The NCIA awards opens on 1 April 2026. Many colleagues deserve recognition for the excellent work they are doing to improve stroke services within the constraints of the NHS. Some of you are also giving a valuable contribution to the work of BIASP.
We would encourage you (if applicable) to consider applying for an award.
Information on how to apply and eligibility is located in the Members Area of the BIASP website
BIASP is pleased to announce the following posts are open for nomination:
Executive Leads for Republic of Ireland and Wales
Scientific Subcommittee Member
CLICK HERE for nomination form
CLICK HERE for more information
Click the links to read updates on the work being done by CAPA.
Letter to CMO Sir Prof Chris Whitty February 2022_Final
Letter RE airborne transmission inconsistencies and IPC guidance 21.03.22
Here’s how BIASP members can claim their discount in 2026:
Enjoy the benefits of being a WSO member:
As BIASP are an organisational member, ESO have advised on all benefits for BIASP and BIASP members:
Although BIASP, like ESO, is an apolitical organisation which seeks to advance stroke care, the executive committee wants to speak out about the appalling violence against civilians and health care workers in Ukraine. BIASP endorses the statement made by ESO about the situation in Ukraine, https://eso-stroke.org/statement-from-the-eso-executive-committee-on-the-situation-in-ukraine/. We ask for an immediate end to the violence, and for a peaceful resolution to the conflict
The BIASP Trainees’ Teaching Weekend took place on 21 – 22 March 2021. There were over 200, attendees and the feedback has been exceptional.
We are pleased to be able to provide BASP members access to the presentations*.
PRESENTATIONS FROM THE DAY
*Please note that the following speakers did not grant permission for their presentation to be shared post event: Professor Peter Rothwell; Professor Sarah Pendlebury; Professor Nick Ward
‘I was a founding member and the first president of BASP in 1999.
I had proposed the idea of BASP and convened meetings of stroke interested individuals from the British Stroke Research Group, which was set up about a decade earlier by Derek Wade, Pan Enderby and Peter Sandercock. Together we led the establishment, agreed its aims, helped set up stroke training posts and annual meetings.
During 2008 and 2009 the BASP Executive committee continued its itinerant existence holding meetings at the British Geriatric Society, the Association of British Neurologists and the Christian Medical Fellowship!
Issues covered by the Executive over this two year period included developing a Stroke Service Specification/Accreditation (with the National Audit Office and The R.C.P.) with external visiting assessors, creating a BASP Mission Statement, supporting the E-Brain learning programme, liaising with NICE and the R.C.P. regarding stroke matters and revalidation plus helping to formulate a National Stroke Strategy.
We also initiated the sponsorship of a Trainee to attend the European Stroke Organisation Summer School and helped to deal with issues regarding the Specialist Register in stroke medicine. BASP joined the World Stroke Organisation. The annual BASP “Get togethers” switched from Harrogate to Glasgow.
The Training & Education, Scientific Service Development/Quality and Trainees Sub-committees served the society diligently and without them much of what was achieved would not have been possible.
It was an enjoyable time and I hope it was also fun for all those involved in helping BASP to continue its burgeoning development. I am delighted to acknowledge the hard work performed by our lone stateless Administrator at that time, Trish O’Neill, who kept the show on the road and dealt with all the day to day issues as well as the BASP membership of over 600 individuals.
I was delighted to take the reins from Peter Humphrey who delivered two huge boxes of papers to me in December 2009 as a portent of my responsibilities. He also gave me a busy diary of the many groups and bodies who required the presence of the BASP President for their deliberations, and collaborating with a wide range of stakeholders was a big part of the role.
The UK Stroke Forum was flourishing by now, with over 1400 delegates attending in Glasgow, and with an eye on the increasing divergence of the four UK NHSs.
I was keen to ensure that all four UK nations were represented on the BASP Executive through broadening the Ordinary member representation, along with a reshuffle of our sub-committees to more closely reflect BASP’s purposes and ambitions. We spent much effort responding to national policies – most notably the Lansley White Paper ‘Liberating the NHS’, but also the proposals for medical revalidation and another round of ‘reforms’ of the Clinical Excellence awards. We continued the push for improved consultant staffing through an update to BASP’s Consultant Workforce document.
We marked the 10-year anniversary of BASP with the completion of our switch to charitable status, by inaugurating the Warlow Prize and with a rebranding of the society – introducing our ‘red brain’ logo. And handing over to my successor, Peter Langhorne, I was pleased not to give him boxes of papers but a single flash drive summarising my tenure as we went paperless.
I inherited the President’s post in 2013 from Peter Langhorne, with BASP in excellent shape. The major topics that exercised the Executive for the next two years were: a strategic review of overall strategy for BASP; contributing to the MHRA review of the balance of benefits and risks of alteplase in the treatment of acute ischaemic stroke; addressing the challenges in delivering a national programme for the newly-evidenced clot retrieval in stroke; plus the very substantial ongoing issues regarding the stroke consultant workforce.
With the support of a very enlightened and enthusiastic Executive group, we tackled these and other issues. The BASP strategy review was successfully passed on to, and completed by, my successor Helen Rodgers, the MHRA review reassuringly confirmed the role and applicability of rtPA plus we produced national guidance for the commissioning and roll out of mechanical thrombectomy.
The workforce issues were destined not to have a rapid solution. There had been a huge growth in the number of new consultant posts in stroke medicine since the National Stroke Strategy but a huge number of posts remained unfilled, with great variation across the country. To this day, this remains an ongoing challenge for BASP.
During my time as president, we finalised the update of the BASP strategy and developed an operational plan with goals. I introduced monthly telephone conferences of the executive with regular email updates for members. I oversaw commissioning of professional support for the day to day running of BASP. I represented BASP on English national stroke strategy committees and lobbied NHS England for a GIRFT stroke lead. I sought to strengthen academic, training and professional links with BGS and ABN.
BASP had an opportunity for transformation following the rise in membership fees and the appointment of a secretariat provided by a professional association management company. However, the COVID-19 pandemic spread as Rustam began his presidency, which presented not only considerable challenges for leadership of a specialty into the unknown but also a tremendous impetus for collaboration and inclusion. These forces shaped his presidency and his BASP strategy 2021-2024, which emphasised external engagement and administrative excellence alongside BASP’s longstanding priorities for clinical services, teaching and training, and research.
Rustam educated, embedded, and maximised the cost-effectiveness of the new secretariat, which put in place: a robust new election platform; a new membership database; rigorous financial oversight, protection and forecasting; new marketing and social media initiatives; and a commercial support policy after a membership survey, alongside basic secretarial and administrative services. After reviewing progress against the existing BASP strategy, he wrote a new strategy with metrics and a monitoring plan. Keen for equality in the Executive Committee to include and reflect the diversity of the stroke workforce, Rustam embedded this in the strategy. New External Engagement and Sustainability Executive committee posts were created to support the strategy and respond to the climate crisis, leading to BASP being the first professional association to join the UK Health Alliance on Climate Change in March 2020. Rustam led BASP’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, which included surveying its impact on stroke services, joining the Aerosol Generating Procedure (AGP) Alliance, obtaining a pledge of support for stroke services from the ABN, supporting the transformation of the UKSF conference into a virtual event, supporting COVID-19 and VITT surveillance activities, hosting guidance for adaptation of stroke services from GIRFT/AHSN/NHSE/BASP, and disseminating knowledge about COVID-19 and stroke. COVID-19 inspired even greater collaboration between the UK nations, and the inclusion of the Republic of Ireland, resulting in Rustam creating the Five Nations Stroke Group in March 2020 and ultimately a membership vote in favour of explicitly including members from the Republic of Ireland and re-naming the organisation as the, “British and Irish Association of Stroke Physicians (BIASP)” in December 2021. Rustam also helped to ensure that all five nations committed to the first National Clinical Guideline for Stroke for the UK and Ireland.
Rustam was very grateful to have been well supported by an Executive Committee, who worked hard to improve clinical standards, address the workforce crisis, improve education and training, and promote research. BASP supported invited service reviews, the Stroke Action Plan for Europe (SAP-E), sustainability initiatives, monthly virtual educational webinars, and the James Lind Alliance Priority Setting Partnership for stroke.
Nonetheless, at the end of Rustam’s presidency, there remained a need to further improve clinical stroke standards, address the stroke workforce challenges, increase numbers of stroke trainees, and increase the quantity, quality and engagement with stroke research, leaving his successor – Professor Gillian Mead – with no shortage of things to do!
Please note that BIASP renamed and rebranded in January 2022, the links contained with the newsletters may no longer be active. We are also aware the old website address has been purchased by another company and by clicking the links you may be directed here. They are in no way affiliated with BIASP.
2019 – 2021
Professor Rustam Al-Shahi Salman
2017 – 2019
Professor Tom Robinson
2015 – 2017
Professor Helen Rodgers
2013 – 2015
Dr Damian Jenkinson
2011 – 2013
Professor Peter Langhorne
2009 – 2011
Dr Martin James
2007 – 2009
Dr Peter Humphrey
2005 – 2007
Dr John Bamford
2003 – 2005
Dr Tony Rudd
2001 – 2003
Professor Martin Brown
1999 – 2001
Professor Martin Dennis
Dr Luca Faconti & Dr Manish Saxena
Dr Saras Sabanathan
Dr Kailash Krishnan & Dr Arvind Chandratheva
Dr Claire Rice
Dr Sohaa Jamil & Dr Liz Dex
Dr Jess Beavan
Prof Catherine Nelson-Piercy
Dr Luqman Malik
Dr Shane MacSweeney
Mr Mahmoud Abdelaziz
Professor Keith Muir
Dr Maha Abdulghani
Prof Chris Price
Dr Ranjan Sanyal
Dr Terry Quinn
Dr Michael Desborough
Dr Faisal Chaudhry
Professor Sanjay Sisodiya
Dr Dan Ryan
Mrs Emily Read
Dr Anthony Pereira
Dr Adrian Parry-Jones
Professor Philip Bath & Mark Dixon
Dr Nicholas Evans
Dr Ali Ali
Dr Moya O’Doherty
Dr Niamh Hannon
Prof Rustam Al-Shahi Salman
Prof Peter Kelly
Prof Hugh Markus
Prof Sarah Pendlebury
Dr Mark Robinson
Dr Arani Nitkunan
Dr Jason Appleton
Dr Soma Banerjee and Dr Luke Dixon
Dr Phil Ferdinand
Dr Neil Baldwin
Professor Rowan Harwood
Dr Changez Jadun
Professor David Werring
Mr Diego Kaski * Please note there were connection issues during this presentation, the information that is illegible is repeated at the end.
Mr Mark Turner
Mr Peter Whitfield
Dr John Bamford
Sue Pownall & Sabrina Eltringham
Webinar 9 – Posterior Circulation Stroke
Dr Neil Baldwin
Webinar 8 – End of Life Pathway in Stroke sometime
Professor Rowan Harwood
Webinar 7 – CTA and CTP made easy for Stroke Physicians
Dr Changez Jadun
Webinar 6 – Anticoagulation in acute stroke with atrial fibrillation: the clot thickens
Professor David Werring
Webinar 5 – Vertigo & Stroke: differentiating central from peripheral causes
Mr Diego Kaski
Please note there were connection issues during this presentation, the information that is illegible is repeated at the end.
Webinar 4 – Cardio embolic stroke – investigation, treatment options and practical advice
Mr Mark Turner
Webinar 3 – Neuroanatomy for Stroke Physicians
Mr Peter Whitfield
Webinar 2 – Option for TIA Services in the COVID era and beyond
Dr John Bamford
Webinar 1 – Dysphagia presentation following stroke and the first 72 hours of care – the role of speech and language therapy in meeting stroke standards of care
Sue Pownall & Sabrina Eltringham
Dr Arani Nitkunan
