Tighter Controls for SCP’s – A Multi-Faceted Issue

01 November 2019

The Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh have stated that the use of theatre assistants and nurses in NHS hospitals is on the increase, however the Daily Express has reported that “hundreds of non-medical staff performing heart and orthopaedic procedures after just two years of training need better regulation.” This sensational approach to reporting on a complex issue notwithstanding, the Confederation of British Surgeons feel the issue is an important one to discuss, and note that RCSEd is fully supportive of the role of the Surgical Care Practitioners as members of the extended surgical team, and will additionally be holding two workshops, as well as an annual conference for advanced practitioners in surgery this month.

The Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, the largest surgical college in Britain - whose professional body has 27,000 members across the UK - has called for the Government to bring Surgical Care Practitioners (SCPs) under tighter scrutiny in order to "monitor standards and continually train and assess,” and has called upon the Health Secretary Matt Hancock to ensure that the UK's 600 SCPs are regulated by the General Medical Council. CBS’ Surgeons welcome the call for greater regulation, and have discussed many facets of what is, for some, a controversial issue playing out in the public court of opinion.

Although SCPs must work under the supervision of a consultant surgeon, the surgeon does not always have to be in the same room – which may put patients at risk.Many SCPs have previously worked as nurses or theatre assistants and are therefore governed by the bodies which oversee these professions – which are not bound to uphold the same standards as those who oversee surgeons.

Additionally - and concerning to some - Surgical Care Practitioners are entitled to carry out various surgical procedures following the completion of an accredited training course – however this contains some online modules, leaving the general public with some questions about how comprehensive it is, since it includes serious procedures used during cardiac bypass surgery, as well as the use of power tools in orthopaedic surgery for joint replacement. Whilst many Surgeons acknowledge that SCPs playa valuable role in assisting medically and surgically, some feel that their standard of training is variable, and that employing SCPs may reduce the number of training case opportunities for other medical trainees.

According to Professor Michael Griffin, President of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh; "A surgeon has to undergo up to 10 years of training to qualify. SCPs are not medically qualified, and they are not doctors, although they are expected to do some of the work a surgeon does, which makes it bizarre the Government is not regulating them under the same body as doctors."

This month, The Federation of Surgical Speciality Associations held a meeting with The Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh in order to discuss how surgeons can effectively put more pressure on the Government to act in the interest of Britons’ safety, and CBS welcomes the views of all Surgeons on this matter – let us know what you think using our social media channels, @UKSurgeons. We also wish to encourage those who are not yet members to please visit our website (Confederation of British Surgery), or contact us for more information on becoming a Founding Fellow membership of CBS for a one-time fee of £500 (limited spaces).

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