It is a huge privilege to chair the BSG Trainees section, and I owe a great deal to my predecessors for their work to date. I have big shoes to fill!

Of late, we have been busy responding to training concerns raised by our colleagues. Many of you will have seen the letter sent to organisations involved in speciality training which highlighted key areas of concern. These included the impact of service provision upon gastroenterology training, and the difficulties accessing endoscopy training including upper GI bleed training. We are grateful for the responses from the JRCPTB, BSG, Gastroenterology and IM SAC, and remain committed to working with stakeholders to find pragmatic solutions to these issues. Amid the NHS workforce crisis, a huge proportion of senior trainees are choosing not to accept substantive consultant posts as they CCT. Combined with the prediction that 50% of the current consultant workforce will retire within the next decade, this projects as a rather concerning void in our workforce. We must ensure that senior trainees are confident and competent when making the transition into consultancy and put simply; feel confident they must be trained adequately. The 2024 BSG National Trainee Survey will provide us with a better understanding of the barriers to achieving this.

Our survey will also tell us more about our trainee workforce, and about how barriers disproportionally affect some more than others. Firstly, we know that whilst currently 20% work flexibly, 44% of trainees look to do so in the future. The majority (90%) of flexible workers are women but importantly, requests from men are increasing also. At first glance, flexible working challenges both traditional training and workforce models. However, given the burnout and attrition rates within gastroenterology, flexible working presents an opportunity to optimise retention and shape what future sustainable working looks like. Secondly, female medical students continue to outnumber their male counterparts at approximately 55%. The number of UK female trainees is increasing, yet only 24% of UK gastroenterology and hepatology consultants are female. Within my working lifetime, I hope these percentages will align and I look forward to working with the gastroenterology community to remove the glass ceilings that clearly still exist, to make our specialty appealing and accessible to everyone.

Finally, some lighter material - a busy programme of events. Our education course and management and leadership events will again run in the week to safeguard precious weekend downtime. Our taster events are aimed at FY and IMT trainees, but our faculty often comment how uplifting it is to be in a room buzzing with enthusiasm for our speciality in which there is always plenty to be excited about. We look forward to seeing you at some of these events.

Ricia Gwenter

Trainees Chair