The British Society of Interventional Radiology (BSIR) has released a document outlining its long-term strategy and goals.
With its overarching statement that it exists “to advance the practice of Interventional Radiology (IR) to improve outcomes for patients,” the BSIR stated that it had developed its strategic plan around five primary goals:
- Improve patient care and safety
- Improve IR workforce planning
- Improve IR education and training
- Build IR research capability
- Develop BSIR for its members
The BSIR also proposes the creation of an IR faculty with the Royal College of Radiologists (RCR), in which interventional radiologists would be able to obtain dual certification in IR and diagnostic radiology (DR). While the BSIR notes that “there are significant challenges to achieve an IR Faculty,” they state that such a program would “enhance working relationships between IR and DR, positioning the RCR at the forefront of the [National Health Service’s] move toward minimally invasive surgery.”
Daniel Waigl, executive director of the Cardiovascular and Interventional Radiological Society of Europe (CIRSE), has welcomed the document and promised to support the BSIR's quest for more clinical services in IR, an increase in IR recruitment, and the plan for IR to produce its own curriculum.
"It (the strategic plan) clearly states that the number of IRs in the workforce needs to increase to meet ever increasing patient demand and the requirement for 24/7 coverage of life-saving procedures. I could not agree more!," Waigl noted in a LinkedIn post on 15 April. "Trusts/Health Boards should be mandated to provide allocated time in job plans to enable IRs to see all patients properly in outpatient clinics, and not just before and after procedures."
Read the BSIR’s full strategic plan here.
