Amar Rangan Presidential Speech BOA Annual Congress 2026

So Fergal, thank you for a very successful year and an excellent Conference.

Now this is an important moment for the history of our organisation and I'm deeply honoured to stand here before you as the first BOA President elected directly by the membership. It is a privilege to follow in the footsteps of distinguished colleagues who held this office before me and I'm conscious of the responsibility that comes with it. So I'd like to start simply by saying thank you.

Thank you for your confidence, for your support and for giving me this opportunity to serve you over the coming year. Being president is a visible role but the BOA is not defined by any one individual. It's defined by all of us.

So can I start by asking the presidential line and the Executive Officers to please stand. Could we have the lights on in the auditorium please? And the BOA Trustees and Council wherever you are, could you please stand? And the Secretariat. I know many from the Secretariat are actually busy running the Conference outside but for those who are here, I want to do this because I wanted to make it absolutely clear from the outset that it's a team effort and we're all here for the same reason, to serve our members and to support the T&O community to deliver the best possible care for our patients.

Thank you, please be seated. So it is that collaborative and concerted effort that makes the BOA what it is today and it'll be central to my presidential year. So we will of course focus on the five-year strategy that you've heard about which has been developed after extensive consultation but we also need to look ahead.

I'm sure we all recognise that our profession and specialty face many challenges. Some of them are obvious and clear to us. There are others which are less certain but inevitably there will be some that we cannot yet see but what we can do is make sure that we are prepared to face them and face them together.

So if you look at the big picture, that's very compelling. The gap between life expectancy and health expectancy is widening and what that means is more number of people are living longer but more number of people are also living with ill health and disability and accessing health care. If you look within our own specialty, the global burden of musculoskeletal disease is enormous.

When measured by years lived with disability, the MSK footprint far exceeds any other disease or disorder and by MSK I mean orthopaedic disorders and trauma. Now that matters not just to our specialty but to society as a whole. I'm sure you're aware that the Secretary of State for Health has identified social care as a priority and what we do in our specialty is directly relevant to that challenge.

The interventions we provide help reduce disability, help people regain independence and get back to more fulfilling and productive lives and that in turn reduces the burden on social care. So that is a very powerful message and that's something that I want to work with the team on to make sure that we advocate strongly about our specialty. Now the other thing beyond that is essentially looking at the other challenges we're going to face, and it's advocacy is obviously part of it. You also need to recognise how our specialty is going to change. Workforce and technology are central to that change.

There's already very good work ongoing within workforce and the future plans for it and we need to remain proactive. One of the biggest challenges we are facing is how do we enhance training within our specialty? How do we get the next generation of orthopaedic surgeons ready not just for the world we know today but for the world in which they will be practicing tomorrow? Technology is going to increasingly shape how we work and also the environment that we'll be working in. Now to address all these challenges it's very difficult for the BOA to do it standing alone and so that brings me to the theme that I've chosen for my presidential year and that is success through synergy and by that I mean when we work together we achieve a lot more.

And the affiliated societies framework that Fergal mentioned is a good example of how we can strengthen collaboration within the organisation and we will continue to work closely to make sure that we respond to challenges but also proactively plan our work for the future. You also need to work with external organisations and sectors. For example the Royal Colleges, the Government, governments arms and bodies, industry, third sector etc.

And it is by working together that we can achieve a lot more because we do know that you know in different perspectives from various sectors will make us stronger and different experiences will make us wiser. So I think working together is what really makes us achieve a lot more and that's what I mean by success through synergy. But I don't want this theme to be just words.

I want to see this in action through the year. I want you all to see it in action through the year. So with the full support of Council I will introduce two initiatives and they'll both be introduced during my presidential year.

More importantly it'll be continued as a rolling programme beyond my presidential year. So the first of these is a rolling programme of regional engagement. By that I mean the President or one of the Executive Officers supported by the Secretariat will arrange visits to various hospitals and trusts across the country.

We will come to you. Firstly we want to share with you what the BOA is doing to support the T&O community to deliver the best possible care for our patients. We also more importantly want to listen.

We want to hear from you what are the challenges that you're facing in your day-to-day work. What's working well and what isn't and what can the BOA do differently or better. Those conversations will actually help us shape our future work and our future strategy.

When the BOA visits your region I hope you take the time to talk to us openly because we want to you want all the voices to be heard and help us shape our work. And the second is introduction of BOA awards which we will award at Congress from next year. So for the first round of awards for next year's Congress I've chosen four teams.

Excellence in trauma care, excellence in planned orthopaedic care, a trainee project award and an innovation award. These awards are not simply about recognising individuals and teams. They're about creating a major platform where we can share good practice, celebrate innovation and learn from one another.

Further details about the awards including the call for applications will be announced shortly after the Congress. Please look out for them and I very much hope that you will consider applying. So that's to make them successful and it's important that you consider sharing the good work that you're doing.

And I want these awards to celebrate something that is fundamental to everything that we do which is teamwork and collaboration. And so really that ultimately is what I want my presidential year to represent. A BOA that directly engages and listens, a BOA that advocates strongly for our specialty, a BOA that works for its members and also a BOA that celebrates the excellent work that's going on across our specialty.

So once again that's going to be my plan in terms of what we want to do over the coming year. There will of course be the reactive mode where we have to react to any challenges that we face but at the same time be a bit more proactive in creating a more positive environment for engagement both for the BOA and for its members. So once again thank you for giving me this opportunity and I'm conscious that now I'm the only one standing between you and lunch.

I'll finish there and I really look forward to working with you over the coming year. So thank you and enjoy your lunch. And thank you to Fergal for all his work over the last year.

Amar Rangan
BOA President 2026-2027