Silver Suture Awardee 2022

The Silver Suture Award identifies the best trainee trainers in the UK who are nominated by their peers and medical students. Representatives are identified as being outstanding trainers against the same criteria as the Silver Scalpel Award (Leadership, Professionalism, Resourcefulness, Trainee development, Communication). Additionally, the Association of Surgeons in Training (ASiT) and FST representatives interview the nominees against the FST Standards. 

In conjunction with ASiT, the Faculty of Surgical Trainers is delighted to award the 2022 Silver Suture Award to Ricky Ellis. Ricky recently shared his reflections upon receiving this award.

Ricky recently shared his reflections upon receiving the award:

I am deeply honoured to receive the ASIT and FST Silver Suture Award 2022 - but the highest praise of all is to have been nominated by my fellow trainees. Thank you to all of my colleagues and everyone I have ever had the pleasure of training. All of you deserve this award. You have motivated, inspired, and taught me, making training an enjoyable experience. Watching colleagues progress in their knowledge, skills, and surgical careers gives me the greatest pleasure, and it is a privilege to be able to help and support that process.

It took me many years to realise that we surgical trainees are trainers too. We find training opportunities everywhere, whether teaching on ward rounds, in theatre, clinic or on-call. We sacrifice our personal time to help train, mentor and support others within the surgical team. No matter how senior or junior you might be, I encourage you to reflect on this and recognise that you too are a surgical trainer making a valuable contribution to the development of your colleagues' knowledge, skill and careers. 

I feel that training is often seen as an instructional process, yet the trainers that have had the most significant impact on my life and career have also been mentors. I cannot thank them enough for the time they have sacrificed to help me. We all have the ability to be that trainer, mentor or coach that our colleagues need, even if only for a particular moment in their careers. We can all lift as we climb and help to train the next generation of surgeons together.