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Specialty Spotlight Plastic Surgery AS HIS TERM AS PRESIDENT OF THE IRISH ASSOCIATION OF PLASTIC SURGEONS COMES TO A CLOSE, PROFESSOR BRIAN KNEAFSEY TELLS US OF THE SPECIALTY’S STRENGTHS AND CHALLENGES rofessor Brian Kneafsey is an influential leader in the field of Plastic Surgery in both practice and training in Ireland. He was responsible for developing Plastic Surgery services to the RCSI Hospital Group over more than 20 years, following his appointment as the sole Consultant Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeon in Beaumont and Connolly Hospitals in 1998. Professor Kneafsey’s career began after he qualified with honours in surgery in UCD in 1986 and was appointed to the three-year Basic Surgical Training Programme in Cork University Hospital (CUH), obtaining the FRCSI in 1990. He then commenced in the specialty of Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery, spending two years in Cork before continuing his training in the UK. He was appointed Senior Registrar in the Northern Ireland unit in Belfast in 1995. After obtaining his Intercollegiate Specialty Fellowship Examination in Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery in 1996, he spent a year on a fellowship in Reconstructive Plastic Surgery/Craniofacial Surgery in the Australian Craniofacial Unit & Dept of Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery in Adelaide, Australia in 1997. After his appointment in 1998 as the only Consultant Plastic & Reconstructive Surgeon in Beaumont & Connolly Hospitals, the following nine-year period was spent establishing and developing Plastic Surgery services to both hospitals, including the introduction of microsurgery in the areas of head & neck/craniofacial cancer and trauma reconstruction, breast reconstruction, major lower limb trauma, hand surgery, facial palsy as well as a service for hand and facial injuries. Professor Kneafsey developed close working relations with many different specialties to build up these services including Neurosurgery, ENT Surgery, Breast Surgery, General Surgery, Orthopaedics, Dermatology and Oncology. In 2007, a second consultant was appointed but there remained just two consultants in Beaumont/Connolly for another seven years until 2014 when a third consultant was appointed. The number of consultants in Beaumont/Connolly/RCSI Hospital Group has now grown to seven. The Plastic Surgery Department in Beaumont/Connolly/RCSI Hospial Group provides 24-hour services in trauma (especially hand surgery) and cancer reconstruction and other areas of Plastic Surgery to the entire RCSI Hospital group – a population of almost one million, incorporating Beaumont Hospital, Connolly Hospital and Our Lady of Lourdes Drogheda as well as Cavan, Monaghan and Dundalk hospitals. Professor Kneafsey has always been involved in teaching and training locally, nationally and internationally. He was Programme Director of the Irish Plastic Surgery Training Scheme from 2003-2008, and served on multiple RCSI committees over the last two decades. “I am currently the Irish SAC (Specialist Advisory Committee) representative in Plastic & 24
Professor Brian Kneafsey, RCSI Fellow (1990)
Reconstructive Surgery, which deals with all intercollegiate training matters in each specialty, based in RCS, London,” he explains. “I have also been involved Professor Brian Kneafsey for many years in European training in Plastic Surgery and am a member of the European Board of Plastic Surgeons (EBOPRAS) and the the Irish national delegate on the Plastic Surgery Section of the European Specialist Bodies (UEMS).” He is an examiner in EBOPRAS European examinations and sits on the European Leadership Forum of the European Society of Plastic, Reconstructive & Aesthetic Surgery (ESPRAS). He is also a council member of the British Association of Plastic Reconstructive & Aesthetic Surgeons (BAPRAS), and a member of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons(ASPS), representing Ireland on the ASPS Global Leadership Forum. As Clinical Lead for Skin Cancer in Beaumont, Professor Kneafsey is closely involved with the NCCP (National Cancer Control Programme) Skin Cancer Clinical Leads Group in melanoma and non-melanoma skin cancer (NMSC) and chairs the NCCP working group committee looking at the management of complex NMSC. “In 2019, I was appointed to the HSE SIMT (Safety Incident Management Team) which addressed the new entity of Breast Implant Associated-Anaplastic Large Cell Lymphoma (BIA-ALCL) associated with certain breast implants. I am also on to the expert review group of the HSE to review BIA-ALCL with the aim of establishing a National Breast Implant Registry and developing guidelines for follow of patients with breast implants”.
