In an interview for the British Medical Journal this week, RCSEd President Dr. Clare McNaught outlines her views on becoming the college’s first female president and the need for a major shake-up of postgraduate training.
Clare has been involved in the college for 14 years, working her way from council member to journal editor to honorary secretary to becoming the College's first female President in November 2025.
As Clare tells the BMJ, “we know that the competition rates for core surgical training in England are about eight to one at the moment."
Reform of training is “long overdue" as "we have young, very bright people doing administrative tasks that could be done by others. And we have to prioritise training and education.”
She acknowledges this could mean difficult changes for the NHS, , such as taking some resident doctors off call so that "they can spend their core hours, during the day, actually obtaining the skills that they need and spending more time with their mentors and trainers."
Read the full interview here.