General Surgery
Programme description
GMC Reference: EOS/463
Programme overview
The East of Scotland General Surgical Training Programme is a six-year immersive multispecialty programme delivered across six hospitals. The first four years encompass a broad-based training across various general surgical specialties including vascular surgery, with the penultimate two years focusing on your declared specialty interest. With its close affiliation to the University of Dundee Medical School, there are ample opportunities to undertake postgraduate studies as well as academia leading up to MD / PhD. The East of Scotland General Surgical Training Programme has topped the General Medical Council’s National Training Survey in 2024 and 2025. Key strengths include a high overall satisfaction, excellent educational and clinical supervision, the breadth of clinical experience, and supportive work environments.
Programme details
The East of Scotland General Surgery Training Programme primary serves a population of approx. 600,000 across Tayside and Perth and Kinross. Residents will primarily be based at NHS Tayside. Three hospitals comprise the NHS Tayside health board:
Ninewells Hospital in Dundee – Large university teaching hospital, tertiary centre, and major trauma unit. The General Surgery department comprises oesophagogastric, HPB, colorectal, breast, and endocrine surgery. Ninewells is also home to Scotland’s only primary peritoneal malignancies unit. Ninewells also provides regional vascular and interventional radiology services, with resident neurosurgery, plastic surgery, urology, gynaecology, ENT, and maxfax surgery. Supporting anaesthetic, radiology, and laboratory services are on site together with a comprehensive directory of medical specialties. The University of Dundee Medical School is located adjacent to Ninewells, thereby providing abdundant opportunities for teaching and supervising undergraduate medical, dental, and nursing students. The Surgical Skills Centre in Dundee regularly hosts national and international courses involving cadaveric and high-fidelity simulation. Residents can attend these and may also participate as faculty depending on clinical experience.
Perth Royal Infirmary in Perth – provides day case general surgery services primary for benign surgical pathology. General surgery outpatient clinics are routinely undertaken in PRI.
Stracathro Hospital – a small hospital providing day case general surgery services for benign surgical pathology. General surgery outpatient clinics are frequently undertaken here.
Residents may also rotate to two other hospitals affiliated with the programme:
Victoria Hospital, Kirckaldy
Forth Valley Hospital, Larbert
Clinical experience
Broadly speaking, clinical experience will be obtained from regularly scheduled elective and emergency duties. Elective duties span outpatient clinics, theatres, multidisciplinary team meetings (MDTs), endoscopy, and clinical governance activities. Our resident doctors can expect all aspects of portfolio to be covered.
Emergency duties include day or night on-call duties covering admissions, referrals, and the emergency operating theatre. You are part of the trauma team and cover paediatric surgical referrals. You are involved in very busy and broad based on call rotas.
Below is a snapshot of the procedures performed weekly across the three sites in NHS Tayside:
|
Service / site |
Ninewells |
Perth |
Stracathro |
|
Colorectal |
Segmental resections – robotic, laparoscopic, open
Pelvic floor surgery |
Benign coloproctology Pilonidal sinus - EPSiT Hernia |
Benign coloproctology Pilonidal sinus – EPSiT Hernia |
|
Oesophago-gastric |
Oesophagectomy Gastrectomy Staging laparoscopy Fundoplication Endoscopic procedures |
Laparoscopic hernia Endoscopic procedures
|
|
|
HPB |
Pancreatectomy Liver resections Splenectomy Cholecystectomy |
Cholecystectomy |
Cholecystectomy
|
|
Endocrine |
Thyroidectomy |
Thyroidectomy |
|
|
Breast |
Mastectomy Breast conserving surgery Oncoplastic reconstruction |
|
|
|
Vascular |
Open / endovascular AAA repair Bypass procedures Endarterectomy Amputation |
|
|
|
Advanced cancer |
Cytoreductive surgery HIPEC Pelvic exenteration Beyond TME Synchronous colon and liver cancer resections |
|
|
Living in Tayside, Perth & Kinross
Living and working in Tayside, Perth & Kinross offers an outstanding lifestyle for doctors seeking both professional growth and personal wellbeing. We enjoy the enormous benefit of being compact in size. The furthest placement is 1 hour away in Forth Valley. The region blends the charm of Scotland’s natural beauty with abundant outdoor activities, nature walks, and varied geography. Perth provides a picturesque setting with a high quality of life, excellent schools, and a vibrant local culture, while Dundee - a short drive away - is perfect for those who enjoy the outdoors, with easy access to hills, lochs, and coastal paths. The area remains well connected to major cities like Edinburgh and Glasgow. Whether you’re looking to advance your career in a supportive environment or to enjoy a balanced, fulfilling lifestyle, Tayside, Perth & Kinross offer the best of both worlds.
Research, audit, teaching and management opportunities
Research
The programme benefits from close affiliation and links with the University of Dundee Medical School. Five consultant surgeons are currently supervising higher research degrees with a further two consultant surgeons appointed as academic clinicians. Grant funding is a regular exercise in the department and extremely successful. There are extensive links with units across Scotland and the UK, with opportunities to establish collaborative research.
NHS Tayside has been at the forefront of clinical practice changing research, with the prime example being the UK’s bowel cancer screening programme.
Audit and Quality Improvement
Residents regularly undertake audit and quality improvement projects. Abstracts have been presented at regional and national meetings, with work published in peer-reviewed journals.
Teaching
Medical, dental, and nursing students undertake clinical placements across NHS Tayside’s surgical departments. Residents have ample opportunities to undertake formal and informal teaching and can also seek opportunities for involvement in the Medical School’s undergraduate curriculum. Residents are also encouraged to participate in medical student portfolio reviews and volunteer as examiners.
Management
Residents will be annually assigned leadership and management roles to develop their skills and their portfolio in line with CCT requirements. Depending on the stage of your training, roles include clinical governance, rota management, undergraduate and postgraduate teaching, national audits, research, and MDT.
Where the training is delivered?
- Ninewells Hospital, Dundee
- Perth Royal Infirmary
- Victoria Hospital, Kirkcaldy
- Forth Valley Royal Hospital - FVRH
Contacts and useful links
Information |
|
| Programme type (Deanery or National): | Deanery |
| Administration office: | East |
| Lead Dean / Director: | Professor Adam Hill |
| Responsible Associate Postgraduate Dean or Assistant Director (GP): | Ms Anna Paisley |
| Specialty or Sub-specialty: | Specialty |
| Date of GMC recent approval: | Aug 2010 |
| Associated Royal College - Faculty: |
Joint Committee on Surgical Training |
| Curriculum and associated assessment system: | http://www.gmc-uk.org/education/general_surgery.asp |
| Programme administrator: |
Name:
Jackie Aitken
Address: NHS Education for Scotland, 102 West Port, Edinburgh. EH3 9DN Tel: 0131 656 3475 Email: jackie.aitken@nhs.scot |
| Programme director(s): |
Name:
Claire Carden Email: claire.carden@nhs.scot |
| Quality of training: | Quality Management |
This page was last updated on: 29.01.2026 at 17.14