British Society for Surgery of the Hand BSSH

British Society for Surgery of the Hand BSSH

At the Royal College of Surgeons of England RCSE
35-43 Lincoln's Inn Fields
London WC2A 3PE
Tel: +44 (0)207 831 5162
Fax: +44 (0)207 831 4041
secretariat@bssh.ac.uk

 

History of the BSSH

After the second world war, a number of surgeons perceived that the older specialty of orthopaedics and the younger plastic surgery, pushed into prominence by the requirements of burned airmen, had a great deal to offer when jointly applied to surgery of the hand. >br> In 1952, the “Hand Club” was formed by members of both specialties at a meeting in the Atheneum, at the instigation of Patrick Clarkson. Members would meet for dinner on a Friday evening, followed by a clinical meeting on the Saturday morning.
In 1956, due to the exclusivity of the Hand Club which would not admit new younger members, the Second Hand Club was formed at a meeting in Derby as a result of “the enthusiasm of Mr Graham Stack” (quoted from Council minutes, 14.12.68). The Second Hand Club contained mostly younger enthusiastic surgeons from both disciplines and they held regular informal meetings to discuss difficult cases.
In the late 1960s they expanded their title to “British Club for Surgery of the Hand” and in 1968 became the British Society for Surgery of the Hand (BSSH), with a formal constitution. The first President was Guy Pulvertaft, the sole member of the original Hand Club to take part in the formation of the new Society.
Other former Hand Club members were invited to join, including Rainsford Mowlem, JIP James, and John Barron, who played an important part in promoting the harmony between orthopaedic and plastic surgeons that has been the hallmark of the Society.

From the start, the Society took a close interest in the training of surgeons involved in Hand Surgery, both in terms of running meetings with instructional content, and in trying to establish training opportunities. The Training Committee was set up in 1970 with this purpose.
Graham Stack had already published reports of meetings during the early Second Hand Club days, formalizing these as “
The Hand” in 1969. He continued to edit this pioneering journal on Hand Surgery and oversaw its expansion and metamorphosis into the Journal of Hand Surgery(British and European volume) in 1984.
The journal continues to flourish and has a truly international stature, being both sister journal to the American Volume of the same name, and having been adopted by the European Federation of Societies for Surgery of the Hand as its official journal. It became the Journal of Hand Surgery (European volume) in 2007.
 

2009 ASSH BSSH Combined Scientific Meeting with the American Society for Surgery of the Hand Westminster, London UK Apr 30 - May 2 2009

2010 BSSH/BAHT British Society for Surgery of the Hand, Combined Autumn 2010 Scientific Meeting, London, England Nov 11 - 12 2010

2012 BSSH British Society for Surgery of the Hand,Spring Scientific Meeting, BSSH 2012, London, England May 3 - 4 2012