The Surgical Royal Colleges of the UK and Ireland are committed to supporting trainees and maintaining the highest standards in surgical training. Together, via the Joint Committee on Surgical Training (JCST), the Colleges ensure the delivery of a number of services and activities to support trainees and trainers across the UK and Ireland. Some of the main activities include:
- providing advice, guidance and support to trainees, trainers and other key stakeholders on postgraduate training regulations and processes
- enrolling, monitoring and recommending trainees for certification
- providing a bespoke helpdesk service
- developing, maintaining and updating the curriculum for the 10 surgical specialties, core surgery and interface fellowships
- developing and maintaining the online training management system (the ISCP) to ensure it is fit for purpose and readily accessible to all users, and
- supporting national quality assurance and local quality management processes for surgical training programmes across the UK and Ireland.
The JCST fee supports the running costs of all these essential services and activities.
The Colleges recognise the significant financial pressures being placed on trainees and, following discussions at the Joint Surgical Colleges Meeting in January, have decided to freeze the JCST fee at £260 for 2023-24 academic year. This would result in the fee being held at this level for the last seven years.
Professor Rowan Parks, President, RCS Edinburgh
Professor Neil Mortensen, President, RCS England
Mr Mike McKirdy, President, RCPS Glasgow
Professor Laura Viani, President, RCS Ireland