Senior surgeons have written to the government expressing alarm that funding for highly specialised training is being cut.
The letter, seen by Workers, is signed by surgeons working right across the NHS in fields such as breast reconstruction, head and neck cancer, cleft lip and palate, skin cancer, spinal conditions, and complex hand disorders.
Expertise
Specialist care in these areas depends on surgeons who possess expertise spanning several disciplines. This is delivered through Training Interface Group (TIG) Fellowships, national programmes undertaken at the end of training.
In August 2025 support for the Fellowships was withdrawn without warning or consultation. This means that from August 2026 no new surgeons in England will enter TIG training. Patient safety is uppermost as these are high-risk conditions. Not only will there be an immediate reduction in care, but as senior surgeons retire, the service faces collapse.
‘British trainees may have to seek experience abroad.’
Given its record to date, the government may have no qualms in pursuing international recruitment, and British trainees may have to seek experience abroad.
The Cleft Lip and Palate Association wrote its own letter to Wes Streeting. It said this action, “…risks taking us back to the 1980s, before there was a clear, structured and nationally recognised pathway for training cleft surgeons”. The association represents experts delivering training in plastic surgery, ENT surgery, and oral and maxillofacial surgery.
Backlog
The Surgical Clinical Excellence Network of the Craniofacial Society of Great Britain and Ireland includes all cleft surgeons working in England. Guy Thorburn, consultant plastic surgeon and the network’s chair, explained: “Given the backlog that exists in Children Surgical waiting lists, having properly trained surgical consultants is vital. They’re able to treat a larger volume of cases with fewer complications...helping to bring down that waiting list and the cost for the NHS.”
Surgeons and therapists are demanding clarity on alternatives. They fear no impact assessment has been undertaken, and that access to any services that survive will become a postcode lottery.