A message from the President of RCSI

9 January 2025

Dear Fellows and Members,

As we begin a new year, I wish you much health and happiness for 2025.

I am mindful that many of you worked throughout the festive season, however, I do hope that you had an opportunity to unwind and to spend some time with family and friends. The coming months are always a challenge for healthcare systems both in Ireland and internationally.

At such times, it’s important to avail of all opportunities to connect, network and lean on each other.

Supporting colleagues

In recent days weather warnings and a surge in the number of patients hospitalised with flu have dominated Irish news headlines. As a result, many surgical patients are experiencing the frustrations of cancellations and delays in scheduled care. There is no doubt that the pressures that are present in these first months of the year impact negatively on the morale, welfare and wellbeing of surgeons and their teams too.

I encourage you to take care of yourself and to support and be mindful of colleagues during this busy period. I can assure you that each of us on RCSI Council, and our team in Surgical Affairs, take every opportunity to advocate for surgical patients and to encourage the implementation of more permanent measures to address these recurring seasonal challenges to protect surgical care.

Transforming theatre

For more than a decade now, RCSI has developed expertise on the optimal function of operating theatres. Effective management of operating theatres is critical to providing safe surgical services. When theatre time is wasted, it causes cancellations and delays in patient care, places the operating surgeon under time pressure and reduces our ability to deliver the high-quality surgical training that we aspire to provide.

In December, I was delighted to host the inaugural National Theatre Effectiveness Meeting at RCSI to support surgeons around the country in this important work. The RCSI team, under the clinical leadership of Prof. Eleanor Carton FRCSI and colleagues Padraig Kelly, Charlie Dineen, Therese Callinan and Denise Kearney, have worked hard to support the HSE in the implementation of the perioperative pathway enhancement programme and the presentations on the day showed the fruits of their labours.

In a measure of the impact of the programme, speakers at the event included HSE CEO Mr Bernard Glouster, Secretary General Mr Robert Watt and Chief Clinical Officer Dr Colm Henry as well as frontline leaders from around the country. You can read more about the event here.

An opportunity to connect

In the meantime, I very much look forward to seeing many of you at the forthcoming Charter Meeting, which is the first opportunity for our community to connect in 2025. Taking place in RCSI, the Meeting will run from Tuesday 4 to Saturday 8 February. The full programme and online registration are available here.

Under the theme of Next Generation Surgery the 2025 Charter Meeting programme includes parallel sessions for several specialties, a range of industry exhibitors as well as a Robotic Learning Village. The latter is closely linked to Symposium III, which takes place on Thursday, 6 February and focuses on Training for the Shift to Robotic Surgery. Chaired by Council Member Ms Ann Hanly FRCSI, this session will explore the ongoing evolution and delivery of robotic surgery training for surgical trainees through to established surgeons.

I am also pleased to announce that on Friday, 7 February the 100th Abraham Colles Lecture will take place. Rather fittingly, given the centenary nature of the lecture, Professor Fergal J. O’Brien, RCSI Deputy Vice Chancellor for Research and Innovation, will deliver a talk entitled: From Colles’ Fracture to Gene-activated Biomaterials – A Journey Through Tissue Engineering at RCSI.

Apart from talks, panel discussions and parallel sessions, Charter Meeting 2025 provides time to connect with each other. On Thursday, 6 February, RCSI Fellows and Members Office will host a second Networking Breakfast from 7.45-8.45am in RCSI College Hall. Aside from beating the morning traffic, breakfast is also a great place to meet with other surgeons, trainees and surgical researchers.

Furthermore, on Saturday, 8 February, over 40 families will attend the first Family Fun Day for the children of RCSI Fellows and Members. Face painting, a giant game of Operation and tours of the SIM Centre are part of the many activities that are planned for the day. While these are new features of the traditional Charter Meeting programme, these events are welcome additions as I believe that spending time informally with colleagues plays a hugely important role in ensuring the professional wellbeing of our community.

Looking to the future

In January, we plan to connect and celebrate RCSI’s community of Fellows and Members in the coming year. From opportunities to meet in-person in Ireland and internationally to sharing of personal and professional stories from among the community.

In my first letter as President, I wrote about the privilege we share in belonging to such an engaged and vibrant community. If you haven’t done so to date, this year I strongly encourage you to get involved and don’t forget to update your details via the online Fellows and Members Portal.

I look forward to meeting with many of you in the weeks and months to come.

Yours sincerely,

Professor Deborah McNamara
President, RCSI

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