A Year in Reflection

A Year in Reflection

Charles Auld, Faculty of Perioperative Care Lead

10 April 2017

The Faculty of Perioperative Care launched one year ago in March 2016 to provide education, training and support for advanced perioperative practitioners in their role as members of the extended surgical team.

Membership was opened initially at Affiliate level with many benefits, and in November 2016, further categories of Associate and full Member were made available to practitioners who could satisfy criteria in three or five domains respectively (modified from the ISCP curriculum used for surgical trainees and accessible here).

This gives perioperative practitioners access to a wide range of resources including the eLogbook, as well as the use of the postnominals MFPCEd upon being conferred at one of The Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh’s prestigious diploma ceremonies, which are attended by surgeons and dentists from across the world.

The College feels it is important to recognise the standards that have been achieved by this important group of non-medical members of the surgical workforce, who provide excellent continuity of care to our patients, as well assistance to the operating surgeon.

Building Relationships

As a new Faculty, it is important to relate closely to other national organisations within the UK. We have formed a close partnership with AfPP with whom we have held two conferences, who have accredited our courses and who have active representation on our steering group.

We also have a reciprocal arrangement with the Faculty of Physician Associates, RCP London relating to respective Board membership and I also sit on the Medical Associates Oversight Board. Health Education England (HEE) set up this Board in 2016 with the primary objective being to work towards ‘a common education and training pathway to statutory regulation for four groups – physician associates, physician assistants in anaesthesia, advanced critical care practitioners and surgical care practitioners’.

The Faculty of Perioperative has been created to support the non-medical members of the modern surgical team and we want to welcome perioperative practitioners to join and be part of one of the largest and oldest (and friendliest!) of the surgical colleges in the UK. As part of my role in promoting the Faculty, I have had the pleasure of visiting and lecturing at universities who run courses leading to modules and degrees for students / trainee SCPs and SFAs. To date, I have visited Anglia Ruskin, Edge Hill and De Montfort universities and I am due to go to Teeside and revisit Anglia Ruskin on 5^th and 9^th May 2017 respectively. If you are at, or have contacts at any of these universities, please be encouraged to come and meet with me at these sessions to learn more about the Faculty.

In my visits to date, I have heard ongoing concerns relating to the provision of CPD, and the lack of a database or register of practitioners, such as SCPs, and heard of the need for clarity of the exact role of SFAs, all of which I hope the Faculty can help address.  We can only do this by receiving your constructive feedback and support. I am also keen to visit hospitals where practitioners are employed to share information about the Faculty and listen to what you, as perioperative practitioners, would like to see from the Faculty.

Please get in touch with me by emailing fpc@rcsed.ac.uk.

To find out more about joining the Faculty click here.