Published 16 March 2009, doi:10.1136/bmj.b1087
Cite this as: BMJ 2009;338:b1087

News

Surgeons have insufficient experience to operate on children, report warns

Andrew Cole

1 London

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Some local paediatric services may be forced to close if surgeons who operate on children cannot get the necessary experience to maintain their skills, the Royal College of Surgeons has warned.

Its warning follows a critical report from the Healthcare Commission revealing that most surgeons in England and Wales who operate on children in common specialties are failing to carry out the recommended minimum level of 100 procedures involving children a year. In addition, most anaesthetists are falling short of the recommended 20 consultations with children each year.

A spokesperson for the Royal College of Surgeons said that there were strong arguments for treating non-specialist surgical operations such as hernia or drainage of an abscess locally rather than in specialist centres, as long as there are appropriate support facilities for children.

"We are looking into ways to provide local care for appropriate cases," she said. One solution would be to . . . [Full text of this article]


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