Planning for Patients of the Future' is the theme of the 2016 Millin Meeting which will bring together more than 300 surgeons at RCSI today to discuss challenges within surgical training and practice in Ireland.

The focus of this year's meeting is the selection of surgeons of the future, supporting a gender balanced surgical workforce and the surgical future of smaller hospitals in Ireland.

Commenting on the meeting, Professor John Hyland, RCSI President said: “In order provide the highest standards of surgical care for patients in the future, it is essential that surgery continues to attract the brightest and best graduates to undertake surgical training. We must listen to current surgical trainee views about what are the pressure points at entry to training and the challenges encountered during training so we can continue to refine the surgical training pathway in order to produce a world class gender balanced surgical workforce.”

“It is vital that our hospitals are configured to ensure that the appropriate peer support and facilities are available for our future surgeons to practice surgery at the highest level of complexity which they have been trained to do. At today's Millin meeting we will address these topics by highlighting issues impacting the surgical profession today and seeking solutions to these current challenges,” Professor Hyland concluded.

There will be three surgical sessions at the meeting and the first session of the day entitled ‘Selecting the Surgeons of the Future' will focus on the selection process for surgical trainees and will hear from a panel experts involved from an Irish perspective and will also draw on the experiences of national selection for surgery in the UK. Session two entitled ‘Supporting a Gender Balanced Surgical Workforce' will include perspectives and data from higher surgical trainees and how they can be supported further as well as exploring the successful Women in Surgery Africa mentoring programme. The third session entitled ‘The Surgical Future for Model 3 Hospitals' will explore the issues around consultant general surgeon manpower in smaller hospitals in Ireland and will examine solutions to potentially maintain the viability of these Model 3 hospitals.

Ms Olivia O'Leary, Journalist and Broadcaster will give the 25th Carmichael Lecture. Her lecture entitled ‘My Trade' will reflect on her career as one of Ireland's leading journalists including some sharp insights into the interplay between politics and the media.

The meeting culminates with the 39th Millin Lecture which will be delivered by Mr Niall Davis, FRCSI (Urol), Specialist Registrar in Urology at Beaumont Hospital, Dublin. His lecture is entitled ‘The Evolution of Tissue Engineering in Urology'.

A number of medals will be presented throughout the day at the Millin meeting. Dr Joseph Forrester, Stanford University is the recipient of the American College of Surgeons & RCSI Resident Exchange Fellow award for 2016. Mr Patrick McCabe will be presented with the Brian Lane Medal for his outstanding performance at this year's Surgical Bootcamp. Dr Tara Aileen Ní Dhonnchú, SpR, Royal Brompton Hospital London will be presented with the Professor W.A.L. McGowan medal. This medal is awarded to recognise the highest performing FRCS candidate across all specialties from the RCSI surgical training scheme.

Watch journalist and broadcaster Olivia O'Leary speak at the RCSI Carmichael Lecture 2016.