Tomorrow’s agenda promises even more interesting content covering the entire spectrum of O&G. Highlights include:

Dr Neil Greenberg – The mental health of healthcare staff: What we know and how to improve it

Mrs Evangeline Dushimeyesu – Innovation through telemedicine to improve access to early termination of pregnancy in Rwanda

Dr Jeanne Conry – The impact of women’s health and climate change

Best in session poster presentations

Santanu Acharya
Preventable Childbirth Mortality Reduction - Private/Public Partnership, Translational Training Model – CALMED, TENA

Despoina Kitmiridou
Uterine artery Doppler indices and adverse perinatal outcomes: a prospective cohort study

Yinka Fung
Does Virtual Reality Technology Reduce Pain and Anxiety During Outpatient Hysteroscopy?

Shen Chuen Khaw
Reducing Surgical Site Infections in Caesarean Sections: An evidenced-based maternity care bundle

Elinor Carlisle
Trainee Open Discussion Groups: Supporting Wellbeing in Obstetrics and Gynaecology Trainees

Manjula Samyraju
Identifying Intrapartum Fetal Early Warning Signs (FEWS) and why we need it?

Mairead Black
Core outcome set for studies of pregnant women with multimorbidity

Best in sesion oral presentations:

 Stream 1
Maddalena Ardissino
Maternal hemodynamic traits and adverse outcomes in pregnancy: a Mendelian randomization study

Stream 2
James Morris
Fertility preservation outcomes are comparable in luteal and follicular oncology patients

Stream 4
Mary Garven
Ayrshire and Arran’s Team Approach to PRAMS (Pregnancy Anaemia Management Scotland)

Stream 5
Sidrah Nausheen
Community-based initiative to address menstrual hygiene of adolescent girls & women in Pakistan

Some highlights from delegates on day one of #RCOG2023:

We’ve had an incredible first day at #RCOG2023, and we’re excited to welcome everyone back tomorrow for another day of learning and networking!

We are delighted to see our in-person delegates enjoying the RCOG HQ, and we've loved seeing photos from delegates joining virtually. Please keep sharing your highlights with the #RCOG2023 hashtag so we can see how you’re spending this year’s Congress.

Reviewing highlights from day one, Mr Dudley Robinson FRCOG is joined by Kate Lancaster, CEO of the RCOG, Professor Liona Poon and Dr Andrew Sizer FRCOG in today’s wrap up in our live studio.

He also spoke about the importance of providing culturally sound care as defined by communities and patients, as well as a safe space for staff.

In his talk, Dr Ben Bopp talked about RANZCOG's commitment to cultural safety. They are working towards this through a Cultural Safety Steering Group and projects, education and training and CPD programmes. Building ongoing relationships with key community members and organisations is also key to achieving this objective.

The final plenary session of day one is about to begin! Dr Benjamin Bopp, President of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RANZCOG), will be talking on cultural awareness and safety in O&G education.

We recently launched the results of our OASI2 project, which aimed to support the sustainability of the OASI Care Bundle in maternity units that participated in OASI1, as well as evaluate strategies for introduction of the care bundle in new maternity units. Find out more on our website.

Mr Sultan started the first OASI clinic in 1996 and recently won a lifetime achievement award from the British Society of Urogynaecology.

During the session on urogynaecology and pelvic floor medicine, Mr Abdul Sultan discussed OASI (obstetric anal sphincter injury) clinics and outcomes, covering the importance of high-quality training among health professionals.

In the first talk of the Genomics session, Alison Hall spoke on ethical issues in prenatal genomic testing. She identified three aspects of genetic testing which make it potentially challenging:

1. Uncertainty: The results of prenatal genetic tests may not give clear diagnoses or predictions. However, the choices that follow such testing are often binary.

2. Time pressure: Decisions often need to be made in a matter of days or weeks and may be influenced by statutory limits on the availability of termination.

3. Legal status of the fetus: In law the fetus is a part of the pregnant woman's body until birth. Consent for any testing of fetal tissue must therefore come from the pregnant woman.

The project found that development and evaluation of EWS tools including easy to measure physiological parameters are essential and prediction models could be strengthened by introduction of accurate, automated equipment and trigger devices.

Following Laura's presentation, Katy Kuhrt spoke about findings from her research developing an early warning score in a Sierra Leonean maternity hospital.

She explained how we need to explore blood pressure parameters in adolescents and underlying pathogenesis, and highlighted the importance of holistic care of the adolescent, including addressing sociodemographic variables.

Laura van der Krogt shared her research on the increased incidence of eclampsia in adolescents in low and middle-income settings.

Authors of the top abstracts published in BJOG for #RCOG2023 are presenting their work this afternoon. If you are joining us online or in person, you can catch content on a range of topics across all streams between 3.15pm and 3.55pm.

Professor Tang explained that his colleague working in gynaecology is interested in using more advanced technology as a potential way to avoid biopsy in women with certain symptoms or conditions.

In the Q&A session, Professor Asma Khalil, RCOG Vice President for Academia and Strategy, asked how advances in ultrasound imaging will help clinicians deliver O&G care.

Some key takeaways from Professor Tang's talk:

• High intensity focused ultrasound has been increasingly used in the clinic for non-invasive surgery
• Lower intensity ultrasound has also been explored for therapeutic applications including drug delivery, BBB opening and neural modulation

In today’s second plenary session, Professor Mengxing Tang from Imperial College London will be presenting on recent advances in high resolution functional imaging and therapy using ultrasound.

Welcome back to the afternoon sessions on day one of #RCOG2023! We are pleased to see Union Street buzzing with so much activity, and to have 1,600+ virtual delegates attending from around the world.

RCOG World Congress is an opportunity for us to connect with our members from across the globe. Watch the video below to hear Dr Ibraheem Awowole, one of our Members in Nigeria, discussing what he's looking forward to most about #RCOG2023.

During the lunch break, there is still a huge amount of learning on offer to both our virtual and in-person attendees. If you’re at Union Street, make sure to head to to the poster presentations if you’d like to watch them in person.

We're enjoying reading our delegates' updates on our online platform! Please keep sharing your thoughts on and learnings from the sessions.

When speaking on how we can improve informed consent in women's health, Eddie said:

Former RCOG President Eddie Morris and Jane Plumb, our Women's Voices Lead, are now talking about the importance of informed consent.

As Geeta explains, we are currently running a pilot project to translate some of our patient information resources into a number of different languages.

In addition to our clinical quality projects and taskforces, the RCOG produces a range of guidance to help health professionals deliver high-quality care. This guidance is then used to create patient information resources for women and families.

Geeta is discussing the National Maternity and Perinatal Audit (NMPA), a large scale audit of the NHS maternity services across England, Scotland and Wales. Find out more about the NMPA here.

Mrs Geeta Kumar, Vice President for Clinical Quality at the RCOG, is talking about what Clinical Quality entails at the College.

The clinical quality stream is about to start. Tune in to hear from:

• Mrs Geeta Kumar , RCOG Vice President for Clinical Quality
• Mr Edward Morris, former RCOG President
• Jane Plumb, Chair of the RCOG Women’s Network

We work with decision-makers in government and partners to achieve policy and legislative change to improve women’s healthcare across the UK and around the world. In this blog for #RCOG2023, Jenny Priest, Director of Policy and Public Affairs at the College, talks about some of our latest policy and campaigning achievements.

If you’re with us at Union Street, you can also visit the RCOG stand on the first floor between 11.00 and 11.30am to speak to our Policy and Public Affairs team in person!

During the Q&A Professor Anumba explained that he believes in a holistic approach to solving inequities in maternity care, and that it is important to co-develop interventions with those who experience these inequities.

The panel also discussed a range of issues around addressing systemic racism and the impact this has on maternity care and outcomes.

He explained how Black women in the UK are four times more likely to die in childbirth than white women, and Asian women are two times more likely to die in childbirth than white women.
Preterm birth rates and stillbirths are also higher in black people.

To address these problems, it is important to:

1. Identify gaps in studies, interventions and policy
2. Come up with interventions which target institutional and interpersonal racism, and at a community level
3. Make centralised data available so that our approach is not fragmented across regions

Professor Dilly Anumba is now discussing the challenges and inequalities of maternity care from a UK perspective.

Professor Rulisa explained that utilisation rates of maternity services show impressive improvements in Rwanda. Only 1% of women deliver at home, down from 5% in 2012. This means more women are giving birth with the assistance of healthcare professionals, but the challenge is to ensure high quality of service.

Uptake of services is also lower in the less educated and lower wealth quintiles.

Professor Thangaratinam's presentation was followed by a talk from Professor Stephen Rulisa, who joins us from Rwanda and spoke about the challenges of a two-tier system of maternity care.

In her section of the plenary discussion, Professor Shakila Thangaratinam spoke about threats to mothers, including issues around mental health, physical deficiencies and violence. These threats can be exasperated by lack of access and stigma, with education and training working as interventions.

Following the welcome address from our President Dr Ranee Thakar, Professor Dilly Anumba, Professor Shakila Thangaratinam and Professor Stephen Rulisa are kicking off the main programme at #RCOG2023 with a plenary discussion on the challenges and inequalities of maternity care.

More from RCOG President Dr Ranee Thakar:   

"Events like this are about renewing old friendships and making new ones."

"A critical area for the College over the next three years will be our focus on workforce challenges in the UK. We need investment in staff recruitment, and retention and better working conditions– and the College will continue to use its influence to lobby for this."

- Dr Ranee Thakar, President of the RCOG

RCOG President Dr Ranee Thakar is opening #RCOG2023 with her welcome address. Following Dr Thakar’s appointment in 2022, today marks her first Congress as President of the College.

At the RCOG, our ultimate ambition is to improve women’s health and healthcare worldwide, through global education, clinical quality and influencing health policy in the UK and across the world.

#RCOG2023 is one great example of how we want to achieve this goal. Learn more about our strategy here.