In my last message, I spoke about the College leadership lifting our gaze to look beyond the internal. RACS exists to serve its members, and delivering value to you must sit at the core of everything we do.

Through my deep involvement with the College, I have the privilege of seeing the breadth and depth of work taking place across education and training, standards, research, advocacy, and member support. There is a great deal we do on your behalf. But not all of it is visible or recognised. Some of it may even be taken for granted or assumed to come from elsewhere.

That’s on us. We need to do better at showing you the value we deliver so you can judge our performance for yourself and guide where we focus next. Member value isn’t about doing more—it’s about doing what matters and doing it well.

One area we’re currently focused on is raising the profile of the FRACS post-nominal. These five letters are a hard-earned mark of excellence. RACS Fellows wear them with pride. But do patients, referrers, or policymakers recognise them as the gold standard? That’s the question we’re now working to address. We believe that increasing awareness of the contribution our Fellows make—to patients, public health and the profession—is a vital part of delivering value back to our membership.

This work goes hand in hand with a broader ambition to make our College more inclusive and better reflective of the team-based nature of modern surgery. We all know the adage: surgery is a team sport. We believe it’s time to acknowledge this by offering new membership categories—and an MRACS post-nominal—to those who are part of the surgical ecosystem and are committed to the high standards of surgical care that our College represents. 

SET Trainees are very much a part of our surgical teams and we will make an MRACS post-nominal available to them. We would also like to consider MRACS for Specialist International Medical Graduates (SIMGs) that are on a pathway to Fellowship. In Aotearoa New Zealand, SIMGs who do Maintenance of Professional Standards (MOPS) with the College and already have vocational registration may be assessed for FRACS.

This is not about changing who we are but broadening our tent to better reflect how we work and understanding that strength comes from unity. Council is considering, and I’d be interested in any thoughts, on how we might recognise surgical assistants, GP proceduralists, allied health professionals and junior doctors on a pathway aspiring to be surgical Trainees, as part of the RACS family. Whatever scope of procedural work is delivered to the community, it is essential RACS has oversight and insists on the maintenance of quality and standards.

One of the most significant things we do as a College is define and uphold standards. Our ‘for surgeons, by surgeons’ approach is unique, and has earned us trust and recognition both locally and internationally. But it is not something we can take for granted.

Respect in surgery is something we have baked into our standards through reforms we undertook a decade ago to strengthen accountability and professionalism. A recent high-profile media investigation into surgical culture suggests that despite the progress we have made there is still work to do. Culture change isn’t static and requires shared responsibility and genuine coordination across regulators, employers and the College. The public expects this and we must deliver it, together.

We also know that improving diversity plays a vital role in shaping culture. Our latest Activities Report, due to be published shortly, shows steady progress with women making up more than 43 per cent of successful applicants to the Surgical Education and Training (SET) program in 2024. For the first time, women outnumbered men in both the General Surgery and Vascular Surgery intakes. Among Fellows under the age of 44, nearly 29 per cent are women.  

These are important milestones that reflect decades of advocacy and reform. But the job isn’t done. We must continue working to create a surgical profession that truly reflects the diversity of the communities we serve. As a profession, it’s something we should be proud of while maintaining the commitment to achieving equity.

There is a lot of work taking place across the College right now. I encourage you to engage with it. Share your views and help shape the future of our College. 

Warm regards,
Professor Owen Ung
President
Chair Governance Committee
Chair International Engagement