Opportunities in surgery
Surgery offers ten main specialties including cardiothoracic or plastic surgery and even more options for specialisation within them.
For example, you could be a trauma surgeon who specialises in spinal injuries.
You’ll work in hospital settings performing operations and do ward rounds, attend outpatient clinics and teach other doctors. You’ll work in multidisciplinary teams alongside colleagues such as nurses, anaesthetists and radiologists.
What it takes to succeed
Surgery is a very competitive area of medicine with a long and complex training route. You’ll need to be very hard working and determined. Excellent communication, teamwork and the ability to lead multidisciplinary teams are skills common to all surgical roles. You’ll also need high levels of manual dexterity and the physical stamina to cope with the demands of the role.
Explore roles in surgery now
Discover the different types of surgery to find the specialty that interests you most:
- Cardiothoracic surgery
- General surgery
- Neurosurgery
- Oral maxillofacial surgery
- Otorhinolaryngology (ENT) surgery
- Paediatric surgery
- Plastic surgery
- Trauma and orthopaedic surgery
- Urology
- Vascular surgery