Monday, 22 October 2007
Laparoscopic surgery (often referred to as ‘key-hole surgery’)
remains underused in this country, despite the fact it has been shown
to bring about major improvement in patient comfort and proven
reduction in complications compared to open surgery. Recent
technological improvements mean it can be applied for an increasingly
wide variety of procedures including some cancers, urology, hernia
repair, abdominal and colorectal surgery. The technique also offers
good value to the health service by shortening hospital stays and even
making some procedures possible by day-surgery.
Identifying this increasing demand, the Royal College of Surgeons has
developed a new regional course, Core Skills in
Laparoscopic Surgery, to be delivered from a national network of 27
accredited centres across the country and is being rolled out from
October. Not only will the capacity to teach these techniques to high
and uniform standards be increased, but the even spread of centres
across England and Wales will minimise the time trainee surgeons need
to be away from their Trust and patients.
Peter Sedman, laparoscopic surgery tutor at the Royal College of
Surgeons, said: “Increasing the application of minimally invasive
surgery makes sense for patients and the health service, but we can
only expand use if we have more surgeons trained. This new course will
enable greater numbers of surgeons to learn the techniques at locations
convenient to them.”
Notes to Editors
- The Royal College of Surgeons of England is committed to enabling surgeons to achieve and maintain the highest standards of surgical practice and patient care. Registered charity number: 212808.
- Photographs of the course are available on request
- If you have any queries please contact:
Matthew Worrall - Email: mworrall@rcseng.ac.uk; T: 020 7869 6047
Elaine Towell - Email: etowell@rcseng.ac.uk; T: 020 7869 6045
Out-of hours: 07966 486 832
