The majority of respondents were happy with the current format of the annual meeting and, if there was criticism, it was that members wanted more of the fine quality education they already received at their meetings. Some members wanted more symposia and more invited lecturers, and the majority of respondents valued the workshops they attended and wanted more of them. There were also high levels of satisfaction with the work of the secretariat, the society’s commercial sponsorship and the function of the ESVS website. Members were also impressed by the webcast of the last meeting in Lucerne.
One of the main aims of the questionnaire, organised by ESVS Secretary Michael Horrocks, was to assess the extent of members’interest in the endovascular aspect that is now becoming such an integral part of vascular medicine. Opinion was divided on how the society should approach the issue. Just under half of all respondents felt that a separate session dedicated to endovascular techniques should be held within the ESVS meeting itself. However, a significant number felt that there should be an altogether separate endovascular meeting. Roughly half of these respondents felt that those with an interest in endovascular would be better served by attaching this separate meeting to other societies, with the other half feeling that it should be tagged to the ESVS meeting. The ballot shows that of those members who responded, there is a feeling that the society needs to address the endovascular issue. The majority expressed the desire to have endovascular medicine included as an integral part of the ESVS meeting in some way or another. However, there was a significant minority who felt that endovascular should go elsewhere.
This is mirrored in the responses to the renaming of the society. The majority felt that the society should have a new name to reflect the changing nature of vascular medicine, but well over a third of respondents did not agree. When it came to the new name, there was no overall consensus either. The most popular choice was the European Society for Vascular and Endovascular Surgery, which took about half the votes, with European Vascular Society taking second place.
A new Strategy Group, which will report to the ESVS Council, has been set up to consider the future direction of the society and will take all responses to the questionnaire into consideration. The results of the questionnaire are listed comprehensively on the ESVS website www.esvs.org/esvsinfo/news.htm for anyone wishing to read through members’responses. All the respondents’names were put into a draw and Dr Elin Laxdal of Norway won the free registration to ESVS 2002. Contact [email protected] or view www.esvs.org for further details on the next ESVS meeting, which will be held in Istanbul, Turkey from 26-29 September 2002.
