01Genuine exam realism
A full station-based circuit, a 1:1 examiner ratio and strict time-keeping reproduce the real JCIE FRCS Section 2 day — repeatedly described by candidates as the closest replication of the examination available to them.
North of England FRCS
About the Course
Founded by a surgeon to close a real gap in training — the story, the mission and the people behind the course.
The founder
Built by a surgeon who refused to accept the gap
The course was founded by Mr Bassem Amr, Consultant Bariatric and Upper GI Surgeon at University Hospital North Durham, who saw capable trainees meet the full viva circuit for the first time in the room that decides everything — and decided to build the room beforehand.
What began as a regional initiative in the North East — six faculty, one conviction — has grown, cohort after cohort, into a programme delivered across the North of England, examined by the surgeons who set the standard and the surgeons who passed it last year. The mission has never changed: that no surgeon should sit in the chair for the first time on the day it counts.
BA
Mr Bassem Amr
Course Founder & Convenor
Consultant Bariatric & Upper GI Surgeon · University Hospital North Durham
AE
Mr Ahmed Elshaer
Course Director
Consultant Oesophagogastric & Bariatric Surgeon · Bradford Teaching Hospitals
The evolution
It outgrew its own name
ThenNorthEast FRCS General Surgery Viva Course
A regional idea, born in the North East to fix a real gap in viva preparation.
NowNorth of England FRCS General Surgery Viva
Demand outgrew the region. The name expanded to match the reach — and the ambition.
The challenge
The FRCS Section 2 is the final clinical and oral hurdle of UK higher surgical training — and one of its most demanding. Yet for too many trainees, the first time they face a full circuit of vivas under realistic conditions is on the day of the exam itself.
Knowledge alone does not pass this exam. Candidates must demonstrate safe, structured, guideline-aware decision-making, delivered with confidence under unrelenting time pressure, across the entire breadth of the curriculum.
High-fidelity mock viva opportunities remain scarce. This course was built to close that gap — so that the day of the exam is never the first time you have sat in the chair.
The method
Practice under real exam conditions — not passive revision
Four principles separate this course from generic preparation, and they are the reasons candidates rate it the way they do.
01
02A deliberate faculty model
Established consultant and subspecialty surgeons calibrate to the exam standard, while recently-successful candidates — within 12–18 months of passing — bring a current, lived view of exactly what the exam demands.
03Feedback after every station
Our most valued feature: targeted feedback on examination performance — structure, prioritisation, guideline use, pacing and communication — showing the precise changes that move an answer from borderline to a clear pass.
04Real subspecialty depth
Day-two breakouts let candidates work in small groups within their declared subspecialty — UGI/HPB, colorectal, breast and endocrine — so even less common backgrounds are fully served, not underserved.
In association with
JCIE
JCIE FRCS Section 2Delivered to the standard of the Intercollegiate Specialty Board examination.
J&J
Johnson & Johnson MedTechDedicated training premises kindly supported by J&J MedTech.
ALRSGBI
Assoc. of Laparoscopic & Robotic Surgeons of GB & IrelandThe course has been featured in the ALRSGBI Winter Newsletter 2026.
Limited places
Secure your place under real exam conditions
Next course: November 2026