Confusion on title/training

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Has anyone had surgery by a Associate Specialist Surgeon vs a consultant?

We have been advised that surgery on my husband will be undertaken by a Associate Specialist Surgeon.

Is this a trainee surgeon or full qualified/experienced? Just trying to get our heads around it. I didn't want to ask in the appointment as felt I might offend the Mr (not Dr?).

Is there a reason why a Associate Specialist Surgeon would undertake surgery vs a consultant?

Would you feel confident with (slightly complex but not heart/organ) surgery by an Associate?

Thanks.

I didn't want to ask in the appointment as felt I might offend the Mr (not Dr?).

all (or most?) surgeons are mr/miss/mrs etc rather than dr due to some tradition, my surgeon explained it at one point but I can’t remember the whys.

Ok, thanks. That will be why he was referred to as Mr.

Do you have experience an Associate Specialist Surgeon?

Do you have experience an Associate Specialist Surgeon?
im honestly not sure, I’ve had a lot of surgeries and haven’t really paid attention to the title, if they’re chosen to do it they will be qualified and if they’re training they are supervised. It wouldn’t personally put me off.

Simplest way to describe- It’s a consultant level dr who hasn’t completed the formal qualifications yet.

eta- I’d probably prefer the AS as they often do more direct patient care. Consultants tend to be management/teaching and may not be currently doing as many surgeries/direct care.

Ah ok thanks. Would only the best and brightest complete formal quals to become a consultant and if not, stay as an associate specialist surgeon?

They are very experienced surgeons who aren't in consultant roles, with significant postgraduate experience. Registrars are technically "trainees" as they are in higher specialty training but will have an increasingly huge amount of experience as well.

https://www.genepeople.org.uk/talking-to-doctors/hierarchy-of-doctors/

Thank you. I'll have a read through

What's interesting about that however was this part... (in the Associate Specialist Surgeon section)

What are they called?

The title of an associate specialist doctor is ‘doctor’

The person we met is definitely a Mr.

You can't totally link title and ability / etc.
A consultant might be new in post and have never seen that precise issue to be fixed - on have 10-20 years of experience and be a world expert in the matter...

there are also a variety of reasons why someone may not be a consultant - they could have failed the exams / not found a job in the area where they want to live / may choose to step back due to family (e.g. children) reasons / may even decide that they want to do the job, but not have the responsibilities of being a consultant - usually a whole mixture of people in jobs for different reasons

most important thing will be what experience they have in doing the work...

Thank you. That makes sense. This person is a 'general surgeon' so I suppose they will have experience in a whole lot of different generalist surgery.

A 'Mr/Miss' is what surgeons who have passed their postgraduate exams in surgery are called, so they will be Doctor X (for physicians, sometimes Obs and Gynae) or Mr/Miss Y (surgeons and sometimes Obs and Gynae)

And here is an explanation of what a General Surgeon does:

https://www.healthcareers.nhs.uk/explore-roles/doctors/roles-doctors/surgery/general-surgery

I was an associate specialist for 25 years.
I completed all my consultant training and was offered consultant posts and did a couple of locums early on.
I didn't want to do any of the academic or management stuff that goes with the consultant grade. I was simply happy sitting in my clinics etc seeing patients. DH at that point was a consultant and working a lot in the evenings and had frequent on calls. With young children, it was much easier for me to have a job that I could pretty much guarantee leaving on time.

Thank you for your explanation and sharong your experience. I hope I didn't offend you, I was just trying to understand as we hadn't heard of an Associate Specialist Surgeon before so just trying to put minds at rest.

You’re overthinking. Or watching too much Greys Anatomy 😂

not all the “best and brightest” become consultants. sometimes the best consultants are not the shining stars but the diligent workers who may be steady and thorough. Sometimes consultants take a step back from surgical procedures as they age and AS do the bulk of the hands on.

You have no idea what the career path of this particular AS is. It may be as simple as there are no consultant posts available. Or they are waiting for the next exam round.

it could be they preferred the hands on patient contact of an AS, and don’t particularly want the management and teaching/paperwork burden of a consultant.

Mr/miss is a long standing title for surgeons and is preferred of Dr as it recognises their surgical training and marks their expertise. Consultants will also be Miss/Mr.