 | |
| Abbreviation | BAPM |
|---|---|
| Established | 1976 |
| Location |
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| Coordinates | 51°31′15″N0°06′54″W / 51.520752°N 0.115°W |
Membership (2019) | 1000 |
President | Dr Gopi Menon |
| Website | www |
British Association of Perinatal Medicine known as BAPM, is a charitable organization that was founded in Bristol in 1976 that is most notable for being a pressure group to advance the standards of perinatal care within the United Kingdom by a dedicated core of professional physicians who are accredited by examination. [1] [2]
In 1972, Donald Court, who would later become president of the British Paediatric Association and Tony Jackson produced a booklet, that was called Paediatrics in the Seventies [3] that for the first time advanced the idea that perinatal paediatrics would be sub-speciality of Medicine, and progress was slow to recognise it as such. [4]
BAPM as an idea started in 1974, when the paediatrician Peter M. Dunn wrote a leader for The Lancet called The price of perinatal neglect. [5] In the 1970s the care of newborn infants was considered dire, and only after their registration by their parents, when they were six weeks old, did they become NHS patients. [1] Combined with many others problems like paediatricians who were single handed, underfunded and distributed across large areas of the population, with the result that perinatal mortality in the UK was five times higher than it need have been and that as many newborn infants died in the first three days of life as in the whole of the remainder of childhood. [1] When The Lancet article was published, it aroused the interest of the government, and the Department of Health contacted the British Paediatric Association to investigate the matter. [1] In 1975 June Lloyd acting for the government, [6] wrote to Dunn to ask him for help in finding all the paediatricians who were specifically working, i.e. caring for newborn babies in the UK [6] After Dunn wrote to all the medical universities and maternity hospitals in the United Kingdom, to all paediatricians who were spending more than 60% of their time with newborn children and collected 20 people in total, he decided to try and advance an idea to provide help, where ever he could.
Dunn first approached the British Paediatric Association and consulted the president Donald Court who encouraged Dunn to organise the small group. Dunn also spoke with Roy Meadow who advised Dunn on problems he would face to establishing the association, including accusations of empire building from certain paediatricians who would be excluded from his group, [1] including senior paediatricians who provided leadership in neonatal medicine and were prominent members of the Neonatal Society. When Dunn approached the Neonatal Society, they declined to help. [1]
Dunn sent a letter to the 20 people he had identified and invited them to a meeting at the BPA in York, that was to be held to initiate BAPM as a pressure group. At the time Roy Meadow posted a notice seeking members who were interested in the care of the newborn with the hospital and university in York. Unfortunately, there was no significant progress during the abortive meeting, as Dunn was looking for those of were actually facing the problems of providing a neonatal intensive care service. As there were none there, the meeting closed. Dunn then decided to write to all the 20 people requesting a second time that they attend a Neonatal Symposium in Bristol in 1976. This meeting occurred, and the British Paediatric Perinatal Group, the forerunner to BAPM was formed as a pressure group. [6]
Dunn's initial idea for the association was that it would work as a twin group, alongside obstetrics, i.e. the twin being a new British Obstetric Perinatal Group. However, this never happened. Dunn approached several colleagues who were specialists in obstetrics, who were initially enthused by the idea, but was subsequently dissuaded by the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists. The common view of obstetrics at the time was that all gynaecologists were already perinatologists. On top of this, the Royal College of Obstetrics and Gynaecology did not agree to the BPA being affiliated to their college. [4]
Dunn commenced the process of gaining formal recognition of the subject of perinatal paediatrics, and enable formal examinations to be held for physicians seeking to gain a speciality in perinatal paediatrics, i.e. a training programme from the Royal Colleges and the British Paediatric Association (BPA). [6] In 1977, Dunn approached the BPA to begin this process of formal recognition of the perinatal paediatrics group. In conversation with the BPA, they replied that neonatology was likely to remain in the domain of general paediatrician's and therefore perinatal or neonatal paediatrics would not be recognised as a sub-speciality. [7]
For much of the 1980s, neither the BPA nor the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists felt that a country-wide, coordinated service for specialist neonatology and high risk obstetrics were of much use. [7] Indeed, for much of the decade, the differentiation in obstetric and neonatal care units for those offering complex care and those offering care at the local level, had made little progress within the UK. [7]
By the end of the 1980s, with many therapeutic treatments being introduced, there was a slow dawning of recognition that there was a place for specialist neonatology and neonatal centres, although the majority of neonatal care was still being delivered by general paediatricians who worked outside specialist centres, treating both paediatric and neonatal patients, [7] and it was unlikely the situation would have changed without many new doctors coming into the profession, as the decade passed.
In 1981, Dunn created an executive committee and a chairman position was announced, to better address working practices, often meeting in his house in Bristol. [6] In 1982, Peter Tizard gave the first annual Founders' Lecture, who in his lecture pointed out that it should be an appointed president, not a chairman. [6] At that time, Dunn also registered the group as a charity, and changed the name from perinatal group to British Association of Perinatal Paediatrics. [6] Dunn became the first president and Harold Gamsu the honorary secretary.
In 1982, the chairman of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists working party, Charlie Whitfield suggested that the group should be called the British Association of Perinatal Medicine. This was finally accomplished by Dunn in 1987. [6] A training programme was created in 1982 for those looking for a career in perinatal paediatrics by the British Paediatric Association and Royal College of Physicians. [8] This process took six years and was helped by Donald Court who published the report called Fit for the Future in 1976, that recognised the high mortality rate of perinatal mortality, [9] and by the Short Report published in 1979-1980, that highlighted the neglect of perinatal medicine in the country. [10]
One of the most important advanced for BAPM was the publication of the report, called the Körner report in 1984. [11] led by the National Health Service (NHS) Reformer Edith Körner. The most important recommendations from BAPM's perspective from the report, was that in future all infants should be recognised at birth as a patient, as well as defining a data set for the baby as well as the mother, in part to move the NHS into the digital age. [6]
On 18 January 2012, the association opened a library with books that were provided from Peter Dunn's own personal collection. The libraries aims are to support the learning and information needs of the BAPM's members, students, and staff.
The following are the past presidents. [12]
June Kathleen Lloyd, Baroness Lloyd of Highbury, DBE, FRCP, FRCP Edin, FRCGP was a British paediatrician and, in retirement, a cross bench member of the House of Lords. June Lloyd was a determined advocate for children's health and was instrumental in the establishment of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health. In 1996, the college gained its royal status. She was also known for discovering that the damage caused to patients by the rare metabolic disease oQ-betalipoproteinaemia, that could be avoided by the use of Vitamin E. She was also known for discovering the role of lipid metabolism in health and disease in childhood, which was original and difficult to investigate at that time.
Neonatology is a subspecialty of pediatrics that consists of the medical care of newborn infants, especially the ill or premature newborn. It is a hospital-based specialty and is usually practised in neonatal intensive care units (NICUs). The principal patients of neonatologists are newborn infants who are ill or require special medical care due to prematurity, low birth weight, intrauterine growth restriction, congenital malformations, sepsis, pulmonary hypoplasia, or birth asphyxia.
The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, often referred to as the RCPCH, is the professional body for paediatricians in the United Kingdom. It is responsible for the postgraduate training of paediatricians and conducts the Membership of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (MRCPCH) exams. It also awards the Diploma in Child Health (DCH), which is taken by many doctors who plan a career in general practice. Members of the college use the postnominal initials 'MRCPCH' while Fellows use 'FRCPCH'.
BNF for Children (BNFC) is the standard UK paediatric reference for prescribing and pharmacology.
Ola Didrik Saugstad is a Norwegian pediatrician, neonatologist and neuroscientist noted for his research on resuscitation of newborn children and his contribution to reduce child mortality. He is a Research Professor at Oslo University Hospital and Professor of Neonatology at Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago. He is Professor Emeritus of Pediatrics at the University of Oslo and was Director of the Department of Pediatric Research at Oslo University Hospital from 1991 to 2017.
Sir John Peter Mills Tizard was a British paediatrician and professor at the University of Oxford. Tizard was principally notable for important research into neonatology and paediatric neurology and being a founder member of the Neonatal Society in 1959. Tizard was considered the most distinguished academic children's physician of his generation.
Archives of Disease in Childhood is a peer-reviewed medical journal published by the BMJ Group and covering the field of paediatrics. It is the official journal of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health.
Dame Kate Isabel Campbell, DBE, FRCOG was a noted Australian physician and paediatrician. Campbell's discovery, that blindness in premature babies was caused by high concentrations of oxygen, resulted in the alteration of the treatment of premature babies world-wide and for this she received global recognition.
Dr. Karthik Nagesh is a neonatologist in India. He has been practicing neonatal intensive care since 1992 at the Manipal Hospital in Bangalore. He is well known in India for his pioneering work in intensive care for sick neonates especially, Surfactant Therapy and ventilation for sick babies with respiratory distress. He is currently the Chairman of the Manipal Advanced Children's Center and Chairman and HOD of Neonatology and Neonatal ICUs at the Manipal Hospitals Group as well as an adjunct professor of paediatrics, KMC at Manipal University.
Douglas Montagu Temple Gairdner FRCP was a Scottish paediatrician, research scientist, academic and author. Gairdner was principally known for a number of research studies in neonatology at a time when that subject was being developed as perhaps the most rewarding application of basic physiology to patient care, and later his most important contributions as editor, firstly editing Recent Advances in Paediatrics, and then of Archives of Disease in Childhood for 15 years, turning the latter into an international journal of repute with its exemplary standards of content and presentation.
Neena Modi is a British physician and Professor of Neonatal medicine at Imperial College London. She is the current president of the UK Medical Women’s Federation, and past president of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, serving in this role from April 2015 to April 2018. She is one of only four women to ever hold this position.
Herbert Barrie, was a British consultant paediatrician and a leading figure in neonatology. He was a pioneer in the emerging specialty of paediatrics and neonatal medicine; and he developed one of the first neonatal intensive care units in London.
Edward Osmund Royle Reynolds, CBE, FRCP, FRCOG, FRCPCH, FMedSci, FRS, was a British paediatrician and Neonatologist who was most notable for the introduction of new techniques intended to improve the survival of newborns, especially those with respiratory failure, and for a series of papers regarding the value of techniques such as ultrasound imaging, nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, and near infrared spectroscopy in determining the development and response to injury of the infant brain after birth.
Peter MacNaughton Dunn, FRCP, FRCOG, FRCPCH was an English paediatrician. Dunn was most notable for introducing into the UK the Gregory box in 1971, that provides Continuous positive airway pressure in the treatment of infant respiratory distress syndrome of the newborn and conducting research into Hip dysplasia and fetal adaptation to extrauterine life. Dunn was also notable for being known for founding the charity association British Association of Perinatal Medicine.
Sir Kenneth William Cross FRCP was a British physiologist who was principally known for his fundamental contributions to the physiology of newborns that are relevant to paediatric practice.
David Robert Harvey was a British paediatrician and considered by his peers to be a champion of the less privileged. Harvey was most notable for developing the training of neonatal medicine doctors at a time when the speciality had no official recognition. Harvey was homosexual and never afraid to disclose it, even at the beginning of his career, when homophobia was more prominent.
Andrew Wilkinson is a Professor Emeritus of Paediatrics and Perinatal Medicine at All Souls College, Oxford. Wilkinson is most notable for being an international authority in neonatology and a lead author of the Standards of Care for NICU and NICE guidelines on retinopathy of prematurity.
Neil McIntosh is a British and Scottish paediatrician and neonatologist who was most notable for being the leading writer of a pivotal article that defined standards of ethical behaviour in paediatrics, including withdrawal of newborn intensive care. McIntosh is emeritus professor of Neonatology and Child Life and Health at the University of Edinburgh. During McIntosh's career he has researched mineral metabolism in preterm infants, computerised acquisition of physiological data in Neonatal Intensive Care Nursing.
Jennifer J. Kurinczuk is a British physician who is a Professor of Perinatal Epidemiology and Director of the National Perinatal Epidemiology Unit at the University of Oxford. In 2019 she was named an Honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Kurinczuk investigated the neonatal complications of coronavirus disease.
Henry Lewis Halliday was a British-Irish peaditrician and neonatologist. In 2021, Halliday was awarded the James Spence Medal for research into neonatology, for coordinating two of the largest neonatal multicentre trials for prevention and treatment of a number of neonatal respiratory illnesses and for a breakthrough in the development of a new lung surfactant that brought relief to very small babies suffering from infant respiratory distress syndrome (RDS).