The End of the Golden age of General Surgery. 1870-2000.

After more than a century, the “Golden Age of General Surgery” met its demise. The final decades of the twentieth century encompass the last years of general surgery as it is known. A modern, technologically advanced era of specialised medicine, loss of apprenticeship, and changes in the continuity of patient care contributed to the end of general surgery’s golden age, which lasted from 1870 to 2000.

Author and surgeon Keith Maybury states, “General surgery flourished throughout the late 1960s and 1970s when I was training. By 2000, the role of the general surgeon was gone, replaced by several surgeons following a much shorter training period, within very specialised areas of practise.”

Maybury’s The End of the Golden Age of General Surgery 1870–2000 offers firsthand accounts and insights into the declining years of the general surgery era, from Maybury’s days as a young medical student to his retirement as a consultant surgeon at the Royal Albert Edward Infirmary. Explore the origins of general surgery as Maybury chronicles its final years, when the artistry and science of general surgery was eclipsed by the rapid evolution of medicine and the advent of modern technology.