York Burnout Event
Mr Praminthra Chitsabesan, Consultant Colorectal Surgeon
Held on 14 October 2025 in York, England, The York Burnout Event brought together over 50 healthcare professionals for a day of honest, impactful discussion on burnout and wellbeing in surgery.
Convened by Mr Praminthra Chitsabesan, Consultant Colorectal Surgeon and Mr Amaran Krishnan, Consultant Upper GI and General Surgeon, the event provided a supportive space to explore the pressures of surgical careers and the importance of fostering resilience, peer support, and institutional change.
Surgeon Burnout: Lessons and Reflections from an Expert
We spoke to Mr Praminthra Chitsabesan, Consultant Colorectal Surgeon at York and Scarborough Teaching Hospitals, NHS Foundation Trust and learned more about the event.
What was the primary motivation for organising this event on surgeon burnout at this particular time?
Mr Chitsabesan: "Having reached 52, I have felt the effects of disenchantment or not looking forward to work/being disenfranchised and, interestingly – as one of the presenters mentioned – not doing things I liked or have time for or chores. The last thing to go is always work but you find you let slip anything you enjoy or that makes your life easy, I have seen it in colleagues too and realise it is a real thing that we need to know more about, or we have a real risk of losing more colleagues an not being able to retain staff or recruit. This is a serious issue and easily managed".
Which themes or sessions seemed to have the biggest impact on attendees?
Mr Chitsabesan: "The way that you lose things you like doing prior to burning out – i.e not doing your work well but actually its already happened by this stage. Psychotherapy, talking etc does help. Managing ourselves – many of us are perfectionist and so maybe more prone to burnout – we have to understand the primary stressors and then mitigate the secondary such as excessive admin, school drop off, colleagues etc."
What do you hope attendees will take back to their surgical teams or organizations after attending?
Mr Chitsabesan: "Hopefully talking to others and asking others if they are burning out.’Are you OK?’ it seems to have made a massive difference if you show you care. Look after the team holistically and then you improve performance and reduce burnout as in the F1 team. I didn’t know the physio could change the team to ensure they are all performing as expected, and that this is done is a safe environment where no fingers are pointed, as everyone is aiming for the fastest."
