One of our key priorities is supporting surgeons in England, Wales and Northern Ireland to implement and maintain professional standards of patient care by fostering leadership and involvement, and supporting professional and personal development.
We work in partnership with the 9 SAC-defined Specialty Associations to provide local ‘on the ground’ leadership and support for all surgeons throughout their surgical careers. Our programme operates through our regional professional affairs infrastructure, mapped to strategic health authority boundaries and to the devolved nations of Wales and Northern Ireland.
We aim to provide:
- a strong, unified local and national voice for surgery in relation to service provision and professional matters,
- effective professional leadership for local surgeons through the Professional Affairs Boards headed up by the College Director for Professional Affairs,
- a key focal point for working surgeons to access informal advice and support, signposting to relevant specialty association services, our Confidential Advice and Support Service (CSAS), the Invited Review Mechanism (IRM) and other services
- expert advice and support to Trusts and employers in relation to job planning.
We have brought together senior surgeons across Trusts and specialties on 12 local Professional Affairs Boards (PABs), each led by a Director for Professional Affairs (DPA) and comprising nine Regional Specialty Professional Advisors (RSPAs) as well as the lead Council member for the region and Head of School. Each PAB is supported by the College’s Coordinator in the Region.
