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President’s perspective It is hard to believe that the year is almost over. It has been a tumultuous and eventful one, framed by the ongoing pandemic. It is pleasing to see so many communities in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand coming out of lockdowns. Despite this positive step forward, we are faced with the challenges brought about by the pandemic that have impacted negatively on the health of our communities. For example, in Victoria, we have had elective surgery restrictions imposed intermittently over the last 18 months, resulting in a growing waiting list for elective surgery in both the public and private sectors. We believe that the current stabilisation of the COVID-19 situation with high vaccination rates, fall in the number of COVID-19 cases, and the gradual reduction in hospital in-patient
ICU cases presents an ideal window of opportunity for government to restore surgery to full capacity. We called on the Victorian government to address this issue urgently and we are pleased to say that elective surgery capacity was increased to 75 per cent and hopefully full capacity by the time this magazine goes to print. This successful outcome is the result of the great efforts of surgical directors, Victorian chairs of colleges and specialty associations, and the Victorian perioperative consultative council comprising of surgeons and anaesthetists. I would like to thank our Fellows, Trainees, Specialist International Graduates, staff at the College and our
patients for soldiering on in the face of so many challenges. I also extend my gratitude to the many who went out of their way to support their communities. If there is one positive we can carry forward, it is the spirit of generosity that has been so evident in the last two years of the pandemic. One of the challenges we faced during the year was running our Fellowship examinations. The Fellowship Clinical and Viva examinations took place for seven surgical specialties with 151 candidates in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand between 5 and 7 November 2021. The examinations were delivered in a hybrid model across 23 venues involving a mix of in-person and remote examiners and observers.
