As surgical trainees, research is an important part of all of our careers. Some of us take time out to complete higher degrees, others would rather do there bit more in program, but it is something we all have to, and hopefully want to do. With this in mind, we have recently started to bring together Mersey Surgical SpRs to form a research collaborative (MeRGS- Mersey Research Group for Surgery). The aim of this is working together we can create much higher quality, robust clinical research, that won’t only benefit as individuals, but will help us as a group. We are trainee led and cover all General Surgical Specialities. We have support from Prof Neoptolemos and the Department of Surgery, and have Dale Vimalachandran as our mentor. As other projects develop we hope to engage other consultants in each speciality area to support and assistance us.

This isn’t a new idea; it’s been underway in the West Midlands for many years (WMRC – West Midlands Research Collaborative- http://www.wmresearch.org.uk/ ) and is taking off in London (LSRG – London Surgical Research Group- http://www.lsrg.co.uk/). WMRC have succeeded in running a registrar led national RCT (ROSSINI – Reduction Of Surgical Site Infection using a Novel Intervention- http://www.haps.bham.ac.uk/rossini/) and have funding for 2 further RCTs (DREAMS Dexamethasone Reduces Emesis After Major Gastrointestinal Surgery - http://www.bctu.bham.ac.uk/dreams/) and ROCSS (Reinforcement of Closure of Stoma Site).

Obviously it takes time and effort to achieve this, and the first steps are to carry out local retrospective and prospective studies. We have a few projects underway, but we are keen for any ideas and more Registrars to join us. We want people to feel they can be involved as much or as little as they like.

If you interested in finding out more please email mergs@liverpool.ac.uk or come along to our next meeting.