing their purple t-shirts with pride! Please click here for further information and to register | 2012 International Congress on the History of Nephrology 4-7 October 2012 - Paestum, Italy Please take some time to visit the website of the International Association for the History of Nephrology (IAHN), where you will find information and details about the forthcoming 2012 Congress to be held in Paestum, Italy, 4-7 October. For further information please click here Should you be interested in attending the conference and/or in becoming new members of the association please Click here to visit the website. | The World Congress of Clinical Lipidology 6-9 December 2012 - Budapest, Hungary This congress will be attended by Health Care Professionals with an interest in Lipid Disorders, Physicians, Cardiologists, Endocrinologists, Nephrologists and Dieticians. Topics will include Lifestyle and Diet, Lipid Lowering Compounds and Varia. Please click here for further information. |
If you have any ideas or would like to include an article or event in eNews, please contact The Renal Association Secretariat on 0870 458 4155 or renalenews@mci-group.com. | | |