Tuesday: Senior Women's Event, RCS
Tuesday, International Women's Day, saw the Senior Women's Event at the College @RCSnews. 'Senior' before anyone gets cheeky, means 'Consultant' or 'Associate Specialist' - not Elderly.
Many of us were early members of WIST: Women in Surgical Training, a group set up by the College in collaboration with the Department of Health in 1991, to encourage women to stay in Surgery & support training options such as flexible, less-than-full-time-training.
By the 2000s I had fallen out of love with WIST (it got a bit cliquey and seemed to have taken a direction that wasn't particularly relevant to me) but more recently rebadged as 'Women in Surgery' and under the inspirational leadership of Laurie Baxter @baxterlaurie there has come a recognition that it's not just the medical students & junior trainees that benefit from support: consultants need it too.
Laurie had organised an amazing programme with phenomenal speakers. This is Liz Ball @Liz_ORiordan. 
If you haven't read her blog, go now immediately and do it: http://liz.oriordan.co.uk/
Liz is a Breast Surgeon, and last year discovered she had breast cancer. Her unique viewpoint, brilliantly written, is a must-read for healthcare professionals and patients alike.
This is Stella Vig @svig2 Consultant Vascular Surgeon and Surgical Tutor at Croydon University Hospital. 
Stella is a superstar: an active and vocal supporter of Junior Doctors she was among many Consultants who marched against the Contract in October alongside Humphrey Scott & myself. She organised the letter signed by 1000s of Consultants to Jeremy Hunt and she is standing for College Council, so PLEASE VOTE.
I could go on and on about the fabulous awesome women I met and caught up with, the brilliant keynote speech from BBC's Anita Anand @tweeter_anita in the fascinating story of Sophia: Princess, Suffragette, Revolutionary 
Cold wet weather couldn't dampen their spirits: this time the action was for two days but it hasn't diminished support from our patients and the public who have listened to the arguments and read the facts. Really good to hear all the positive comments from patients in clinic after they'd come past the picket line. No negative comments at all, in case you were wondering.
... but it will stretch this blog for pages & pages so if you're interested scroll back through my Twitter feed @surgicaltutor. It was a great day.
Wednesday: Junior Doctors Strike
Friday: Trip to Munich
On Friday after work a group of us Upper Limb surgeons flew over to Munich to the new training facilities purpose built by Arthrex. It will come as no surprise that we're always keen to practice & try out new techniques & products and this cadaveric lab is state of the art 
This leads me on to...
Surgeon of the Week
About time I showcased Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon Rohit Gupta 
Rohit is the Godfather of Upper Limb Surgery @ASPHFT. He has not only trained & supported all of us who have since joined the Trust but is a national and international trainer, teaching via live surgeries and cadaveric demonstrations.
In Munich, we were joined by Ioannis Polyzois and our Upper Limb Fellow Paolo Consiglieri 
And Finally...
The Department of Health published this document this week:
This league table was derived in part from the NHS Staff Surveys published in February so our position (209/230) is not a total surprise.
I do think it would be constructive to hear your thoughts as to how the culture here could be improved. Consultants inevitably have a different viewpoint as generally it is the Consultants who report issues. If you've not had the response you expected from reporting a problem, and/or suffered consequences yourself, you're discouraged & may not do it again, which is awful for safeguarding patients.
And don't forget, you're moving Trusts & Deaneries every 12-24/12. You'll have experienced different cultures & practices elsewhere & that insight is really helpful.
You may have come across the phrase 'normalisation of the abnormal" - Consultants in post for years can get inured to poor practice/culture, particularly if they've felt they've failed to make change. They can fool themselves that it's normal to feel ignored or unheard, pointless to raise concerns. This is dangerous.
If you have any thoughts on this I'd love to hear from you via trust email and in complete confidence as you wish.
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