You will of course get the bimonthly email of contents as a default. We will keep the range of offerings as broad as it has been and monitor all feedback via any appropriate medium (commentary@rcp.ac.uk), if your carrier pigeon is under the weather or the fax machine is broken (again).

It is conference season, with Medicine 2026 being the RCP centrepiece in person and online with all the associated etiquette; always ensure it is more of a question than a comment.

I think these conferences are excellent opportunities to show off data / reassure yourself that you are doing what is achievable – but also time outside of work to think about clinical improvement.

The regional Updates in medicine are also a great place to see work being shared; and yes, the CPD points and a nice lunch are the bonus of being a collegiate member or fellow – I was pleased to note my FRCP adorning my badge at the London Update last month. The Turner-Warwick lectures at the Updates allow a showcasing of truly exceptional work which can be continued during a year as a hospital’s chief registrar – the reflections of how best to maximise this role are included in this edition.

This edition highlights some of the excellent education offerings and a reminder of all the unseen work that the RCP does and continues to do – we can only highlight a small segment. The London RCP building by Regent’s Park has the surrounding RCP Medicinal Garden which continues to provide inspiration, as the RCP launches a new artist-in-residence scheme to encourage further philanthropy and the intersection of medicine and the arts.

We also have our ongoing global influence and connections – now headed by Dr Emma Vaux, vice president for global, continuing her important work in education and collaboration. There are some specific examples of work being done in range of locations, from Iraq to Brazil. The ability to support these networks is something the RCP is rightly sharing, and I would encourage further Commentary contributions on exchanges or other adventures of shared learning as they bring the day job into focus. This edition also includes the first articles submitted by a member of the Commentary Advisory Group (Dr Ajay Verma and Professor Anita Simonds) – something we hope to build on in time.

The Green physician toolkit has appropriately blossomed again for spring and is a reminder that we all have a responsibility to do our bit, given the general awareness and feeling that climate change and its associated impacts can have on our practice. We are also pleased to have a Patient and Carer Network that continues to feed into all the work being done and, with over 30 active members at any one time, helps to put this voice into strategy for the college and wider influencing.

And finally – we are nothing without the history of our physician predecessors and learning through the ages. We have started ‘A news from the past’ section with updates from the RCP museum. The first honorable mention goes to the first Harveian librarian Christopher Merrett who, among his various achievements, was the first scientist to document how to put the fizz into sparkling wine in 1662.

Hope you enjoy the edition.

All the best, 

Ollie.