Specialty overview

General surgeons provide comprehensive surgical care to a range of different patients, including patients who suffer from diseases and conditions which effect the oesophagus, stomach, small bowel, colon, liver, pancreas, gallbladder, appendix and bile ducts, the skin, breast and soft tissue.

Clinical practice

General surgeons work within both public and private facilities, providing emergency and elective surgical services and outpatient care. General Surgeons also often provide outreach surgical services to regional, rural and remote patients. Procedures commonly performed by a general surgeon may include; oesophagectomy, gastrectomy, hiatus hernia repair, laparoscopic cholecystectomy, splenectomy, hemicolectomy, hysterectomy, and mastectomy.

Key statistics

2023 QLD Training program selections(first year)

65
eligible

19
selected

This doughnut chart shows the proportion of applications recieved vs applicants selected. Eligible applications received is 65, Applicants selected is 19.

Number of Queensland and Australian specialists

368

Number of QLD specialists

1,953

Number of Australian specialists

Number of Queensland and Australian new fellows

12

Number of QLD new fellows

71

Number of Australian new fellows

Number of Queensland trainees and average work hours

79

Number of QLD trainees

46.9

Average weekly hours

Information on specialists

  • 367

    Number of QLD specialists

  • 12

    Number of QLD new fellows

  • 46.9 hours

    Average weekly hours QLD

  • 50 years

    Average age QLD

  • Specialists over 60

    This donut chart shows that 19% of specialists are aged over 60 years.

  • Specialist intending to retire by 2032

    This donut chart shows that 36% of 2022 workforce intend to retire by 2032.

  • Location in Queensland

    This donut chart shows the percentage of specialists by their location: 27.2% are located in regional Queensland, 72.3% are in major cities, and 0.6% are in remote areas. The chart highlights that a vast majority of specialists are based in major cities.

  • Proportion Female/Male - QLD

    79.9%
    male

    20.1%
    female

    This doughnut chart shows the proportion of males and females. Males are 79.9%, Females are 20.1%.

  • Public vs Private

    47.4%
    private

    52.6%
    public

    This doughnut chart shows the proportion of public and private specialists. Private is 47.4%, Public is 52.6%.

Information on trainees

  • 79

    Number of Queensland trainees

  • 23

    Number of new Queensland trainees

  • 421

    Number of Australian trainees

  • 105

    Number of new Australian trainees

  • Proportion female/male trainees in Queensland

    69.6%
    male

    30.4%
    female

    This doughnut chart shows the proportion of males and females. Males are 69.6%, Females are 30.4%.

  • 2023 QLD Training program selections (first year)

    65
    eligible

    19
    selected

    This doughnut chart shows the number of 2023 QLD Training Program Selections (First Year). 65 Eligible applications were received, 19 of those were selected.

Number of Queensland trainees 2015-2022

This line chart shows the trend of the number of Queensland trainees from 2015 to 2022. The data points are: 2015 - 72 trainees, 2016 - 74 trainees, 2017 - 69 trainees, 2018 - 76 trainees, 2019 - 79 trainees, 2020 - 81 trainees, 2021 - 73 trainees, 2022 - 79 trainees.

Hear about our training

General Surgery Training in Northern Queensland
Duration: 03:57

Transcript for General Surgery Training in Northern Queensland

[Soft music plays in the background]

[Text on screen] Specialty Training in Northern Queensland, General Surgery.

>> Dr Alan de Costa:

[Text on screen] Dr Alan de Costa, Associate Professor of Surgery, Cairns Base Hospital

For me, being a surgeon is like being in my skin, you know? It’s the only thing I’ve ever wanted to do with my life. I was born in Sri Lanka and grew up in Sri Lanka and I had a very sort of sporting background, but I always knew that I was going to be a surgeon.

>> Dr Munad Kahn:

[Text on screen] Dr Munad Kahn, Urology Registrar, Cairns

Early on, I decided I wanted to do a surgical specialty because I enjoyed the sort of physical challenges that surgery brings about. Anatomy is one of my favourite subjects in medical school and so surgery gives you obviously that hands-on opportunity. You are able to impact on a patient’s management in a very quick manner, the results of surgery is seen almost immediately.

>> Dr Alan de Costa:

One of the things that’s special in training up here is that a high percentage of cases would be emergency cases and trauma. It’s a very important part of this thing we call General Surgery, which is, in many ways foundational surgery for all the other specialties.

>> Dr Tess Asgill:

[Text on screen] Dr Tess Asgill, Surgical Registrar, Townsville

You can do Urology, you can do General Surgery and Colorectal Surgery and within your general surgery, they do breast and endocrine surgery and upper GI, so there’s a few different things you can experience and learn here. The bosses are all quite keen to get their registrars and PHOs upskilled so that they can do the operating and develop their skills as surgeons.

>> Dr Munad Kahn:

There’s a lot of one-on-one time with your supervisors, with your consultants, so they can certainly guide you in the right direction a lot more readily than can be done in a bigger hospital.

>> Dr Tess Asgill:

You don’t have the same competition for exposure to different operations and different conditions. It’s easier to get the exposure that you want and the experience that you want.

>> Dr Munad Kahn:

The Da Vinci machine in urology is very unique, it allows us access to a very hard part of the body to access. A lot of our work in cancer is related to prostate cancer and doing operations on the prostate is challenging just because of where it sits. It’s a very small organ that sits basically entirely behind the pelvic bone, so the advantages of a Da Vinci, is that you’re able to have several arms in the pelvis without compromising the integrity of the pelvic bone. We know in all aspects of surgery that patients have quicker recoveries when they have robotic procedures compared to a traditional open procedure.

>> Dr Alan de Costa:

We have physical beauty all around us, we have the sea, the mountains, we have the reef of course, and the rainforest is not far away. And all these things of course make living here quite special.

>> Dr Munad Kahn:

The opportunity to work in North Queensland is I think very unique and having the combination of being in a sort of small unit plus having access to these new technologies, that’s an experience that stands you in good stead.

>> Dr Tess Asgill:

There are days where it’s hard and you go why am I doing this? But it’s a specialty where you can make a huge impact on patients’ lives. Get them back on their feet, get them back to work and you can do it just in a few hours in an operating room and that’s a pretty cool feeling.

[Text on screen] Explore specialty training opportunities in northern Queensland. nqrth.edu.au

All General Surgery specialty training can be completed in northern Queensland facilities.

The region provides exposure to the majority of General Surgery techniques and includes outreach experience in rural and remote centres.

Trainees will gain operative experience in a wide range of procedures.

This video was funded by the Australian Government Department of Health as part of the Regional Training Hubs initiative. Produced in partnership with northern Queensland health care providers and James Cook University.

[James Cook University crest appears on screen] Northern Queensland Regional Training Hubs. A network of medical training opportunities. nqrth.edu.au

End of transcript

Training information

College

Royal Australasian College of Surgeons (RACS)

Length of training

5 years full-time

Method of allocation

College-selected trainees may be allocated to a training post by:

  • College

Training and assessment summary

For detailed information in relation to training and assessment requirements, please contact RACS.

Training program overview

General surgery trainees are selected directly into the sub-specialty and progress through the Surgical Education and Training (SET) program, an integrated program designed to provide clinical and operative experience to enable trainees to engage in the comprehensive care of surgical patients. The main components of SET training are placements in hospital posts, short courses (skills and specialty-specific), research and assessments. Upon completing all requirements of the training program, trainees may apply for admission to Fellowship of Royal Australasian College of Surgeons (FRACS).

Eligibility

Applicants must have permanent residency or citizenship of Australia at the time of registration and hold general (unconditional) medical registration in Australia (New Zealand applicants are advised to visit New Zealand Association of General Surgeons). Applicants are also required to have successfully completed the RACS Introduction to Operating with Respect module, the RACS Cultural Competency and Cultural Safety module, and have passed the RACS Generic Surgical Sciences Examination (GSSE) and the RACS Clinical Examination (CE) at time of registration or by close of SET applications. In addition, applicants must have completed clinical rotations in General Surgery (26 weeks) and Critical Care (8 weeks). Further details are available from RACS.

Flexibility

Both part-time training and split rotation training are offered. Minimum 50% of full-time commitment however trainees must apply to the relevant specialty board at the time of acceptance. Training must be completed within 8 years.

Interrupted training

Trainees must apply to the relevant specialty board at least 6 months prior to the commencement of the training year in which the proposed interruption will commence. Trainees cannot apply for interruption for the first rotation of training.

Training locations

Use arrow keys to navigate and plus/minus keys to zoom in and out.

Last updated: May 2025

Back to top