Rationalisation of the hospital service and rationalisation of surgical training are two topics being explored at the annual RCSI Millin Meeting, which is being held today in RCSI. More than 120 surgeons and surgical trainees will attend the day-long conference and presentations will be given by leading consultants, the Department of Health and the Irish Medical Council.

Dr Tony Holohan, Chief Medical Officer will give the first lecture of the day, providing a strategic overview of the changes taking place within hospitals. This will be followed by reports of personal experiences from surgeons involved in the change process within their local hospitals as well as looking at the surgical specialities in light of rationalisation of hospital services.

Professor John MacFie, President of the Association of Surgeons of Great Britain and Ireland will open the second part of the conference, focusing on the rationalisation of surgical training and exploring the definition of the end-point of training. Professor Richard Reznick, Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences, Queens University will give a lecture entitled ‘Better, Faster, Cheaper... Pick Two'. This lecture explores the concept that nowadays, you can't have all three; therefore a doctor must pick the two that work best for their organization. Professor Reznick was also awarded an Honorary Fellowship of RCSI.

Professor Eilis McGovern, President, RCSI, said: "The rationalisation of the hospital services and rationalisation of surgical training are both countrywide topics which are currently being reviewed by the Department of Health and Children. Addressing these two issues at the Millin meeting, provides surgeons with the opportunity to hear first-hand from their colleagues the implications of the changes taking place. Additionally, the Fellowship Feedback Session gives surgeons with opportunity to provide feedback on topics such as the Elective Surgery Programme."