RCSI Court of Examiners are delighted to announce our 6th annual event and dinner which will take place on Thursday, 19 October 2023 from 6.30pm in the RCSI College Hall and Boardroom. 

To register, please RSVP by filling out the registration form here.

Details about the official agenda of the Court of Examiners annual event will be released in due course.

Please send any queries to courtofexaminers@rcsi.ie.

Best regards,

RCSI Court of Examiners Committee

A new podcast, Beyond the Theatre, launched today by RCSI, will address the topics that impact surgeons in practice and training.

Developed by the team in RCSI’s Department of Surgical Affairs, the podcast will reflect the complexity that surgeons and healthcare professionals experience as they navigate today’s surgical environment.

The first episode, which was released today, covers the topic of Flexible Training. The podcast is hosted by Mr Keith Synnott, a former Trauma and Orthopaedics Training Programme Director, speaking to Dr Grainne Colgan Trauma and Orthopaedics Consultant at the Mater Hospital in Dublin.

Dr Colgan trained flexibly for much of her Higher Specialist Training and holds a record for the person who spent the longest time in Higher Surgical Training. 

The podcast is a discussion on how you can train successfully and have a work-life balance by embracing the benefits of flexible training.

As an experienced Training Programme Director, Mr Synnott explores how training programmes can adapt and be flexible to support trainees on their journey to specialist registration.

To listen to our first episode, please click here.    

Beyond the Theatre Spotify.

The RCSI Court of Examiners are currently looking to recruit new basic, clinical and lay examiners to join our surgical examining committee and help deliver our MRCS Part B OSCE diets in Ireland and overseas in Malaysia, Bahrain, the UAE and our newly launched centre in Egypt. 

Examiners play a key role in the progression of our surgical trainees domestically and internationally. The support of our basic, clinical, and lay examiners is integral to our ability to deliver the MRCS exams and ensuring that the surgical quality standard of our surgeons in training is assessed to the highest efficiency.

Prospective examiners can find more information such as eligibility criteria for each of our examiner vacancies on our Court of Examiners. Applications forms for each of our examiner vacancies can be seen below:

• Basic Science or Clinical Examiner – Application Form
• Lay Examiner – Application Form

In order to apply, prospective examiners will need to fill out the application form for the vacancy of your choice and send it to courtofexaminers@rcsi.ie.

RCSI and Operation ChildLife are working together to support surgical trainees or medical professionals gain additional expertise by participating in paediatric healthcare missions, led by Irish hospital consultants, doctors and nurses who plan and deliver two-week programmes of care, with Operation Childlife in Vietnam, Tanzania, Mongolia and Jordan.

Operation Childlife and RCSI will consider applications and make awards based on the following criteria:

• Complete application form and copy of CV (max 4 pages)
• Evidence of altruism and how this will benefit OCL partners
• Merits of proposed Fellowship in relation to the applicant's learning objectives
• Likely value to the Irish health system

Please note

• Applicants must be >2 years from completing Training or awarding of CSCST to be eligible to apply.
• It may not always be possible for a recipient to join a trip within an intended year due to scheduling in this instance OCL would seek to accommodate the successful recipient on the next available trip on the following year.
  
  

Operation Childlife Clinical Travel Fellowship application form 2023

The applicant must submit the following:

• A completed application form
• Summary CV, no longer than four pages

Please submit a completed application and summary of your CV to cmcguinness@rcsi.ie.

Applications will close on Monday, 2 October 2023.

For more information, click here.

Regards,

Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland

Applications are now open for the upcoming Minimally Invasive Cardiothoracic course in collaboration with RCSI and ASSERT.

This course will take place on 8 November 2023 and is open to trainees in Cardiothoracic Surgery.

To register, please click here.

Kind Regards,

RCSI Surgery

Applications for Core Surgical Training and Core Specialist Training in Emergency Medicine are opening soon.

Core Surgical Training

Please note, applications for the Core Surgical Training programme for July 2024 intake will open on Thursday, 19 October 2023 and will close on Thursday, 23 November 2023. Further information is available here.

If you would like to learn more about the RCSI CST programme, join our event on Thursday, 12 October 2023. Find out more. 

Core Specialist Training in Emergency Medicine

Please note, applications for the Core Specialist Training in Emergency Medicine programme for July 2024 intake will open on Thursday, 19 October 2023 and will close on Thursday, 23 November 2023. Further information is available here.

If you would like to learn more about the RCSI CSTEM programme, join our event on Thursday, 5 October 2023. Find out more. 

Applications for our CPD Support Scheme will close today, Friday 29 September 2023. 

Download CPD Support Scheme brochure here.

For more information, please click here.

Applications are now open for the Advanced Emergency Abdominal Surgery course on Saturday, 27 January 2024 at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland.

This course builds on the award winning EASC courses which were first held in Donegal Ireland in 2012. EASC Courses have expanded around the World, and have been run in 12 countries and have been attended by over 1500 surgeons and residents. EASC is regarded by the majority of participants as one of the best courses they ever attended.

Advanced EASC will make you think about what you do when you next on call as a Consultant and bring you all the latest updates combined with the faculty wreath of experience from around the World.

To register, please visit: http://www.easccourse.com/book-a-course.html

Applications are now open for the upcoming International Vascular Cork course in collaboration with RCSI and ASSERT.

This course will take place on 9 and 10 November 2023 and is open to trainees in Vascular Surgery.

To register, please click here.

Kind Regards,

RCSI Surgery

If you got the opportunity to attend the ‘Navigate’ webinar held on 30 March 2023, you would have heard from speakers such as:

• Prof. Brian Kinirons, medical director of NDTP who gave an overview of aspire fellowships and the projected numbers of consultant jobs that will become available in the coming years.
• Representatives from HSE coaching service discussed their role in supporting new consultants and how they provide a range of support services to help new consultants succeed.
• Dr Aedin Ryan, paediatrician with expertise in cardiology, University Hospital Galway, shared her experience as a new consultant in the health service in Ireland, providing valuable insights into the challenges and opportunities that new consultants face in their roles.
• Ronan Foley from HSE Business Services, provided information about the process and timelines from HSE Business Services.
• Sinead Coleman and Louise McEntee from the Public Appointments Service gave information on the application and shortlisting process, providing helpful tips for NCHDs.

If you happened to miss this event, fear not, a recording of the webinar is available at the link here.

Password: sSJwPmr2 

Know somebody interested in learning more about our RCSI Core Surgical Training Programme prior to applications opening for July 2024 intake?

Join us on Thursday, 12 October 2023 for our online information session for prospective applicants looking to learn more about our national surgery training programme.

For more information, please click here.

RCSI President Professor Laura Viani warmly invites our Fellows and Members in in Cork and Kerry to a meeting in Cork International Hotel, Lehenagh More, Cork Airport Business Park, Co Cork (T12 H516)

This is an opportunity for all the Fellows and Members in the South and South West to engage directly with the RCSI President and the team from Surgical Affairs, and learn about how the College can support you in your surgical practice and to listen to your concerns about local issues

Professor Viani would be delighted if you could join her and the team for dinner afterwards.

Date: Thursday, 5 October 2023
Time: 5-7pm GMT 
Venue: Cork International Hotel, Lehenagh More, Cork Airport Business Park, Co Cork (T12 H516)
CPD: 2 CPD Credits 

RSVP: click here

If you have any queries, please contact me at catherinejordan@rcsi.ie or at fellows@rcsi.com. 

With warmest wishes,

Catherine and Jenelle

Fellows and Members Team

fellows@rcsi.ie

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.  

Enrolment for our CPD Support Scheme will close today, 29 September 2023. 

This year’s programme includes new courses including ENT Skills for General Surgeons, Head and Neck Trauma Management and Advanced Cardiac Life Support. The programme also includes self-paced online courses, including Safe Clinical Handovers, Communication Skills for Video and Telephone Consultations and Medical Science for Surgery and Emergency Medicine.

This year RCSI has expanded the programme by up to 15% and will offer more than 115 courses in the National Surgical and Clinical training centre in Dublin, in new regional centres and online. Participants will be offered an expanded selection of classes in surgical skills and emergency medicine while also providing classes in clinical audit, quality improvement processes, research and ethics, IT skills, social media, personal development and a range of e-learning activities.

Download brochure here.

For more information, please visit www.rcsi.com/cpdss. 

A new five-year strategic plan launched today will see RCSI enhance human health by meeting the health workforce needs of society, creating the insights and inventions that drive health improvements, and working in partnership with patients and the public in support of better health and well-being for all.

Innovating for a Healthier Future 2023-2027 sets out a roadmap for the next five years and unites the RCSI community in supporting the UN Sustainable Development Goals – with a particular focus on Goal 3, which targets good health and well-being. 

The world’s leading university for impact on good health and well-being in the 2023 Times Higher Education impact rankings, RCSI is committed to enhancing human health through education, research and societal engagement.  

Key developments in the next five years will include the expansion of the RCSI campus through the opening of a landmark education and public engagement building at 118 St Stephen’s Green and a new education and research building at Connolly Hospital, Dublin. Further priorities include advancing new professional models to meet healthcare needs, expanding the RCSI School of Population Health, and embedding digital health as a core theme.  

The strategy will see a particular emphasis on engagement and involvement with patients, the public and the community, and a deepening of RCSI’s academic partnerships with healthcare providers and healthcare professionals. Surgical and emergency medicine care will be advanced through high-quality training and support.  

Evolving healthcare landscape

Innovative curricula across undergraduate and postgraduate courses will prepare students to thrive in the rapidly evolving healthcare landscape while promoting student success and early-career readiness. Targeted projects will enrich student life, amplify the learner voice and engagement, and widen learner participation and access.  

Further investment in established clusters of research excellence and a concentration on collaboration and clinical translation will enhance the impact of RCSI’s research on patient outcomes. The impact of research commercialisation and industry engagement will be maximised.  

Sustainable development and growth is the foundation of the strategy, with a particular focus on attracting and retaining the best talent, embedding equality, diversity, and inclusion, developing campus and digital infrastructure, and improving business operations.  

Enhanced impact

Professor Cathal Kelly, Vice Chancellor, RCSI said: “RCSI is privileged to have a deep professional responsibility to enhance human health. By supporting the development of the current and future healthcare workforce and developing research that creates the insights and inventions that drive healthcare improvements, we will further enhance our impact on healthcare and societal wellbeing.” 

“RCSI is built on the talents of its people. Achieving the sustainable impact we have envisaged through our new strategy is entirely powered by their achievements. I am deeply grateful to them for their dedication and commitment to our shared goals,” added Professor Kelly.  

Professor Laura Viani, President, RCSI said: “We are committed to advancing our mission of improving human health and are excited about the opportunities ahead to create a healthier future. We are grateful to the internal and external stakeholders who have contributed to the development of this strategy. The valuable input and collaboration have enriched our approach and have instilled a sense of enthusiasm for what lies ahead.”