President's Blog: September Reflections and Looking Ahead

September has been an incredibly busy and positive month for the Intensive Care Society. As we move into the autumn, it is a good opportunity to reflect on the progress being made across our community and the impact we continue to have together.

One of the highlights of the month was Intensive Care Week, which provided a wonderful opportunity to celebrate the people who make intensive care what it is. Through our ‘I See You’ campaign, we recognised the dedication, compassion and expertise of our multiprofessional teams who deliver care to critically ill patients every day. It was inspiring to see colleagues and patients across the UK sharing their stories and demonstrating the strength of our intensive care community.

I was fortunate enough to be interviewed by Roy Lilley and Nial Dickson CBE on their podcast. This was a great opportunity to highlight the pressure our service has been under and to recognise the importance of the multi-professional community.

September also saw continued momentum behind our commitment to advancing research. At the UK Critical Care Research Forum, both our outgoing and incoming Chairs of Research, Professor Louise Rose and Dr Rob Gatherer, highlighted our recently launched Top 10 Research Priorities and continued discussions about how we can strengthen research activity across intensive care.

These priorities reflect the issues that matter most to patients, families and clinicians, and they will help shape the future research agenda for our specialty. This work has now been published in JICS, and I encourage you to read the article and consider how these priorities can inform your own research and quality improvement work.

Education and professional development remain central to our mission. Our autumn programme has got off to a strong start, with our first online FUSIC® Critical Care Ultrasound Study Day and our Critical Care Nephrology Study Day taking place this September. It’s important to recognise that these are experts who volunteer their time, and I would like to take this opportunity to thank them.

There’s plenty more learning to come, including our Peer Support Study Day on 9 October and Updates in Medicine for Intensive Care on 5 November.

Our online study days are designed to offer greater flexibility around busy clinical schedules. Book before the event to join us live or catch up with the recording at a time that works for you. My clinical work often means that I watch these at the oddest of times, so you will not be alone!

Alongside our study days, our Inside Intensive Care webinar series continues to provide accessible learning opportunities for professionals across all disciplines and stages of their careers. The feedback on this new member offering has been fantastic.

I am also pleased by the progress being made in strengthening the Society's broader impact. Trustees recently reviewed updates showing continued advancement across all our strategic priorities, including preparations for SOA27, the development of our fundraising programme, and ongoing work to strengthen our support for members and the wider intensive care community.

As the summer heatwaves have demonstrated, climate change continues to affect us all. As part of this, the Sustainability Committee has been reinvigorated, and we hope to present an updated strategy from them too.

Don’t forget to save the date for SOA27, 29 June – 1 July 2027, and start working on your abstracts!

A particular area of excitement is the development of GIVE24, our new fundraising appeal. This initiative will bring together members, supporters, patients and families to support the future of intensive care through fundraising, challenges and donations. It is an important step in diversifying the Society's income and enabling us to invest in research, education, patient engagement and professional support.

September has also been a month of reflection for me personally as I begin my final few months as President. I have been part of Council and then the Executive since 2018.

Looking back on all that the Society has achieved during my time in office, I am immensely proud of the progress we have made together. Our strength comes from our volunteers, partners and staff, whose commitment and expertise continue to drive the Society forward.

However, none of this is possible without a strong multiprofessional membership base. Together, we are building an organisation that is increasingly influential, inclusive and ambitious in supporting the intensive care community and improving outcomes for patients and their loved ones.

We live and die on our membership, so we can never take this for granted. Thank you for being members, and please do encourage your colleagues to sign up. We hope to announce even more value for money in the next year.

As we enter the final quarter of the year, there is still much to look forward to. I am excited about the opportunities ahead and confident that the Society will continue to go from strength to strength.

Thank you for your continued support, commitment and enthusiasm.