History and Governance

The NSW Networked Basic Surgical Training (BST) program was announced by the NSW Minister for Health in July 2005, and commenced in January 2006. The introduction of this networked system of training delivery was an outcome of the review of the delivery of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons (RACS) BST program in NSW.

Oversight of Training

Each Network is managed by a Network Management Committee (NMC), which includes clinician, trainee, hospital administration, and Local Health District (LHD) representatives.

The NMCs in turn are overseen by the NSW Clinical Surgical Training Council (CSTC).

Making sure the Trainees have a Voice

Both the NMCs and the CSTC include among their members trainees. From 2008, there are trainee representatives from the PGY3+ and PGY1/2 cohorts.

The formation of a Trainees Subcommittee, reporting directly to the CSTC, was part of the BST review’s final recommendations. This committee was never formed, as the RACS establishment of an equivalent body, known as RACSTA, alleviated the need. A NSW RACSTA representative was invited to sit on the CSTC so that the trainees concerns and opinions could be heard at the highest level.

What does the NSW Health System offer me?

Once you are PGY2, you can apply to a SET program. As part of your application, you must be able to prove to RACS that you will satisfy all the selection criteria by the end of PGY2. For details of the SET criteria, see the SET information page.

In NSW, there are six (6) Surgical Networks, and these Networks are designed to provide you with the experience you require to apply to the SET program(s) of your choice.

What is a Surgical Network?

A Surgical Network is a collection of hospitals, including principal referral hospital(s), major metropolitan hospital(s) and major non-metropolitan/ rural district hospital(s) designed to provide Junior Medical Officers (JMOs) wishing to apply to SET with a diverse range of surgical, critical care, and emergency medicine experiences. To support surgical education and training, each Network has:

• a Network Director of Training (NDoT);
• an Education Support Officer (ESO) to assist the NDoT in the organisation and administration of the Network Training Program;
• a Site Director of Training (SDoT) at each hospital within the network; and
• infrastructure (including telecommunications infrastructure), office space and teaching resources to enable delivery of network services to all sites.

For information on the Surgical Networks’ hospitals, and key contacts, please click here

How do I apply to a Surgical Network?

Recruitment to the Surgical Networks is managed as part of the JMO and Vocational Trainee recruitment process. All PreSET Network jobs will be listed from late July on the NSW Health Junior Medical Officer Recruitment website.