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Specialist Advisory Committee (SAC) in Urology

The SAC in Urology is made up of urologists who represent both the surgical Royal Colleges and BAUS. 

The Joint Committee on Surgical Training (JCST) is the parent body for all the Specialty Advisory Committees (SACs) responsible for surgical specialties, plus the Core Surgical Training Committee (CSTC) and the Intercollegiate Surgical Curriculum Programme (ISCP).

The JCST website lists the current members of the SAC in Urology.



Functions of the SAC

Some of the key areas that the SAC is responsible for are listed below:

  • Providing advice and guidance to surgical trainees and trainers, the JCST, and Surgical Royal Colleges of the UK and Ireland, and supporting the network of Training Programme Directors;
  • Writing and developing the surgical curricula and syllabi in line with the General Medical Council's Excellence by design: standards for postgraduate curricula and the Generic professional capabilities framework;
  • Contributing to and participating in national selection and recruitment processes for core and specialty training entry, including revising person specifications; 
  • Contributing to the quality management and quality improvement of specialty training across the UK and Ireland through a network of SAC Liaison Members (LMs);
  • Setting quality indicators (QIs) for the specialty training of surgeons, on behalf of the certifying and regulatory authority, the General Medical Council (GMC) in the UK, and the Medical Council in Ireland;  
  • Providing advice through the LMs at ARCP panels, ARCP appeals and at Specialty Training Committee (STC) meetings;
  • Assessing surgical trainees' requests for time Out of Programme, Acting up as a Consultant, recognition of LATs (where applicable) ;
  • Setting certification guidelines in line with current curricula to aid trainees, trainers and Training Programme Directors (TPDs) in ensuring that curriculum requirements are being met, and responsible for confirming trainees have completed specialty training and are ready for certification; and 
  • Evaluating doctors' applications for entry on to the GMC's Specialist Register via the CESR route.