Beg surgeon to work to save Charlie (8)
I believe the answer is:
scrounge
'beg' is the definition.
(I know that scrounge is a more specific form of the action beg)
'surgeon to work to save charlie' is the wordplay.
'to work' is an anagram indicator (letters worked into a new order).
'to save' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'charlie' becomes 'C' (phonetic alphabet).
'surgeon' with letters rearranged gives 'srounge'.
'srounge' enclosing 'c' is 'SCROUNGE'.
(Other definitions for scrounge that I've seen before include "Cadge, sponge" , "Try to get hold of" , "bum" , "Cadge, beg" , "Acquire by begging" .)