During the summer, the BSI-CIPN has kept real momentum going, and we have some exciting new projects moving ahead, as well as the regular business of the network.
The BSI-CIPN Steering Group met in May, ahead of summer, and once again had a packed agenda. They discussed the developing programme for the BSI-CIPN Conference coming up in December 2025, and even touched on early planning work for the conference in 2026. The group also reflected on the success of the recently launched Immunology Nursing Excellence Programme, which we are looking forward to continuing to build on as we bring new cohorts through. They discussed the BSI-CIPN membership, which has continued to grow in recent months, and talked through developments at a national level within the NHS.
The BSI-CIPN Steering Group continue to do an excellent job in leading and steering the BSI-CIPN, and help to keep the work of the network driving forward. It has been a busy quarter for our BSI-CIPN Clinical Guidelines Special Interest Group, and we welcomed a new member to the trainee representative position – Dr Manisha Ahuja, Specialist Registrar, Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals & Associate Clinical Lecturer, Newcastle University.
We have also been busy convening the Writing Group for our new clinical guideline on Good syndrome, led by Dr David Lowe from the Royal Free. We’re excited to start work on this important guideline, and the group is looking to adopt an inclusive approach to ensure we work with colleagues in other specialties and stakeholders from other relevant organisations to make the guideline as robust as possible.
We are also bringing together work to move ahead with our new clinical guideline on best practice for prescribing and monitoring Sirolimus for immune dysregulation in inborn errors of immunity, led by Fan Cheng from Great Ormond Street Hospital.
We continue to respond to NICE consultations and technology appraisals, and have submitted to a number of these over the last few months, including on garadacimab for preventing recurrent attacks of hereditary angioedema in people 12 years and over, and remibrutinib for chronic spontaneous urticaria inadequately controlled by H1-antihistamine.
July saw the publication of the new 10 Year Plan for Health, for which we submitted a consultation response on behalf of the BSI-CIPN last December. We read the plan with interest, and were pleased to see commitments around improving diagnostics and reference to rare diseases, a focus on integrated and patient-centred care and a commitment to longer-term planning within the NHS, as well as a renewed focus on data.
However, there are areas where we will need to continue to advocate for the government to go further, including on the clinical workforce – a key priority of the BSI-CIPN. We are continuing to develop our policy work in this area, and are building on recent work from our partners as well as analysing workforce data provided by NHS England to try and bring together a clearer picture of the current workforce challenges faced within the specialty.
Over the last few months, we have continued to develop our work to showcase research within clinical careers. The BSI team are carrying out interviews with volunteers across different professional groups from within the BSI-CIPN community to help shine a light on this important aspect of our members’ work, and highlight the different ways research can be incorporated into clinical roles. Keep an eye out for more on this project soon.
Lastly, but by no means least, we have been planning (and getting underway) a second year of projects and activities within the BSI-CIPN Strategic Plan 2024–2027. We have lots of exciting projects on the agenda. Some are new, and some will build on the brilliant work that has been ongoing over the last year or more, including building on the fantastic BSI-CIPN Conference to establish it as the leading UK professional event within clinical immunology.
We look forward to working with all our members over the coming weeks and months, and as always – if you would like to get more involved in the work of the BSI-CIPN, don’t hesitate to get in touch at cipn@immmunology.org.