Organising a surgical skills centre

The aim of this paper is to define a strategy for the development and organisation of a surgical skills centre. The areas of interest can be divided into decisions about who, what and where to teach, the importance of an approach which is competency‐based, definition of staff to run the centre, and also the use of the centre for the purposes of assessment, as well as training. The efficient delivery of this service will be augmented by adopting a multi‐disciplinary and multi‐professional approach, and must also be malleable enough to adopt future developments, such as web‐based learning. Simulation is now the preferred mode of practice for commencement of surgical training. Surgical skills centres must be able to supply users with tools in a suitably designed environment, which enables them to move along a curriculum which is delivered in a competency‐based manner.