On 1 July the Foundation Trainees Surgical Society (FTSS) hosted its third national conference in the RCSEd’s Quincentenary Hall. This year’s main theme was ‘Trainees today, surgeons tomorrow’.

Three as a number is widely used in our common idioms. ‘Third time’s a charm’ and ‘three strikes and you’re out!’ come to mind. Having seen first hand the evolution of our conference over the last two years, we’re more inclined to tell you that this year has been the charm and certainly not a third strike.

Planning towards the conference started as soon as the 2022 conference ended. The FTSS is a true grassroots organisation where foundation doctors come together through the 15 FTSS committees across the UK, supported by the extensive Regional Surgical Ambassador (RSA) network. All FTSS regions were invited to contribute towards organising the conference and we were delighted to involve the newly formed FTSS Northern Ireland this year. From January onwards the national committee came together over Zoom™ to plot conference themes, invite speakers and plan the day. This was overseen by Barney Green, Director of the RSA network, who, along with the other RSAs provided wise guidance and prompts for our committee.

The aims of the 2023 conference were promoting surgical training to foundation trainees, educating trainees about alternative pathways in surgical training, raising awareness of neurodivergence in surgery, and providing a forum for foundation trainees to network and present their academic work to a national audience.

 

Talking training

Following a welcome from RCSEd President Professor Rowan Parks, who highlighted the rich history of the College, Mike Silva (previous RSA Director) explained the background of the FTSS: a network of foundation doctors that he established in Oxford back in 2014.

This was then followed by a talk on the core surgical training application process, a topic embellished with plenty of anecdotal advice and lived experience by Dr Jinpo Xiang (West Midlands FTSS). Continuing with the theme of training pathways, we were delighted to welcome Mr Mohamed Okasha, a  consultant neurosurgeon in NHS Tayside, who made a flying visit to Surgeons Quarter whilst on his journey to Egypt. He delivered a resourceful and eye-opening piece on his own experiences of becoming a consultant via the Certificate of Eligibility for Specialist Registration (CESR) route. This talk highlighted to our attendees the other routes available in surgical training and that there is not a one-size-fits-all approach. 

Following a break for coffee, four speciality talks were well received: ‘Thoracic surgery’ by Leanne Ashrafian, ‘Hepato-pancreato-biliary surgery’ by Carlo Ceresa, ‘Paediatric surgery’ by Amanda McCabe and ‘Bariatric surgery’ by Cynthia Borg. It was interesting to hear about some subspecialties to which we are unlikely to get much exposure as foundation doctors. The overarching message was keep an open mind, work hard, find great role models and mentors, and do what you love.

 

Tough competition

Foundation trainees then gave four oral presentations (selected by RCSEd Faculty from over 80 abstracts submitted). Dr Robert Hwang won this section with his presentation titled ‘A network meta-analysis of the timing of wound dressing removal’.

Dr Sarah Johnston won the poster competition with ‘Improving the TED Stockings prescription rate for surgical patients in a district general hospital’. The poster runner-up was Dr Sophie O’Dolan with ‘An orthopaedic audit assessing the presence of red flag symptoms in emergency department referrals for cauda equina syndrome’. Congratulations to all this year’s winners, who won a free night’s stay for two at Ten Hill Place Hotel. The judging committee were impressed by the winning entries and felt they embodied the genuine ethos of quality improvement in the surgical field.

An army marches on its stomach and so do a collective of surgically inclined foundation trainees. Lunch was a well-paced affair and special mention goes to the Surgeons Quarter catering team, who once again put out a fine spread. The lunch break was also a lovely opportunity to meet like-minded foundation trainees.

The quality of the conference lunch carried through to the afternoon’s themed talks. Any post-prandial slump was rightly curtailed by Mr Ammar Darwish from the David Nott Foundation. His talk titled ‘Surgery with missionary work’ highlighted the work of David Nott and colleagues across the world in practising humanitarian surgery. Mr Darwish talked about his experiences operating in austere and dangerous environments, including Syria and Ukraine, reminding us of the challenges faced by many of our medical colleagues working in regions of geopolitical unrest.

This was followed by an insightful talk by Miss Katarzyna Powezka: ‘Being a neurodiverse vascular surgeon’. Miss Powezka explained some of the difficulties of working as a surgeon with autism, and made us consider what needs to change in the NHS to help colleagues and friends with hidden disabilities.

The third talk of the afternoon by Mr David Macafee, ‘Parent and surgeon, a fine balance’, featuring a cameo from his wife, Victoria Ewan, and children highlighted the challenges of balancing family and work commitments. This was the first time we had a speaker talking about the very real prospects of handling family life and surgical training. Mr Macafee shared a valuable reflection on a successful career held together by the strength and joy of family.

To finish our afternoon session we were excited to have YouTube sensation Miss Kitty Wong (vascular trainee) and academic heavyweight Professor Ghulam Nabi (Professor of Surgical Uro-oncology) speak about a career in academic surgery from a trainee and senior perspective.

 

A place for everyone

The conference was brought to a close by Mr Barney Green at the lectern, standing with legs unfaltering, despite cycling to Edinburgh from Teeside the previous day, who emphasised this years’ conference message: ‘There is a place for everyone in surgery!’

The first ever FTSS conference was a virtual event, with over 300 attendees online. In 2022 a hybrid format conference took place at the College. Naturally our third iteration of the FTSS national conference would be an evolution of the previous two events. We took on board feedback regarding the running of the day and what trainees wanted to gain from the conference.

Ultimately this is a unique conference organised by the most junior trainees for our own peers, and year on year we have been able to offer a more trainee-orientated event. As the FTSS national committee, we are as ever grateful for the support of the RCSEd and the RSA network. There is a place for everyone in surgery, and we are glad there is a place and purpose for the FTSS within the wider College family. The support we have received in organising regional events for trainees, ranging from surgical skills courses to career advice and support in training applications, is only made possible through the proactive RSA cadre who give up their time to mentor the FTSS.

Looking back at this year’s conference successes, we also need to highlight the behind-the-scenes work of Una Curran, Gemma Spence and the rest of the team at the RCSEd who ensure our wishful plans and invited speakers do eventually turn up ready to deliver on the day over the past three years’ FTSS conferences. We are thankful for their help, which has made this year’s event our third time charm.