31st August

This week I'd like to start by talking a bit about the Surgical Local Faculty Group and how we work to support you and your educational needs.

If you've worked in @HE_KSS before, you'll be aware of these specialty-specific groups of Educational Supervisors who meet three times a year with trainee representatives from all grades. These Faculty Group meetings are an important forum for issues to be aired and in the Surgical Faculty Group we have listened and redesigned rotas, developed on call structures, highlighted good and less good practice - all in real time to make sure trainees have a good learning experience.

Your Core Trainee rep is Sophie Wrigley, Urology CST @sophiehfwrigley here with her #ILooklikeaSurgeon selfie from this weekend on call (looking very smiley)

The next LFG is on Wednesday October 14th. Please let all your grade reps know ahead of this date of all issues you'd like discussed. 

In the closed part of this meeting we also go through all our trainees ISCPs so please ensure your logbooks and WBAs are up to date at that point.

Hashtag of the Week: #ILooklikeaSurgeon

(Me with Trauma Fellow Verona Beckles for our #ILooklikeaSurgeon selfie)

Three weeks ago, Heather Logghe @loggheMD a general surgery resident from North Carolina started a trend that has captured the imagination of female surgeons around the world. Here's (@DrEdFitzgerald) Dr Ed Fitzgerald's take on it: http://alliesforhealth.blogspot.co.uk/2015/08/what-does-ilooklikeasurgeon-really-say.html?m=1

With an immediate lack of face-to-face role models, it has been rather inspiring to see the sorority of surgeons let each other know they're there. 

I did a quick scout of the Consultant Directory @ASPHFT and totted up 8 female consultant surgeons, 11% of the total number of Consultant surgeons on staff. 

You might think that's a bit feeble, especially when some sub-specialities have zero female representation (Vascular, Urology, Colorectal, Upper GI) but in fact that's pretty much the same percentage as the average numbers of women in Surgical Consultant posts across England &Wales. 

Can we continue like this? I can't believe I'm actually referencing the Daily Mail (?!) but @maxpemberton made a rather punchy point on Saturday: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-3214852/Women-doctors-bring-NHS-knees-says-Dr-Max.html

Here's the RCPCH (@RCPCHtweets) source paper: http://www.rcpch.ac.uk/improving-child-health/better-nhs-children/workforce-planning/rota-compliance-and-vacancies/rota-com

If we can't make our specialities attractive to the majority workforce (women make up at least 55% of medical graduates) it is going to be challenging trying to maintain those unappealing services. It's not just a question of raising a media profile by putting up family-friendly role models, but making tangible, practical and quite radical changes to junior doctor training & consultant practice. 

I'd like to hear from you if you've considered even briefly pursuing a hospital based career (clearly the issue is not just with Surgery) and what made the 'cons' outweigh the 'pros', what factors have led to the career choices you've made or intend to pursue.

Surgeon of the Week

This week my top trainer is Prateesh Trivedi, Colorectal Surgeon, seen here with Sr Chris Tough. (I am so loving how my fabulous colleagues are embracing the ASPHug)

Teesh has links with the Royal Holloway co-ordinating pelvic floor research and supervises the training & development of our ward Clinical Scientist in addition to training our Core and Higher Surgical Trainees. It has been great to have his support & involvement at a Surgical LFG which with our many recent appointments is growing from strength to strength.

Forthcoming Attractions

Basic Surgical Skills is pretty much an essential course for Core Surgical Training applications, due in November. Not only is it a practical and helpful course to have at F2, for surgery and for A&E, but it also shows 'commitment to specialty' AND earns you one of the easier points on the checklist (max of 3 points in the Courses box)

Here are the local courses that still have places and will get you the point ahead of the closing date for CST applications:

***BREAKING NEWS***

Congratulations to former @ASPHFT T&O trainee Ritesh Sharma on getting his Consultant post at Epsom & St Helier @epsom_sthelier (WOO!!)

Ritesh was with us for two separate years in his training and I am so pleased for him, Cindy, and Simran, Sachin and Kiran that he has passed the final hurdle.

24th August 2015

The big news this week is that we have permission to continue with merger plans  with the Royal Surrey County Hospital (@royalsurrey). Whilst this won't impact on your training, there is great potential to expand educational opportunities and I'm looking forward to collaborating with my opposite number on joint projects. I'm particularly excited to forge greater links with MATTU @alisonsnook and their fantastic labs http://www.mattu.org.uk/ 

More info about the merger here: 

https://assets.digital.cabinet-office.gov.uk/media/55cdbb62e5274a5470000023/Provisional_findings_report_EXCISED_v3.pdf

Trainee Talk

You'll all know that in the first couple of weeks, apart from getting to grips with a new hospital, new culture, new colleagues and whole new specialities, it's also the time to build relationships with new supervisors. 

I had the chance to get to know one of my new supervisees, Dr Phien Vo, South Thames F2 in T&O (@STFS1) at our Initial Educational Supervisor's Meeting. Here's Dr Phien Vo with Mr Monk (@jonny_monk) and here's what we talked about:

Phien: "the first couple of days of T&O were a bit overwhelming, finding out where we had to be and what we had to do. Once the Service Plans* started that really helped a lot, giving us specific teams and roles and we now all really know what we're doing and what our responsibilities are.

"The staff are all really nice and the nurses have been so friendly, helping with things like all the new codes - everything seems to have a code!

"I've been really looking forward to the step up from F1 and in particular I want to experience theatres and scrubbing in. I have already been in clinic with Mr [Jon] Monk, he is so enthusiastic and such a great teacher. He's asked me back to his Fracture Clinic tomorrow and I'm really looking forward to that. I've already sent him a CBD!"

So terrific to hear from someone whose professed interest is a career in gastroenterology throwing herself into our speciality and taking every opportunity to learn new skills. 

As surgical trainers, we're well aware that the majority of Foundation doctors assigned to us are 'conscripts' not 'volunteers'. It makes an enormous difference to us, especially to the quality and quantity of advice and teaching imparted, if we have trainees who engage & want to learn as many transferable skills as they can.

*Service Plan

We're trialling a new way of working in T&O harking back to the firm structure and traditional one-to-one training. A weekly plan gives every junior doctor a very structured week with opportunities to lead, have protected time in theatre and go to clinics. Early feedback is very encouraging: watch this space for updates on how it rolls out.

Surgeon of the Week

This week my education superstar is Orthopaedic Surgeon Arshad Khaleel, seen here with Sr Leyni Lugtu (she gets in on all the free hugs going around):

Arshad's enthusiasm for imparting knowledge is legendary. A trainer with unsurpassable energy, Arshad has been running the Chertsey FRCS Revision Course for 15 years and has supported the careers of a legion of South West Thames registrars. He is our research and audit project generator and publishing powerhouse and is my absolute most favouritest person to go National Selection interviewing with: here's our Leeds Thai restaurant selfie (Note to T&O colleagues: Chaophraya, it's totally brilliant and the single biggest reason to make the loooong trip to Elland Road to do the interviewing http://chaophraya.co.uk/) 

Forthcoming Attractions

Since we're talking about our upcoming civil partnership with RSCH @royalsurrey, it seems appropriate to highlight local courses at the Minimal Access Therapy Training Unit (MATTU):

Basic Surgical Skills Course

http://www.mattu.org.uk/course/basic-surgical-skills-course/2/

Registrar Ready

http://www.mattu.org.uk/booking/577/

Laparoscopic Suturing

http://www.mattu.org.uk/course/laparoscopic-suturing-course/22/

Hand and Wrist FRCS Revision

http://www.mattu.org.uk/course/frcs-revision-hand-and-wrist-course/34/

17th August 2015

As I was away last week, this post is a little generalised so I apologise. I hope Changeover Day nerves have given way a little bit to excitement and interest in the challenges your new posts bring.

This week, rather than a Surgeon of the Week, I though I'd hit you with a whole department: the Rowley Bristow Unit.

Before I left we welcomed our new cohort to the Unit, and I gave them a little background to the legacy of Orthopaedic training that lies with our Unit's name.

Walter Rowley Bristow (1882 - 1947) was a St Thomas's graduate who seems to have spent most of his undergraduate life playing water polo, golf and driving fast cars supplied by the Bank of Dad. He passed his exams "with an apparent absence of effort" http://www.bjj.boneandjoint.org.uk/content/30-B/1/200 and by the start of WW1 he had a private practice in problems of the Locomotor System. He served as a Medical Officer at Gallipoli and on return joined the Military Orthopaedic Centre where he came to the notice of that giant of Orthopaedics, Sir Robert Jones, who became Director at the very first Orthopaedic Centre set up at St Thomas's in 1919. Strange that less than 100 years ago an Orthopaedic Specialist Centre was a novelty: a seemingly young speciality but to date the largest speciality group of surgeons on the Royal College register.

He was a founding member of the British Orthopaedic Association (@BritOrthopaedic) and past President, but his connection with Surrey is his appointment as Honorary Orthopaedic Consultants to two Childrens' Homes moved form Tooting and Surbiton to Pyrford, looking after 130 patients with surgical tuberculosis, infantile paralysis (polio), congenital deformities and ricketts. Rowley Bristow brough his entire team down there for two days a week, and was a legendary teacher http://ezitis.myzen.co.uk/rowleybristow.html

Whilst the Hospital partially burned down, and then was formally closed in 1990, the reputation for Orthopaedic training continues and remains the name of our peninsula next to A&E.

Next week I'll be back on track with what's  up to date and happening @ASPHFT but for now it's 'ciao!' from sunny Italy

7th August 2015

Early posting this week, as having settled the new teams in I will be on holiday next week, but I couldn't let Changeover Day pass without a mention. Here's our 5th August new starters, raising the energy towards the end of a long and wordy Trust Induction to give us a wave...

This week it was the turn of Everyone Else to go through Trust and Departmental Induction. We've really taken note of your comments made in the GMC Survey so I hope we've done better but please let me know if you can spot ways to improve it further. There is so much mandatory stuff we have to cover that clinical topics (eg managing speciality-specific scenarios) have to be left to teaching into the post but you can always access Clininet via the Trust Homepage for support on all major topics, including fracture management and Up-to-Date (much more reliable than Dr Google)

Surgeon of the Week

This week please meet Pasha Nisar seen here with Sr Renuka Sasikumar. Pasha is a Colorectal Consultant with a fantastic track record of training and engagement. 

His major interest is in pelvic floor and cancer and is the Trust Lead on NBOCAP and the Emergency Laparotomy Audit. He is Head of the KSS Collaborative Research Project, linking trainees with Consultants in the region to facilitate high quality research. And he's a sweetie.

Forthcoming Attractions 

Foundation Teaching starts on Monday. You need to have attended at least 70%: inevitably you will miss some through annual leave and all the sessions are valuable so get to every one you can. 

Think ahead: this course @rcsnews is aimed at Foundation Drs thinking of T&O as a possible career choice. Contact mailto:education@rcseng.ac.uk to register interest

https://www.rcseng.ac.uk/courses/course-search/so-you-want-to-be-an-orthopaedic-surgeon

The Chertsey FRCS Course is coming up: read up and pass it on