49th Doolin Lecture: AE (Freddy) Wood: The Patient, the Surgeon and the Regulator: 7th Dec 2013

摘要

This year’s Doolin lecture was delivered by Freddy Wood cardiothoracic surgeon and incoming President of The Medical Council. Wood described his career from entering medicine in 1965 and his subsequent journey through a long and illustrious career in surgery. His apprenticeship is daunting for those who follow in his footsteps. It consisted of 40,000 hours on call, 8,000 hours operating and 7,500 hours in clinical care and education. He highlights the current challenge of training competent surgeons within 6 years while conforming to the 48 hour EU directive. Training will need to become more intense with greater concentration of surgical services. The current model with 47 hospitals nationally will need to be addressed.