CoPSS and Schools of Surgery

The leadership of the 14 Schools of Surgery and the Scottish Surgical Training Board includes a head of school, and in Scotland a chair, who report to a postgraduate dean.  CoPSS provides a forum for their mutual support, and for the sharing and discussion of experience, ideas and contemporary issues in surgical training, both at biannual meetings and though an email group.  It receives administrative support from the Royal College of Surgeons of England (RCSEng) and works closely with the Joint Committee on Surgical Training, at whose meetings it has mutual representation.

Issues discussed recently include:

• The RCSEng/HEE Improving Surgical Training (IST) pilot – strong support but concerns about two tier training and ST3 benchmarking
• What does a Certified Surgeon look like?
  • Regulation and quality of pre and post certification fellowships
  • GMC consultation on credentialing
  • Shape of Training and the tension between emergency safe generalism and increasing subspecialisation
• Delivering capability- or outcome-based training and multiple consultant reports
• Winter bed pressure and delivering training in non-NHS environments
• Sensitivities and legislation of live animal models for simulation-based training
• Eligibility criteria for admission to Joint Committee on Intercollegiate Examinations (JCIE) assessments for non-trainees