General surgical workload in England and Wales

An attempt was made to measure the workload of a typical general surgical firm (two part time consultants and their junior staff) serving a population of 100 000 in England and Wales. This provides a background against which to plan curricula for undergraduate and postgraduate teaching, as well as being a guide to the experience that a surgical trainee should get in a suitable training post. The effect of changes in surgical staffing on the number of operations done by a surgeon may also be estimated.