Read the latest bulletin from your president, Dr Sarah Clarke.
Med23
Last week’s Med23 annual conference was attended by over 1,400 healthcare professionals – with 400 people in the London building it was the biggest number to attend in-person one of our hybrid events since before the pandemic. It was really satisfying to see so much conversation, so many catch-ups with colleagues and, of course, all the inspiring contributions from a fantastic line-up of speakers. There’s clearly demand again for getting together in-person.
Thank you to all who attended and to the teams who worked so hard to plan and deliver the event, which included more than 30 hours of live content, a sponsored symposium, wellbeing sessions and networking activities.
If you missed the conference you can still sign up and watch all content on demand until 30 June on RCP Player. Delegates can earn up to 16 CPD credits from watching main programme content and an additional 14 for watching our early release videos.
With its theme of sustainability, Med23 was the perfect setting for the launch of our new campaign highlighting the climate emergency as the biggest long-term risk to human health and urging the government to prioritise a just transition from fossil fuels, with support for people to reduce energy use.
The launch was accompanied by the publication of a new report, RCP view on healthcare sustainability and climate change, focusing on the role that the UK government and the NHS – including individual clinicians – can play.
Healthcare sustainability and climate change was adopted as one of our priorities last year after a consultation with members and, supported by a new RCP advisory group, forms a key strand of our influencing activity for the future.
The NHS has taken a significant step by setting itself the aim of becoming the world’s first net zero national health service. The man responsible for delivering that, Dr Nick Watts, the NHS’s chief sustainability officer, was one of the opening speakers at Med23. I was delighted when Nick praised the RCP for having pursued sustainability 'before it was cool to do so'!
We want to see the NHS constitution updated to include the net zero targets and to make it clear that this is a key responsibility of all staff; the link between climate change mitigation and improved health outcomes recognised and leveraged in national, regional and local health inequalities work; and initiatives to reduce the environmental impact of healthcare delivery within the NHS appropriately funded.
As the case studies in the report demonstrate, everyone in the NHS can contribute to making the NHS more sustainable.
We also launched Medical Care – driving change, the RCP’s new multidisciplinary resource, at Med23. This collaborative effort is now live, uniting health organisations, medical professionals, patients, caregivers, and individuals to produce inspiring and informative content with the shared vision of enhancing patient care. Register for regular content updates and for opportunities to get involved.
Industrial action
Med23 provided some respite for many from the huge challenges the NHS has been facing of late. The night shift I covered during the last round of industrial action and some of the trust visits I have made brought home to me just some of the challenges facing junior doctors – computers with signs saying ‘BROKEN’; a small ring-fenced space to represent the doctors' mess or no ‘mess’ at all, no hot refreshments 24/7 and lockers for some healthcare staff but not others. This is only part of a longer list. The experience of being a trainee doctor is sadly very different from the one I remember.
So far, last month’s strikes have not, unfortunately, hastened any settlement of the junior doctors’ pay dispute and at the moment more are planned to take place next week, this time lasting 96 hours. Meanwhile, the BMA’s statutory ballot of consultants has been pushed back from 17 April to 15 May, apparently as a result of the changes to pension taxation announced in last month’s Budget and following positive discussions with the health secretary, who has committed to meaningful talks on how to reform the pay review body and improve consultants’ pay.
There are a growing number of voices being raised to urge the government and unions to reach a negotiated settlement for the junior doctors, including our own contribution through the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges’ statement published last week. This again recognises the right of doctors to take industrial action but urges the government to engage swiftly and to enter negotiations with a commitment to work constructively and to offer flexibility, to avoid further inconvenience and distress to patients.
Improving healthcare
Just as I am sorry that these bulletins have so often had to reflect very difficult times for healthcare, so too have I been delighted to share here some of important work we at the RCP have been involved in to improve health and healthcare.
It’s not often I get to talk about the development of a new specialty but the RCP has been asked by NHS England to make recommendations for the development and sustainable roll-out of networked maternal medicine across England. There are now 24 consultant obstetric physicians in England, and we hope to see this specialty grow as we design and support a national recruitment process for new learners from September 2024. NHSE has commissioned the RCP to deliver a curriculum for obstetric medicine with supporting resources and a structured framework to enable implementation, assessment, and certification. Thank you to all our colleagues who have been working on this.
I was also pleased to hear that the 2023 edition of the National Clinical Guideline for Stroke was published this week, providing a ‘five nations’ guideline for the first time ever, covering all of the UK and the Republic of reland. The guideline is endorsed for use in clinical practice by the RCP, the Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network (SIGN) and the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland. The online-only publication is supported by a plain language summary for people affected by stroke.
Over half the recommendations are new or have been updated. Changes in the evidence base since the previous edition in 2016 have led to significant updates in three main areas: a big expansion of patients eligible for thrombolysis and thrombectomy; more intensive interventions in secondary prevention – antiplatelets, cholesterol and blood pressure; and more intensive rehab in hospital and at home to promote motor and language recovery.
Presidential election
Finally, I was delighted to be re-elected as president on Monday and look forward to working with and representing you all. As I’ve already mentioned, many challenges lie ahead but many opportunities too, to improve health and healthcare.
I will work with and on behalf of all of you to continue to do all I can to shape and influence a secure and brighter future for our NHS and to support everyone working so hard on behalf of patients.
I hope you have time to relax with family and friends over the holiday weekend.