The Improving Surgical Training (IST) Pilot in Edinburgh

The Improving Surgical Training (IST) pilot is a national project aimed at delivering better quality of training. The pilot involves the Royal Surgical Colleges of England and Edinburgh in conjunction with Health Education England, JCST and NHS Education for Scotland. The delivery of competency-based training by professionalised trainers reflects the aims and objectives of FST, so the Faculty have been heavily involved in the design and delivery of the faculty development workstream of the IST pilot.

As part of this faculty development workstream, the IST project held surgical boot camps for surgical trainers both in London and at The Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh campus in June 2018. Various surgical educators including members of the FST attended the event and the FST’s latest Standards for Surgical Trainers document was available to delegates.

FST Surgical Director Craig McIlhenny said:

“FST are delighted to be involved with the Improving Surgical Training Pilot. The development of professional trainers is one of the key tenets of the IST project, and is at the heart of what FST stand for. FST have been heavily involved in designing and delivering the enhanced programme for IST trainers that has culminated in this boot camp at RCSEd – and it is great to see so many enthusiastic trainers getting to work with the material we have developed over the last 18 months. This programme has its roots very much based on the FST’s Standards for Surgical Trainers and the new FST / ISCP Trainer portfolio forms part of the IST pilot, so being able to incorporate so much of what FST has developed into this pilot has been fantastic.”

Joint Committee on Surgical Training (JCST) Chair Gareth Griffiths who attended the boot camp said:

“I’m very pleased at collaboratively delivering these successful boot camps. There has been good interaction and valid points discussed, with excellent tips for the future offered.”

> View the latest pilot sites