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NEW CHAPTERS

College President Professor Rowan Parks welcomes the new editor of Surgeons’ News and recaps his past few months 

This issue of Surgeons’ News is brought to you at a time of change for the publication. Editorially, Emma Stapleton has taken the helm, with this edition marking her first issue as Editor. I look forward to seeing the direction that Emma takes the magazine, and know that Surgeons’ News is in capable hands with her combined editorial and surgical experience. The College has also brought the publishing team at Wonderly on board to offer fresh insights into how our magazine is presented to you. Wonderly have done a fantastic job in producing the September edition, and will no doubt use their creative excellence to continue to enhance the publication going forward. 

This issue focuses on the theme of Patient Safety, which is a core priority for the College and is central to our Professional Standards workstream. Spearheaded by RCSEd Council Member Anna Paisley and supported by Dental Faculty Representative Claire Morgan, you can look forward to a special feature on various topics relating to the World Health Organization’s World Patient Safety Day, among other thought-provoking articles on this important theme. 

I am hugely grateful for the immense work Anna and Claire, along with other members of the Patient Safety Group, undertake. 

This multi-disciplinary group, with representation drawn from all faculties of the College, the wider surgical team and patients, exists to ensure the RCSEd’s core professional standards – alongside any training and education activities – are focused on continuously improving patient safety and reducing harm. 

Looking back at recent College events I have been privileged to have participated in, I would like to start by reflecting on our four recent regional President’s Forums. Taking place in Manchester, Birmingham, Newcastle and London, these forums provided the opportunity for myself and other College representatives to connect with our membership and discuss important topics such as sustainability, consent issues and more. Our Oxford President’s Forum, taking place on 4 October, promises to be an exciting addition to the College’s calendar of activity. Be sure to join us if you can. You find out more about the forums here.

In March I attended the Surgeons Quarter strategy day, which reviewed the hugely successful commercial activities of our hotel, café, travel agency and events team. It is pleasing to see how things have recovered following the pandemic and that we are now looking at new and exciting initiatives for the future. Surgeons Quarter plays a central role in helping the College achieve its charitable aims – education, training, assessment and advancement in surgery – and strategy days such as this one are key for driving conversations about future plans.  

Our international calendar of activity ensures that we maintain meaningful connections with friends of the College from all corners of the globe. I was able to participate in a diet of MRCS examinations and an RCSEd Continuing Medical Education Event in Kerala, India. This reminded me of the numerous surgical, dental and Faculty examinations and educational events that regularly take place both in the UK and internationally, and our team of staff that facilitate them. I always look forward to participating in these and welcoming successful examination candidates to an upcoming diploma ceremony.

Various workshops and events relating to Medical Associate Professionals and the Extended Surgical Team with NHS Education for Scotland (NES), the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges (AoMRC) and the British Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (BAPIO) also took place. We continue to work in collaboration with our sister Surgical Royal Colleges and the Federation of Surgical Specialty Associations (FSSA) to produce a guidance document for the role of Physician Associates within surgical teams. The purpose of this document will be to define scope of practice, approaches to training, ongoing supervision and governance arrangements for PAs working within a surgical team. In all of these discussions, the overriding principles have been to protect and enhance the education and training of our surgical trainees and ensure patient safety.

In April, we welcomed ENT UK to the College to hold their Spring meeting and also hosted the Joint Surgical Colleges Meeting (JSCM). The JSCM is a quarterly meeting of the Presidents, Vice-Presidents and CEOs of the four Surgical Royal Colleges, together with the three chairs of the intercollegiate committees (JCST, JCIE and ICBSE). The chair of JSCM rotates annually between the four colleges and I had the priviliege of taking over as chair following our April meeting for the next 12 months. 

I was also honoured to have been invited to speak in Cambridge by the Clinical Academic Training Office (CATO) at the University of Cambridge. This was an inspiring event and wonderful to engage and interact with colleagues from across all healthcare professions regarding pursuing an academic career. 

Between the end of April and middle of May I undertook a number of international trips, starting with a visit to the American Association of Program Directors in Surgery for their 2024 Annual Meeting. I then travelled to Macau for an accreditation visit at the Centre for Education in Medical Simulation in the Faculty of Medicine at Macau University of Science and Technology. I also joined RCSEd Immediate Past President Professor Michael Griffin to celebrate the completion of the first ever final year MBBS exams from this university, and to present the RCSEd Sir John Bruce award to Professor Niv Patil, Vice Dean of the University’s Faculty of Medicine. Finally, it was off to Christchurch where I attended and contributed to the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons’ conference. Together with Council member Professor Angus Watson, this included giving various talks and hosting a drinks reception for our Fellows, Members and guests who were attending the conference. There was a lot of discussion on areas of mutual interest such as college governance, remote and rural surgery, sexual misconduct and humanitarian healthcare. 

In May, I attended a GMC meeting with the AoMRC Presidents, where we received updates on future plans for the regulation of education and fitness to practice processes. Together with the other UK-based Surgical Royal College Presidents we had a useful meeting with the FSSA Chair, NHS Workforce Training and Education Directorate and NHS Employers regarding improving the working lives of consultants. 

College activities are typically planned months – and sometimes years – ahead of time. College Council holds an annual Strategy Day and it was great to host this in our Birmingham Regional Centre in May, where prioritisation of future initiatives and activities were discussed. 

More recently, we hosted the Confederation of Postgraduate Schools of Surgery (COPSS) at the College in June. This was a great opportunity to discuss how, as a college, we can support the efforts and activities of the Heads of Schools of Surgery across the country to ensure education and training of the future generation of surgeons can be supported and enhanced. We also held a workshop with an invited audience, including many of the Heads of Schools of Surgery, to consider how surgeons, particularly trainees, deal with and make sense of making mistakes.

As the end of 2024 draws closer, we approach a particularly busy time for the College. I look forward to upcoming events such as diploma ceremonies in Malaysia and Egypt as well as conferences in Malaysia, Hong Kong, Sri Lanka and the United States over the coming months, which I will reflect on in my next edition of President Writes. In the meantime, I would like to wish you all a pleasant next quarter.

Professor Rowan Parks

president@rcsed.ac.uk