Scalpel runs week to week on a fairly modest budget, and whilst we manage to stretch this quite impressively, we cannot compete with other UK undergraduate surgical societies in terms of the number and quality of the events that we organise for our members.

After some consideration, the Scalpel committee has decided to initiate a membership scheme comparable to other UK undergraduate surgical societies. The cost of membership has been set at £5 and will remain valid until you leave the medical school; there will be no annual renewal fee.

The advantages of membership include:
Priority entry onto courses and events with limited places (such as our trauma day in June, or suturing training with plastic surgeons at Christie’s)
Free entry to standard lecture events
Participation in Scalpel essay prize and presentation competitions
Others yet to be finalized

You can sign up to Scalpel membership by contacting your base hospital representative at the following addresses and at any of our lecture events, which otherwise will come at a small cost for non-members:
Phase 1 - axel.sylvan@student.manchester.ac.uk
MRI - prizzi.zarsadias@googlemail.com
Hope Hospital - laura.derbyshire@student.manchester.ac.uk

Whilst we understand naturally that this may not be immediately popular, we do believe it is necessary and sufficient to increase the number and quality of our events that we host for our members.

If you have any queries please do not hesitate to contact us at scalpel@manchester.ac.uk.

Best wishes
Scalpel Committee 2008