ANNUAL REPORT
2022-23
ANNUAL REPORT TO END OF AUGUST 2023 ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING 7TH NOVEMBER 2023 REGISTERED CHARITY 1185148
Contents
Welcome from our Chair 3 Who we are 5 About the BLS 6 Our Activities 7 The Scientific Committee 8 The Future 9 Finance and Governance 10
ANNUAL REPORT FOR 2023
The past year has been another productive year for the BLS. We have been busier than ever, working hard to ensure we have had a presence at all those conferences and events that offer an opportunity to reach and educate more people who are in a position to recognise and respond to lymphoedema early and to improve the care provide to those with the condition.
While this additional activity makes demands on trustees and Members who support the events, it is a welcome commitment. It suggests there is a growing appetite for knowledge about lymphoedema and guidance to enhance the care provided. Busy clinicians tend to seek out information and education when they become aware of unmet patient needs and recognise there is potential and desire to make a difference to the quality of care provided. It is not so long ago that most healthcare professionals believed that lymphoedema was a rare condition that they were unlikely to encounter and therefore had little need to know much about it. Healthy attendance at the various lymphoedema events, and engagement with the BLS at events addressing wider, related topics seems to indicate not only greater awareness of lymphoedema and how prevalent it is, but also that they have a role to play in the care of people with, or at risk of, lymphoedema.
The BLS considers participation in key events a priority in achieving the Charity’s purpose of benefitting those with lymphoedema/chronic oedema in the UK. Events in 2023 have included:
Welcome from Margaret Sneddon
BLS Chair
October 2022 – Of course the biggest event of the lymphoedema year for us is the BLS conference. The 2022 event introduced a fresh approach with a number of workshops and a very lively debate that have subsequently driven new workstreams and resource development.
February - National Lymphoedema Conference, now a very successful annual event on which we work in partnership with the Mark Allen Publishing Group and Lipoedema UK to run and for which we develop the annual programme.
March - Wound Care Today, a huge annual 2- day event which enables us to engage with large numbers of community nursing staff, a healthy number of whom register to receive ongoing information from the BLS to extend their knowledge.
March – this was once again Lymphoedema Awareness Week, during which we had a programme of free webinars that were well attended and also viewed many hundreds of times subsequent to the live airing. The topics generated a lot of interest and questions which were followed up on social media or in the quarterly publication ‘News & Views”.
May – The Primary Care Show, a huge, busy 3- day event attended by all Members of primary care teams, providing a unique opportunity to engage with general practitioners, physiotherapists, podiatrists and all other disciplines and their various branches.
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ANNUAL REPORT FOR 2023
June - The International Lymphoedema Framework Conference in Nottingham was a rare opportunity to engage with local, national and international delegates, sharing ideas and information with many who visited our exhibition stand and through the programme, to which many of our Members contributed. We were delighted to support the hugely successful full-on event and collaborate in development of the programme. Our Patrons: Professor Mortimer, Professor Keeley, Dr Gordon and several trustees or Members of the BLS Scientific Committee who presented on various topics, all offered rare informal sessions at the BLS stand for questions from delegates.
Concurrent with the ILF conference, we were also involved in Legs Matter Week. There was a new focus this year on highlighting the harm experienced by patients when their lower limb problems are either not recognised, taken seriously or appropriately followed up. The Legs Matter website has been completely revamped in line with this, www.legsmatter.org with a range of new resources and supporting information on what constitutes harm, how it may be avoided and addressed.
Looking ahead to September, we will be both presenting and exhibiting at the Lindsay Leg Club Foundation Conference for the first time, providing yet another opportunity to meet with another different audience.
New resources in development
The BLS are constantly working on initiatives and resource to either raise awareness of lymphoedema, enhance healthcare professional knowledge or support good clinical practice. We were delighted to launch the new Guidance on the Management of Cellulitis in Lymphoedema at the October conference. This joint BLS and Lymphoedema Support Network initiative has become a ‘Bible’ on the topic across the UK. We have reviewed, revised and updated several existing documents, but have launched fewer new resources.
The main reason for this has been the complexity of the topics we are now addressing some of these, e.g. the BLS Position Document on Manual Lymphatic Drainage has been mooted for many years, but always left in the ‘too difficult drawer’. This year we grasped the nettle and brought together a small working group of Members to whom we are extremely grateful for taking up that challenge. A revised clinical guidance document on arterial assessment prior to application of compression for lymphoedema has also been challenging but is now close to completion.
Events, campaigns and resources are the very visible aspects of BLS work. However, there is so much more goes on behind the scenes. We are a learning organisation, not afraid to change, always exploring better, more efficient and costeffective ways of working. Our Board of Trustees has become diverse and all the stronger as a result. We have worked hard to ensure all our work is underpinned by sound governance, that we are financially secure and have systems and processes in place to ensure a strong future for BLS and continued success in achieving our charitable purposes.
Consequently, we are taking some bold steps over the coming year, planning to initiate work on a new website and ways of managing Membership and our external communications with Members and the general public.
Our achievements and plans as a Society are only possible thanks to the passion, commitment and teamwork of trustees, supported by our contracted staff, faithful Members and Corporate Partners. I extend heartfelt thanks to all who play a part in each of our successes as we strive towards earlier recognition, prompt, appropriate intervention and improved outcomes of treatment. Please continue to support the work of the Charity and together we can make an even bigger difference.
Margaret Sneddon
Chair, British Lymphology Society
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ANNUAL REPORT FOR 2023
Who we are
Chair: Margaret Sneddon (Term 2, Year 2)
Vice Chair: Treasurer: Peter Hooper-Smith (Term 1, Year 1)
Trustees: Caitriona O’Neill (Term 2, Year 1) Rebecca Elwell (Term 2, Year 2) Lorraine Brown (Term 2, Year 3) Jane Board (Term 1, Year 3) Rachael Hutton (Term 1, Year 3) Yolande Borthwick (Term 1, Year 2) Jenny Furniss (Term 1, Year 2) Fran Campbell (Term 1, Year 1) Devina DiCarlo (Term 1, Year 1) Tamara Kosevic (Term 1, Year 1) Amit Arora (Resigned) Debra Alcock (Resigned)
Trustee Vacancies: 0
Co-opted Trustees: 1. Cheryl White (BLS Editor) 2. Rhian Noble-Jones (BLS Scientific Com. Chair from 2020)
Other Key Personnel and Details
Patrons: Professor Peter Mortimer, Trisha Goddard, Professor Vaughan Keeley, Dr Kristiana Gordon
Charity Director: Kate Sinclair, contracted from 1st April 2022 (Project Manager from June 2019)
Administration: Effective Business Management, contracted from 2015, reviewed annually and renewable every two years. Gemini Print Ltd from July 2017 (Printing). ALT Agency from May 2017 (Web design and support). Accountably Ltd from August 2018 (Independent Examiner)
Official Address: British Lymphology Society (from 1st August 2016) P.O. Box 7153, 59 Birmingham Road, Lichfield, WS14 4JW
Banking: Virgin Money PLC, 30 St Vincent Place, Glasgow, G1 2HL and Lloyds Bank PLC, Blackheath, London.
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ANNUAL REPORT FOR 2023
About the BLS
Our Purpose
The preservation and protection of good health among people in the United Kingdom living with lymphoedema/chronic oedema in particular by:
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Advancing education and knowledge in the field of lymphology and related subjects.
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Fostering interest in and co-ordinating a strategy for improving the management of chronic oedema, particularly lymphoedema.
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Producing and maintaining a register of specialist centres in the United Kingdom and Ireland.
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Improving the knowledge, expertise and skills of health care professionals who treat patients.
Delivering Public Benefit
The Society benefits the public by raising awareness of lymphoedema, how the risk of developing it, or complications arising from it, may be reduced. We develop resources to inform, educate and guide clinical practice. We also seek to use our unique professional leadership position and expertise of our Members to advise government, NHS and other professional bodies and organisations and work with other stakeholders, to raise awareness.
Strategic Priorities
There is much that the Society wishes to achieve. Within the context of the pandemic, we agreed the following priorities for the Charity
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Increase the profile of lymphoedema
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Improve accessibility to lymphoedema care
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Increase reach of the BLS
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Operational stability
To reach these aims, we have an annual delivery plan, which sets out key projects and work streams to deliver measurable outcomes for the Charity, and those we seek to support.
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ANNUAL REPORT FOR 2023
Our Activities
BLS 2022 Conference
It was a pleasure to return to a face to face conference in 2022 after two years of holding digital conferences. Our Members were glad to be back at our educational event, catching up with old colleagues and networking with our industry partners.
Over 200 delegates and more than 100 exhibitors took part in a new conference format. We opened the conference with a debate on the use of Manual Lymphatic Drainage (MLD) in the treatment of lymphoedema and we welcomed Professor Neil Piller who took part in the debate and gave a presentation. On day one we held a number of workshops where delegates could engage in upcoming projects for the BLS. We are really excited about the outputs of those workshops and it’s fantastic to see so many Members taking part in the work of the BLS. The second day was a full day of scientific content, including presentations from invited speakers and many high quality abstract presentations.
We are excited to bring the BLS conference to a new venue in 2023 and look forward to making it even more engaging for our delegates and partners.
Lymphoedema Awareness Week 2023
We had a great start to 2023 with the excitement and run up to the annual Lymphoedema Awareness Week in March. This year, the BLS ran a series of webinars with support from our partners and Members, followed by live Q&A for all those in attendance. We continued with our popular EveryBodyCan campaign and received free publicity and press enquiries thanks to our Patron Trisha Goddard, who had us join her radio show during the week.
We followed a similar format to 2022, but this time increased the promotion across all of our social media accounts. This resulted in hundreds of registrants for the webinars, who subsequently received more information about lymphoedema, becoming a Member and the BLS conference.
Plans are well under way for the 2024 Lymphoedema Awareness Week!
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ANNUAL REPORT FOR 2023
Scientific Committee (BLSSC)
During 2022/23 the Scientific Committee combined online meetings and one face to face meeting to continue to support the BLS Board and its mission, in the following ways:
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Running 5 consecutive workshops of how to write Case Studies at the BLS 2022 conference
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Management of the abstract submission process, anonymous peer review selection process for the 2023 conference. This year attracting 26 submission; 15 of which will become oral presentations and 23 poster presentations.
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Scoring of both the oral and poster presentations at the annual BLS conference With the overall aim of promoting research and service development in the field of lymphoedema in the UK
The Lymphoedema Research Development Grant (LRDG ) has been renamed to reflect a broader range of research development opportunities that it can support. It offers awards of up to £10,000 to BLS Members to develop their skills in research and evidence implementation and further research into lymphoedema in the UK. The new criteria will be announced at conference Oct 2023,
widening the scope for applicants to include projects which may not need REC approval but which use research methods (e.g. large service development projects and audits) as long as the outputs are agreed to align with the Charity’s objectives.
Scientific Committee Members continue to contribute up to 3 articles for each News & Views newsletter on a range of research and clinical evidence publication topics and have received excellent feedback on the usefulness of these articles.
Clinical Queries - BLSSC Members have regularly provided or signposted to, scientific or clinical advice when are submitted to BLS. The numbers of clinical queries are increasing each year. These are managed anonymously and a generic response is placed in the FAQ section of the BLS website for wider learning.
BLSSC Members also volunteer their time as clinical experts and advisors to bodies such as NICE when clinical reviews relevant to Lymphoedema are being conducted or when national/international guidelines are being created.
The BLSSC expertise was also sought in this period by other charities such as Macmillan Cancer Support and the Pelvic Radiation Disease Association.
Members of the BLSSC have been part of specific working subgroups of the Board developing BLS Factsheets and developing a guidance document on MLD.
There were no vacancies in the current period for the BLSSC but we are encouraged that interest has been shown in the upcoming places.
In relation to governance , the BLSSC is subject to the same procedures as the main Board and has been working with the Board to align GDPR and other legal requirements.
Dr Rhian Noble-Jones (BLSSC Chair) Emma Underwood (BLSSC Vice-chair)
For more information about the BLS Scientific Committee, its Membership and getting involved, see the BLSSC page on the BLS website.
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ANNUAL REPORT FOR 2023
The Future
Lymphoedema Awareness Week begins 6th March 2024
Following the success of the last two year's awareness weeks, we plan to deliver more educational webinars and Q&A sessions online. We are very excited about the educational events already planned, and we will be live on air again with our patron Trisha Goddard.
If you have any plans for Lymphoedema Awareness Week, be sure to let us know so that we can share them with our Members and Friends.
Conference 2024
We are already planning the 2024 conference, building on the successes and lessons of previous years. We'll see more international speakers as well as home-grown talent, and there will be more opportunities for interactive learning and networking.
Big Changes!
Behind the scenes, we are busy working away on bringing you a new website and a refreshed BLS brand. Look out for updates and how you can have your say in these plans.
The Board and management met to make plans for the future, including reviewing the Charity’s objects to ensure we remain relevant, and that we are focusing our resources in the right place. Our new branding and values will reflect our aspiration to improve the knowledge understanding and practice of all health care professionals, not only lymphoedema practitioners.
Document Launches
The BLS has been working on some large projects recently, and we will soon be launching the MLD position document, following our popular and engaging debate at conference 2022.
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ANNUAL REPORT FOR 2023
Finance and Governance
Risk Management
Proactive risk identification through regular risk assessments with key stakeholders and project leads means that we systematically map potential risks across the Charity, including financial, operation, regulatory and reputational.
Once risks are identified, we assess their potential impact and likelihood as per the Charity Commission’s Risk Management Framework (CC26). This has included strengthening our financial controls, and data and cyber security,
Our risk management procedure includes the methodical reporting of incidents that occur. During the last year, the BLS has experienced two incidents from different external sources. Our process of reporting has also enabled our testing and subsequent amendment of the BLS’s investigation form to enhance the description of the event and clarity of the action(s) taken to mitigate risk.
Financial Summary
The BLS has made great progress towards financial stability over the past year. Despite the challenges posed by the pandemic, we have maintained a solid financial position through diligent planning and prudent budget management.
The BLS has added to its reserves in the financial year 2022/3, some of which will be invested in significant projects for the Charity in the coming year.
See Annual Accounts for the full report.
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BRITISH LYMPHOLOGY SOCIETY
ANNUAL REPORT TO END OF AUGUST 2023 ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING 7TH NOVEMBER 2023 REGISTERED CHARITY 1185148
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