Ashley Charitable Trust

THE ROYAL COLLEGE OF SURGEONS OF ENGLAND

The Ashley Charitable Trust has been a generous supporter of the charitable activities of The Royal College of Surgeons of England, supporting the College's National Breast Disease Programme, in particular training of overseas students for a number of years. The Royal College of Surgeons fundraising is vital to develop and expand their programme of education and research.

The quality of surgery has been shown to affect the impact on the local recurrence of breast cancer and on survival rates. Breast cancer care requires the expertise of numerous medical personnel and the role of the surgeon is critical to this progress. He or she often has a central role in establishing and leading the breast unit and co-ordinating the multidisciplinary team, playing an active role throughout the patient's journey of treatments and care. This pivotal role required many skills; technical expertise, excellent communication skills and management skills. These need to be learnt as part of a progressive programme of education and training. The Royal College of Surgeons of England offers an evolving programme of courses in breast surgery for surgeons.


The programme aims to ensure that skills and knowledge acquired at courses have a positive and lasting impact on the standards of surgical treatment and care provided to patients.


The College believes it is imperative that all recent advances of knowledge and skills are integrated into the College's educational programme to improve the skills base of surgeons dealing with breast cancer. This will ultimately have a direct impact on patient outcomes – the aim to ensure that all patients receive the best advice and treatment available.


The Ashley Charitable Trust has been a committed supporter of the post of Breast Surgery Tutor and has enabled the Breast Surgery Programme to move forward in leaps and bounds in its development and in the delivery of courses with overseas surgeons.