A round-up of 2025 & leaping ahead in 2026
The British Hernia Society has had a busy year!
- The 3rd Hernia Masterclass webinar series saw more than 500 attendees at each webinar and can be accessed HERE for BHS members (membership is FREE).
- In collaboration with European Hernia Society and Association of Coloproctology, the Parastomal Hernia Hernia Symposium in April 2025, in Manchester, attracted 200 delegates and received overwhelmingly positive feedback.
- The “Hernia Fundamentals: A–Z Edition – “from first cut to FRCS – and beyond” virtual workshop ran in October 2025 and had 500 delegates from all around the world. This inaugural event has received outstanding feedback and will become a regular event for the BHS. If you want to watch mock vivas, world-class, evidence-based talks or MDT discussions around everyday controversies, you can catch-up here.
- The 13th British Hernia Society Conference in the iconic Oxford Town Hall in November 2024 saw world-renowned speakers such as Prof Eric Pauli, Dr William Hope and Prof Mette Willaume share their expertise with over 300 delegates. We thank our speakers, delegates and industry partners for making this such an inspiring and educational meeting.
- The BHS also had symposia at Association of Surgeons of Great Britian and Ireland Annual Congress, Association of Laparoscopic Surgeons Annual Scientific Meeting, Peter Freyer Symposium, Ireland this year.
Dates for Your Diary
30 November – 1 December 2026 – Leeds Armouries
BHS Conference – Foundations to Frontiers: Advancing Hernia Surgery
Focusing on hot topics, everyday conundrums and the future of hernia surgery, including the role of robotics in a UK context.
28-30 January 2026 – London
Abdominal Wall Reconstruction Europe (AWR Europe)
27 January 2026 – London
Robotic Abdominal Wall Surgery (RAWS)
3-5 June 2026 – Porto Portugal
European Hernia Society Annual Congress
Launched in November 2024, the BHS Registry now has 2000 patients, 70 hospitals and 250 surgeons participating. The registry encompasses all hernia repairs, both elective and emergency, across the UK and Ireland, and we are actively recruiting surgeons and hospitals to participate. The registry captures data on surgical techniques, mesh types, operative outcomes, and crucially, patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs). This comprehensive dataset will enable benchmarking across techniques, surgeons, and institutions, laying the groundwork for future research, product development, and long-term patient outcome tracking. Entering data takes 2 minutes per patient. Future developments include making the registry mandatory and connecting it to the NHS data spine. First annual report out January 2026.
How to Get Involved
To contribute to the BHS Registry:
- You must be a member of the BHS (it is FREE to join!)
- NHS Surgeons must obtain Trust approval and comply with local governance protocols
- To enter patient data, register for access via the BHS Registry (below), where you’ll create a user name and password
- All patients must provide informed consent using the BHS-provided consent form.
Subcommittee News
In January 2025, a Scientific (Research) Subcommittee, Patient and Public Liaison Subcommittee and a Trainee Group were formed. The BHS embeds patients in the heart of everything that we do, after all, our aim is to improve care for all hernia patients so their voice is of primacy.
Patient and Public Liaison Subcommittee
Patients really are at the forefront of the British Hernia Society and are fully embedded in all its workstreams; promoting safe, effective high-quality care for hernia patients.
Launch of “Frequently Asked Questions” Patient information.
Patients will always have questions and when these are answered, in a timely manner, anxiety is reduced. Work has begun on shaping the patient section of the new BHS website to launch in 2026. This will eventually be a comprehensive source of information for patients. However, we are proud to announce that our first piece of work, “Frequently Asked Questions” is now available for download here and can be shared with your patients.
As BHS patient representatives, we take the BHS on the road, meet delegates at conferences and discuss quality of life issues for hernia patients. We have also become engaged with research, including projects on prehabilitation, chronic pain and quality of life. Patient involvement makes research relevant. If you need a patient representative for your project, please approach us!
For patients, successful hernia surgery is more than what happens in the operating theatre, it is about the journey from diagnosis to recovery and it is why, as patients, we ask that you sign up to the British Hernia Society Registry so we can transform hernia surgery together.
If you have any questions or queries please contact BHS here
AWR Subcommittee Update
The BHS AWR Subcommittee aims to broaden access to AWR education and strengthen collaboration across both BHS and European Hernia Society research and advisory groups.
A major focus for the coming year is the promotion of safe and standardised practice in abdominal wall opening and closure. Building on excellent work already undertaken by colleagues in the UK and across Europe, we are developing a national teaching programme on “Opening & Closing the Abdomen.”
As part of this initiative, the AWR Subcommittee hosted a B. Braun–sponsored workshop in London in Dec 2025, bringing together AWR surgeons from the UK and Europe to co-develop a unified, step-by-step training programme.
Other key areas of ongoing work include:
- Delivering Intermediate and Advanced AWR courses in the UK, in partnership with the EHS. These courses will be designed to provide structured, evidence-based, hands-on training and promote consistency in practice. They will be available for surgeons in training as well as consultants.
- Collaborating with national and international research partners to advance projects on prehabilitation and rehabilitation in AWR. This work aims to understand and address the significant variation in current practice and generate evidence to inform best-practice standards.
Introducing The Cooper’s Club
We’re delighted to introduce Cooper’s Club — the newly formed BHS Trainee Subcommittee — created to standardise and promote hernia and abdominal wall training opportunities across the UK.
We focus on identifying areas of good practice and collaborating with other surgical societies to promote equitable, high-quality training for all. Watch out for:
- Trainee survey – we want to understand what residents need and want from us (link below)
- Hernia Fundamentals: A–Z Edition virtual workshop still available on-demand here
- Cooper’s Club podcast series launching in 2026 – with insights in to what a career in abdominal wall surgery can look like — the opportunities, the challenges, and the joy of mastering this evolving specialty.
- Cooper’s Club newsletter with tips, tricks, and signposting within hernia surgery
Our main priority is to make sure we are shaping resources, events and opportunities that genuinely meet your needs, we need your input.
Please take a few minutes to complete our Trainee Survey.
Your feedback will guide our priorities and ensure that the Cooper’s Club continues to grow into a valuable, trainee-led community.
Also for Residents:
- A fellowships webpage with UK abdominal wall reconstruction fellowships.
- Hernia-related courses publicised here.
- A round of Research Grant Awards is currently open, to apply please access here.
Member Benefits
Don’t forget, as a long-term partner of the BJS Academy, if you are a BHS member, you can access the British Journal of Surgery for £25/year (it’s free to be a BHS member!)
Other Developments …
Latterly, BHS have teamed up with Glorious Creative to rebrand and restructure our website in 2026 to provide a more streamlined and professional interface.