Vascular surgical training in the UK and Ireland

Fifty-six vascular surgical trainees and 31 recently appointed consultants with an interest in vascular surgery replied to a postal questionnaire about their training. The majority fulfilled the guidelines recommended by the Vascular Advisory Committee of the Vascular Surgical Society of Great Britain and Ireland, which are--a minimum two years of higher surgical training in units with an interest in vascular surgery and a substantial and comprehensive experience of (operative) vascular surgery. However, the operative experience during training was very variable, ranging between 10 and 574 operations reported by new consultants. Minimum standards of operative experience may need to be defined. The survey also identified that training in carotid endarterectomy is sometimes deficient and noted that as much as one-third of operative experience may be gained 'out of hours' on emergency cases. To obtain this experience trainees have to work very long hours, two-thirds of senior registrars have vascular on call rotas of 1:2 or less. Imminent changes in the structure of higher surgical training and the reduction in hours worked by junior doctors may seriously affect vascular surgical training.