Tim Underwood 'Surgeon' event storming success
Winchester’s paying public packed out 'Surgeon', Tim Underwood’s talk covering his medical education, surgical training and life experiences leading to his consultancy, and Southampton’s contribution to oesophageal cancer research.
Featuring footage of Tim and colleagues performing open and laparoscopic surgery, the event also gave people the chance to test their surgical skills on rump steak, with ultrasonic scalpels and surgical staplers.
This is the first of a series of such events held by Southampton’s university-hospital clinical research partnership. It was held at Winchester Discovery Centre on Friday 8 November.
It drew a huge response from the audience, firing a barrage of applause and questions at Tim and continuing the debate beyond of the event.
The success of the event will surely support Mr Underwood's belief in improving transparency in the NHS through doctors and surgeons holding open public events throughout their career to aid engagement and openness and help demystify medicine.
"Public engagement events, such as this, are the perfect way to express the complexities of working in the modern NHS and, regardless of whether or not doctors or surgeons want to, it should be a requirement for all teams of clinicians to hold one or two open events a year," he said.
"It doesn't matter if it's to five people or 500, just offering yourself up to talk candidly about your life and work instils more confidence in you and the people you are treating than any other method and we should embrace it."