In July, RCSI lost a dear friend and colleague, Professor Sean Tierney, Dean of Professional Development and Practice / Consultant Vascular Surgeon at Tallaght University Hospital RIP.   Professor Tierney has left an enormous legacy to RCSI through his contributions which are immeasurable.  He was a champion of lifelong learning in his role as Dean of Professional Development and Practice since 2011.  As an educator, he was deeply committed to promoting the highest quality surgical training in Ireland.  In his role as former President of the Irish Medical Organisation, he further ensured that the highest quality standards were maintained.  A constant innovator, Professor Tierney was always an early adopter of the latest technologies, techniques and procedures. 

Professor Tierney was clinical lead on the RCSI/COSECSA collaboration since its inception in 2007. He was awarded an Honorary Fellowship to mark his contribution to the collaboration, which has improved the standard of surgical care in East, Central, and Southern Africa by advancing surgical education, training and examinations. 

He is greatly missed as an inspirational leader and colleague to all who had the honour of working with him at RCSI and among the wider surgical community in Ireland and beyond.

We will remember him for his integrity, humour, generosity and wisdom.

May he Rest In Peace

The Medical Council has stated that for the Professional Competence Year beginning on 1 May 2023 and ending on 30 April 2024, doctors are required to undertake and record the following activity:

• 40 CPD credits (in any category: External, Internal, Personal Learning, Research or Teaching); and
• One Clinical / Practice Audit

We wish to highlight that the PCS portal has not been updated / changed to reflect the above PCS interim requirements and therefore when you record the minimum requirement (40 cpd credits) and complete one clinical / practice Audit for this PCS year, your portfolio will indicate that you are ‘not on target’. However, please note that by recording 40 CPD credits in any category and one clinical /practice Audit you are ON TARGET with interim requirements for this PCS year.

If you require further advice on the operation of the Professional Competence Scheme or support in meeting the requirements, please contact us at (pcs@rcsi.ie) or consult our website. 

You are required to complete one clinical/practice audit in respect of your own practice during the PCS year 1^st May 2023 – 30^th April 2024. Essentially this clinical/practice audit is a systematic review and evaluation of your current practice with reference to research-based standards to improve patient care. An audit is a continuous process aiming to improve patient’s care and practice excellence.

Re-enrol by paying your fee online  https://pcs.rcsi.ie

If you are no longer registered with the Medical Council, you should inform us that you have withdrawn from the register and we will no longer issue you with reminders.

If you are now enrolled in a formal (Medical Council accredited) Training Programme, you are not required to enrol in PCS. You should notify us of your status and we will no longer issue you with reminders. 

If you have changed specialty and are enrolling in a PCS scheme operated by a different Training body, you should notify us of your status and we will no longer issue you with reminders.

If you have forgotten or do not know your login details please email: pcs@rcsi.ie

RCSI in partnership with the Academy of Clinical Science and Laboratory Medicine (https://acslm.ie/) have developed a CPD/CME programme to maintain and develop their competence in this critical area of clinical practice.

The comprehensive programme of short online courses will cover 25 areas of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine. Together we have brought to you the first seven courses in this series which cover the following areas: Cancer Diagnostics, Surgical Microbiology, Blood Transfusion, Coagulation, Surgical Immunology, Heart Failure Assessment in the Emergency Department, Near Patient Testing (NPT) basic and applied pathology.

To find our more, click here.

The Millin Meeting 2023 will take place in RCSI on Friday, 10 November. This one-day event will focus on topics such as surgical research and surgical training, as well as hosting the 46th annual Millin Lecture, which recognises excellence in original surgical research.   

This year’s Millin Lecture is entitled Marginal Gain Theory and The Power of Collaborative Research in Advanced Colorectal Cancer and will be delivered by Mr Michael Eamon Kelly.  

Michael Kelly is a medical graduate of Trinity College Dublin, class of 2010. Following basic surgical training, he obtained his MCh from the Royal College of Surgeons Ireland (RCSI) in 2015, and completed the Specialist Training in General Surgery Program with a specialist interest in Colorectal Surgery (CCST) in 2021. He obtained his PhD in Medicine from the University College Dublin in 2022.  

Michael has a strong research portfolio with >200 peer-reviewed publications centering around research in colorectal surgery. In 2015, Professor Des Winter and Michael co-founded the PelvEx Collaborative, which is an international consortium involving over 170 centers across 46 countries with the aim to improve patient care and survivorship through evidence-based research. Michael is the national representative for the European Society of Surgical Oncology, and is on the research and cohort committee for the European Society of Coloproctology. He is also on the editorial board of Colorectal Disease, BJS Open, and Cancers.  

Michael is an active member of the faculty of trainers for core and higher surgical training schemes at RCSI. He has supervised over 13 MCh/MD/PhD candidates, and was recently awarded the inaugural Joly Leadership Fellowship from the Trinity St James Cancer Institute.   

His experience in collaborative research has shown that Ireland can develop, lead, and deliver major research initiatives, and this is the focus of this year’s Millin Lecture.  

To find out more about this lecture and to register to attend the 2023 RCSI Millin please click here.

Please note, online registration for this event is essential.