Mr William THOMAS MS FRCS

• I was Clinical Director of Surgery between 1990 and 2008 and during that time have been involved in the unification of the Trust Hospitals in Sheffield. In 2001 I was re-appointed Clinical Director of Surgery for the joint Trust, eventually becoming the longest serving clinical director in the country at that time.
• In 1995 I was awarded ‘Medical Manager of the Year’ by the British Association of Medical Managers
• I have lectured on medical management courses nationally including those at the Royal College of Surgeons of England and Keele University.

I have served in the following capacities for the Trust:-

1990 – 2001	Medical Executive Committee/Clinical Executive for Central Sheffield University Hospitals Trust
1990 – 1995	‘Health Care Policy Study Group’
1990 – 1995	Operating Department Management Executive  Committee
1991 – 1995	Executive Committee of Surgical Division of Sheffield
1991 – 1994	Clinical Adviser to IBEES (Institute of Biomedical Equipment Evaluation and Services)
1993 – 1995	Member of Acute Strategic Planning and Purchasing Group (SPPG), Sheffield Health Authority
1995 – 1999	Research and Development Committee Executive Group  Central Sheffield University Hospitals Trust
1996 – 2000	Sheffield Health Authority, Acute Policy Implementation Group
1998 – 2000	Joint Strategic Planning Group – Development of Clinical Services within Sheffield
2000 – 2001	Clinical Services Project Team – Merging of Trusts
2001 to date	Clinical Management Board – Sheffield Teaching Hospitals Trust

New initiatives

As Clinical Director I introduced several new initiatives especially with regard to ‘Consultant Activity Packs’ and these initiatives have been the subject of publications in Health Service Journals:-

Costing operations
Thomas WEG, Ross B
Lancet 1991;337:921

Who’s afraid of informed consent
Kerrigan DD, Thevasagam RS, Woods TO, Welch IM, Thomas WEG,
Shorthouse AJ, Dennison AR
Br Med J 1993;306:298-300

Personal Performance Index (PPI) for surgical morbidity
Bowditch MG, Keel J, Dennison AR, Thomas WEG
Br J Surg 1994; 81:1804

Why we sacrificed our sacred cows
Thomas WEG
Fundholding 1995;4:14-15

Corporate involvement in contract achievement
Thomas WEG
Clinicians in Management 1995;4:2-4

What makes a good medical manager
Thomas WEG
Surgery (Scalpel) 1996;14(3):1-2

The change in surgical training
Thomas WEG
Hospital Update (Suppl.) 1996;3:4

The relationship between pathologists and surgeons
Thomas WEG
Association of Clinical Pathologist News 1996 (Autumn) 47

The place of basic skills workshops in surgical training
Thomas WEG
Br J Hosp Med 1996;55:346-348

Basic Surgical Skills Course: an educational success story
Thomas WEG
Ann.Roy.Coll.Surg.Eng.(suppl) 1999;81:195-196

Cholecystectomy – does sub-specialisation alter workload?
Goodfellow PB, Thomas WEG, Majeed AW, Johnson AG
Proc.Ass.Upper.GI.Surg. 1999

Core skills, courses and competency
Thomas WEG
Ann.Roy.Coll.Surg.Eng. (suppl) 2000;82:18-20

A strategy for teaching surgical skills
Thomas WEG
Surgery 2000;18:7:ii

Moving the Goalposts
Craig K, Thomas WEG
Health Service Journal 2001;III:5748:32-33

Fostering innovation without compromising safety
Thomas WEG
Clinical Governance Bulletin, Royal Society of Medicine Press 2005;5:6: 1-2

Presentations and lectures

I have regularly lectured and presented on clinical management issues:-

Culture shock of speciality based management from a medical standpoint
`Management development for clinical directors’
Health Service Management Centre, University of Birmingham.
June and October 1991

Management issues in general surgery
`Medicine for Managers’, Sheffield. July 1991

Internal Trading – opportunities or threat?
Expectations of a clinical Director, Doncaster. June 1992

GP access to Radiology: Bonuses/threat to hospital clinician
British Institute of Radiology, Sheffield. June 1992

The role of the Clinical Director
Management course for senior surgical registrars, Royal College of Surgeons of England. November 1992.

Casemix in contracting – a clinical director’s perspective
Conference on `Contracting strategy for provider trust’, London.
February 1993

Strategy for Planning Surgical Services
Management Course for Senior Registrar’s in Surgical Specialties, Keele University. April 1993

The Strength and weaknesses of Clinical Directorate’s – A Clinical Director’s Perspective
Conference on `Clinical Directorate’s – how are they working and what is their future’ London. May 1993

What sort of NHS do we want?
SCHARR, Sheffield. July 1993

Managing NHS services and contracts
Management Course of Senior Registrar’s in Surgical Specialties, Royal College of Surgeons, London. December 1993 and December 1994

Responding to Fundholder requests : a problem of supply and demand
“Dealing with GP Fundholder requests, what are the options for Clinical Directorates”
London. November 1994

Responding to Fundholders Requests – a problem of supply and demand
“Bridge over troubled waters”
Fundholding Conference for North East and South East Thames Region, Dartford. February 1995

Organisation and management of surgical services
Keele University, April 1995

Ethical standards and professional conduct
Sheffield Cathedral, November 1995

Corporate involvement in contract management
Bassetlaw Hospital, Worksop, February 1996

Healthcare Management in Romania
SCHARR, Sheffield, September 1996

The organisation and management of surgical services: A clinical director’s perspective
Keele University Management Course for Specialist Registrars
Royal College of Surgeons of England, December 1996

Surgical Education/Update and Future Develpments
Annual Surgeons Panel, association of Surgeons of Great Britain and Ireland
Bournemouth, April 1997

Day Case Surgery – Who benefits?
15th International Gastrointestinal Surgery Workshop, Davos, Switzerland
March 1998

The Management Agenda and Priorities for Surgical Services
Management Seminar for Consultant Surgeons
Keele University, May 1999

The Organisation amd Management of Surgical Services
Clinical Management Course for Specialist Registrars
Keele University, July 1999

Teaching and assessing practical surgical skills (Invited Lecturer)
Conference on ‘Medical Education as a Continuum’
Nijmegen, the Netherlands April 2000

Core skills and competency testing
Symposium on ‘Training, Technology and Revalidation’
Malmo, Sweden May 2000

The Delivery of Surgical Services
Management Course for Surgical Registrars
Keele University, June 2000

Surgical Education – Delivering the Package
‘European Day’
Royal College of Surgeons of England
London, July 2000

Presidential Address – ‘Skills, Spills, and Surgical Thrills’
Surgical Section of the Royal Society of Medicine
London, November 2000

Operative Competency – Can we measure it?
East Midlands Surgical Society
November 2000

Operative Competency – Should we measure it?
Sheffield Medico-Chirurgical Society
November 2000

Assessing surgeons
Association of Surgeons in Training
Sheffield, February 2001

Surgical Training in the United Kingdom
Joint Intercollegiate Meeting, Barbados
March 2001

The challenge of surgical training
Joint Meeting of Royal Society of Medicine and Jordanian University Hospital
Amman, Jordan
May 2001

Competency Assessment – is it working?
Royal College of Surgeons of England Roadshow
Nottingham, June 2001

Identifying and remedying poor performance
‘Surgery 2001’
London, June 2001

The Consultant Contract – Paradigms Lost?
Sheffield Health Authority 2nd Annual Conference
July 2001

How should we assess Surgical Competency?
Royal Perth Hospital, Australia
August 2001

The Future of Surgical Training
Joint meeting of the Singapore Academy of Surgery and the Royal College of
Surgeons of England, Singapore
May 2004

What is a Surgical Skills Lab?
German Surgical Society, Munich, Germany
April 2005

Surgical Education in the Brave New World
Annual Scientific Congress Royal Australasian College of Surgeons
May 2005

Simulation in Education
Annual Scientific Congress Royal Australasian College of Surgeons
May 2005

The Evolution of Surgical Skills Courses
Annual Scientific Congress Royal Australasian College of Surgeons
May 2005

The Impaired Doctor
Annual Scientific Congress Royal Australasian College of Surgeons
May 2005

Credentialing for Practice
Annual Scientific Congress Royal Australasian College of Surgeons
May 2005

Key issues in U.K. Surgical Education
American College of Surgeons Annual Clinical Congress
October 2006

Meeting the European challenge for surgical education
Langenbeck-Virchow-Haus, Berlin, Germany
November 2006

Meeting the challenge of surgical education – or dancing with the dinosaurs
University Hospital, Zurich, Switzerland
November 2006

Surgical Education – international co-operation
Aesculap Academy, Singapore
December 2006