COVID-19 webinars

Professor Neil Mortensen was interviewed about his plans for his term by RCS Council member Stella Vig and Regional Director for Yorkshire Arin Saha. We gave you an opportunity to pose your questions to the new president and find out what is next for the RCS.

Chair Mr Richard Kerr, consultant neurosurgeon and author of the Commission on the Future of Surgery and panel members Anaesthetist at The Royal Sussex County Hospital Dr Rachael Grimaldi, Chief Operating Officer at JHubMed Mr Marcus Stow and Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery Registrar Technology Editor and Writer for RCS England Mr Ryan Kerstein, discussed and highlighted projects and innovations that will impact the way we work moving forward.

Mrs Scarlett McNally, RCS Council member chaired this session with Victoria Pegna, RCS Council member and less than full-time trainee; Nicola Stobbs, RCS Council member who recently returned to work from maternity leave; Ginny Bowbrick, consultant vascular surgeon and Deputy Director of Medical Education; and Liam Poynter, trainee surgeon in colorectal and general surgery to discuss parenthood during the pandemic.

Join our panel Miss Fiona Myint, the presidents of ASIT and BOTA, Mr Josh Burke and Mrs Tricia Campbell and the Chair of the ICBSE, Professor Frank Smith for a discussion on the restarting of formal examinations for surgery.

VP Miss Sue Hill, Consultant Vascular surgeon, chaired this session with Mrs Scarlett McNally, RCS Council Member and Deputy Director of CPOC, and Dr David Selwyn, Medical Director of Sherwood Forest Hospitals and Director of CPOC on what perioperative care looks like during the COVID-19 crisis

RCS Council members Professor Peter Brennan and Victoria Pegna and the team at Critical Factors discuss the importance of effective briefings with an emphasis on briefing in the COVID-19 environment.

RCS Vice President and President Elect, Professor Neil Mortensen was joined by Dr Steven Wexner and Professor Antonino Spinelli to discuss what we can learn from the global community, specifically from Italy and the US.

RCS President Professor Derek Alderson was joined by RCS Director of Clinical Research Professor Peter Hutchinson along with research leads as they showcased and discussed COVID-specific projects such as CovidSurg and Operation COVID.

RCS VP and President Elect, Professor Neil Mortensen, RCS Council member, Miss Fiona Myint, and eminent neurosurgeon, Mr Henry Marsh look at the challenging issues and ethics that all clinicians are currently facing of when, how and if to treat patients who may carry the COVID-19 virus.

On 6 May Cliff Shearman VP, Farah Bhatti, Ananda Nanu and Tim Cook examined the impact the current pandemic is having on Black and Minority Ethnic NHS workers and wider issues relating to diversity in surgery.

Our President, Derek Alderson, was joined by RCS Council member and President of the Federation of Surgical Specialty Associations (FSSA), Nigel Mercer on 29 April to reflect on how the surgical workforce is coping with COVID-19 one month on from our inaugural broadcast.

Our webinar on Thursday 23 April was a joint collaboration with ASiT, BOTA and JCST discussing issues important to trainees.

On 15 April, our President Elect, Professor Neil Mortensen, hosted our new COVID-19 webinar and was joined by RCS Council members Victoria Pegna and Stella Vig, to discuss mental health and wellbeing.

Professor Michael Escudier, Dean of the Faculty of Dental Surgery at The Royal College of Surgeons of England, was joined by the deans of the Dental Faculties for an interactive webinar on Tuesday 7 April. The session consisted of a Q&A on how dental practice and dental surgery is coping with the current pandemic.

On 26 March 2020, RCS President Professor Derek Alderson and Chief Executive Andrew Reed discussed the challenges presented to the surgical workforce by the Covid-19 outbreak and answered questions from viewers.