RCSEd National Student Surgical Skills Competition 2018/2019
Congratulations to University of Plymouth medical student James Russell, winner of the 2018-19 Surgical Skills Competition.
The Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh's renowned Student Surgical Skills Competition gives aspiring surgeons in their final year of UK medical school an opportunity to practice and compete in surgical challenges against their peers from across the UK.
All final year students who register for the competition will receive complimentary 2 year Affiliation with the College, once activated this provides access to a wealth of great benefits including
- Access to the Regional Surgical Advisor Network for career advice, guidance and professional support.
- Access to Bursaries and Grants
- Regular updates from the College including relevant events and courses, which can be attended for free or at discounted rates. Events and courses attended will benefit portfolios and applications.
- Access to a series of revision webinars aimed at candidates studying for the MRCS examination. These webinars comprise a short lecture delivered by a senior MRCS trainer and examiner followed by a question and answer session and will last up to one hour. This includes archived webinars. An in depth anatomy series will be released shortly.
- A private 25GB Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh mailbox and use of the Skydrive, where affiliates can store important documents and photographs.
- Access to Acland Anatomy – a membership benefit to a high quality, online anatomy resource.
- Online discounts for medical publishers including Oxford University Press, Wiley – Blackwell, Quitessence Publishing and Elsevier.
Having successfully run the competition since 2011, the College, in collaboration with Medtronic, will host regional heats for the competition in 19 different locations throughout the UK in autumn 2018 and January 2019, with senior medical students competing to see who is a cut above the rest by learning and then demonstrating skills such as suturing and knot-tying to laparoscopic skills tests.
The best contender from each region will win a travel and accommodation package to Edinburgh to stay at the College's Ten Hill Place Hotel and to participate in the Grand Final of the competition on 16 March 2019. The Grand Final Prize includes a 'Medtronic Experience' supplied by our competition sponsor, which will offer the winning student an incredible opportunity to gain hands on experience with the latest surgical equipment.
2017 Grand Final
Regional Heats
Region |
Location |
Date of Heat |
Heat Winners |
| KSS | Eastbourne | 3 October 2018 (evening) | Joe Guppy |
| Wales | Cardiff | 6 October 2018 (morning) | Billy Down |
| Yorkshire | Leeds | 10 October 2018 (evening) | Charmaine Lee Anne Toh |
| East Midlands | Leicester | 1 December 2018 (morning) | Bryan Chew |
| Oxford | Oxford | 26 October 2018 (afternoon) | Audrey Davies |
| Northern Ireland | Belfast | 7 November 2018 (evening) | Melissa Carvahlo |
| East of England | Norwich | 24 November 2018 (morning) | Laura Brennan |
| West Midlands | Birmingham | 24 November 2018 (morning) | Alexander Baldwin |
| Mersey | Liverpool | 1 December 2018 (morning) | Benjamin Hall |
| North West | Manchester | 15 December 2018 (morning) | Joseph McKay |
| London | London | 26 January 2019 (all day – double heat) | Hesham Khalid |
| Scotland (South East) | Edinburgh | 29 November 2018 (evening) | Nadia Salloum |
| South West | Plymouth | 21 January 2019 (evening) | James Russell |
| Wessex | Southampton | 13 December 2018 (evening) | Laurie Tupper |
| Scotland (North) | Aberdeen | 17 January 2019 (evening) | Nour Abdel-Fattah |
| North of England | Newcastle | 3 December 2018 (evening) | Raiyyan Aftab |
| Severn | Bristol | 31 January 2019 (evening) | Sarah Burd |
| Scotland (East) | Dundee | 8 December 2018 (morning) | Jia Ying Lim |
| Scotland (West) | Glasgow | 2 November 2018 (afternoon) | Kit Siang |
Winner of the Surgical Skills Competition 2016-2017, Christopher Barr (University of Bristol)
“It is really fantastic and quite unexpected for me to have won the UK-wide Surgical Skills Competition! I have always been set on a career in surgery, so taking part in this competition was something I thought would be good to have on my CV to demonstrate my commitment to a career in surgery. Overall I just really enjoyed the competition, the heats were challenging and testing, but at the same time really great fun so I’d definitely recommend to any undergraduates thinking of doing surgery as a career to do the competition, if it’s available again.”
Read more about the 2017 finalists here!
Winner of the Surgical Skills Competition 2012-2013, Jamie Clements (Queen's University Belfast)
"The experience and training I will obtain from such an opportunity is inestimable and an experience that not many people get. In terms of future career and building up my portfolio and CV, I'm certainly heading in the right direction. I'm quite overcome by the amount of opportunities that are now available to me through this competition and affiliating with RCSEd. If I had known from the off what doors can be opened by becoming an Affiliate of RCSEd, I would have tried to become an affiliate of RCSEd earlier in my medical training. It has been great to meet other medical students and share experiences of other medical courses at other universities. I've learnt so much from the experience which I will take back to Belfast with me. It's been amazing."
Winner of the Surgical Skills Competition 2011-2012, Mark Mobley (University of Warwick):
"The whole competition was great fun and all the staff and surgeons involved in the competition were brilliant - really welcoming and supportive. It's also been fantastic to meet the other finalists from all over the UK and share stories of how each person got into medicine. I found the final of the competition challenging and learnt a lot from it. I really enjoyed practicing on the laparoscopic station as I've never used such state-of-the-art equipment before and it was also my first opportunity to carry out tendon repair; I've witnessed it being done hundreds of times, but to actually be able to do it myself and do it well was a really rewarding experience and a great achievement for me. Winning this competition has now given me a steer in my career ambitions."
For further information about the Surgical Skills Competition email: outreach@rcsed.ac.uk. Alternatively, if you are wishing to register on the day of the regional heat, please call 0121 647 1560.
