The effect of COVID-19 on surgical training

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a huge impact on society, healthcare in general and also on training in surgery. Cancellation of elective procedures, redeployment and establishment of green sites have combined with other factors to create significant gaps in training experience in operative and all other areas of surgery. There are nearly a million cases which have been lost to training since March 2020 and recovery means that tens of thousands of extra training cases have to be performed every month to recover that experience. There are pressures to address huge waiting list backlogs which may squeeze out time for training unless training is considered at the heart of any recovery plan. #NoTrainingTodayNoSurgeonsTomorrow. New, no blame, COVID ARCP outcomes have helped recognize the impact of the pandemic on progression and significant trainee and trainer organizations are united in raising the profile of the training crisis and offering a suite of suggestions on how to speed recovery. Disruption caused by the pandemic has allowed existing simulation and conferencing platforms to finally be widely accepted and the importance of the wider surgical team in supporting surgical training to be realized. New, outcomes-based curricula, with better feedback at their centre, will speed recovery of training trajectories. We should embrace the opportunity for change to help short and medium term recovery and improve the delivery of surgical training into the future.