“The College supports the introduction of World Health Organisation’s Safer Surgery Checklist.

Surgery is about team-working and the checklist will provide the opportunity for all members of the theatre team to raise any concerns they might have. Taking a few minutes to run through the checklists will mean procedures run more smoothly, saving time later on.

Serious errors are rare in surgery but in any system as complicated as a hospital, simple mistakes do happen and sometimes those mistakes can have a big impact on the lives of patients. Hopefully, by improving theatre culture, these already rare events can be made even more unlikely.”


John Black, President Royal College of Surgeons