From the President’s Desk
Reflections from the June Executive Meeting
23 June 2025
(Last updated: 23 Jun 2025 14:02)
It was a very hot day, London basked in blue skies and heat. Our offices are on the 4th floor of the Royal College of Surgeons and thankfully there was shade and air conditioning. Here, the SCTS Executive Committee convened for its hybrid summer meeting on 20 June 2025.
We began by formally thanking Rana Sayeed as he steps down as Honorary Secretary. He continues in a new role as the elected SCTS representative to the Royal College of Surgeons of England.
Doug West assumed the Honorary Secretary role. Other notable appointments included Michael Shackcloth as Thoracic Education Secretary, Vipin Zamvar as the Society’s new lead for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) and Cha Rajakaruna with Giuseppe Aresu as Fundraising Co-Leads.
Strategic Vision: Continue to strengthen the Society and the Specialty
We outlined a refreshed strategic plan for 2025 and beyond, built on two intertwined pillars: strengthening the Society's internal foundations and patient-focussed clinically-led transformation.
Key goals include:
- Financial resilience through industry partnerships, philanthropic support and fundraising.
- Development of a ‘Friends of SCTS’ initiative to elevate patient voices and public engagement.
- Investment in digital capability, including enhanced social media strategy and online giving tools.
- Consideration of appointing a part-time Chief Operating Officer or Charity Secretary to help manage our growing workload and governance needs.
These operational ambitions are matched by clinical ones.
In cardiac surgery, the Society backs the adoption of minimally invasive techniques and enhanced recovery programmes. Collaborations with BISMICS, ACTACC, and industry partners such as Edwards Lifesciences and others are gaining momentum.
In thoracic surgery there are multiple developments including the new thoracic database, extending and optimising the thoracic pathway aligned with NHS VERITAS project (Very Enhanced Recovery in Thoracic Anaesthesia and Surgery), and several other clinical projects
The issues in congenital surgery were highlighted and we continue to support our colleagues in this area.
In transplantation, the proposal for SCTS stakeholder events and a summit on heart and lung programmes, and the case for focused teams is under active discussion.
Our wider work
Enoch Akowuah, president-elect and I work together on many tasks and he is leading the cardiac transformation with the Adult Cardiac Sub-committee leads. Mark Jones as Treasurer has worked exceptionally hard to manage our financial situation. Sunil Bhudia leading the meetings team ran our biggest meeting ever with the highest revenue to date and good cost control. Sri Rathinam, communications secretary continues to develop our digital profile and other media initiatives in the noisy healthcare landscape, in which we must be seen to be heard.
The executive report extended to over 70 pages and is full of detail about the wide scope of our members work for SCTS. A short report like this can not do justice to that endeavour of common purpose. Please find out more by engaging with our website and our meetings.
I continue to be humbled by the exceptional efforts of all our volunteer members and our dedicated admin team. The range of knowledge, new ideas and vision is extraordinary.
I will try to share some of those elements in forthcoming editions.
AGM
For now, please save the date for the online AGM at 17:00 – 18:15 on the 2nd July 2025. Please join us when we will be able to share our plans and update on progress.
Register in advance for this webinar
Aman S Coonar
President, Society for Cardiothoracic Surgery in Great Britain & Ireland (SCTS)
Feedback is encouraged and gratefully received.
Please send comments to Emma Piotrowski at emma@scts.org or contact me directly at aman.coonar@nhs.net.
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