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College Policy
This section outlines the College position on key issues affecting surgery.
Surgical Decontamination Services
In this policy position statement the College sets out it principles and recommendations for the operation of a safe surgical decontamination service. The statement was approved by Council on 10th December 2009.
Research in Surgery
The College sets out the vital role of research in surgery and the clear need for a significant increase in the proportion of the medical research funding from all funding sources allocated for surgical research.
The College also highlights its own commitment to supporting research across all surgical specialties.
Continuity of Care
The College sets out principle around accountability, communication and patient experience which it believes are essential to ensuring continuity of care during surgical care. The statement was approved by Council on 8th October 2009.
The Consultant Surgeon and the Consultant-Delivered Service
In this position statement the College sets out what it believes the role of a consultant surgeon in the NHS should be and how surgical services can deliver high quality patient care. The statement addresses issues of quality, training, use of resources and patient choice. Approved by Council on 12th February 2009 it reaffirms the College’s commitment to a consultant-delivered service.
Healthcare acquired infections
President’s message on the new Healthcare Infection policy
Fellows and Members have asked for clear guidance from the College on healthcare acquired infections. This is a complex area and there are differing views on various key aspects which were debated at length by Council. However, there was broad agreement which led the College to produce a policy document that Council approved on 9th October by a 26 to 9 majority.
Summary of the College’s position:
Clearly the most important factor is overcrowded hospitals which are not properly cleaned. The College would like to see patients being given full information about bed occupancy rates on individual wards. Figures released currently by the Department of Health (DH) are for broad categories of units and whole hospitals, and never for individual surgical wards, which means that patients concerned about the risk of infection cannot make an informed choice about where they go for their surgery. In order to support the implementation of our policy the College will call for the DH to start collecting figures on a ward by ward basis and would like to hear from Fellows and Members if they have this information - please email policy@rcseng.ac.uk. The College policy is not exhaustive in describing all the factors important in healthcare acquired infections but we would also welcome Fellows and Members highlighting areas such as the inappropriate prescribing of antibiotics, which surgeons can do something about – please email policy@rcseng.ac.uk.
Some of you will be disappointed that the College has not come out in opposition to “Bare Below the Elbows”, recommended by the DH and introduced in some Trusts, for which there is no clear evidence base. We cannot oppose any measure that makes hand-washing easier and therefore might, just might, be beneficial. However if evidence does emerge that it is not effective, or indeed harmful, College policy will be reviewed.
John Black
