This survey was designed to determine the current status of specialisation within general surgery amongst newly appointed consultants in the United Kingdom, and to document the extent of specialist training on programmes of higher surgical training. It was carried out in 1988 under the auspices of the Association of Surgeons in Training, to determine whether consultants appointed in recent years had maintained, developed, or abandoned subspecialist practice. A separate survey of senior registrars in general surgery examined their attitudes to the apparent need to offer a special interest at the time of consultant appointment, and afterwards in practice. Although a majority of general surgical trainees and newly appointed consultants support specialist training as a part of higher surgical training programmes, this survey suggests that some programmes are not achieving this ideal.