Getting the voice of our members heard in the media is a vital part of our work to influence change, represent physicians, shape health policy and advocate for improved patient care. We want to put the clinical expertise, insights and experiences of our fellows and members at the centre of national debate.
In 2025, the RCP’s media work has been central to our campaigns – from outpatient reform, assisted dying, air quality and health inequalities, to the impact on resident doctors of growing competition ratios and bottlenecks in specialty training.
Our reach and impact has grown significantly this year
By the midway point of 2025, the RCP had already achieved more media coverage on behalf of our fellows and members than in the whole of 2024 – an increase of 184% compared to the same period last year. Crucially, we’ve seen our stories featured in some of the most influential national media outlets, including over 100 mentions across the BBC, Guardian, Independent, Telegraph, The Times, Daily Express and Daily Mirror.
Becoming more visible means our voice is getting louder
Over the past 6 months:
- our share of voice on assisted dying rose by 10%
- our share of media coverage on obesity more than doubled
- the expert voice of our spokespeople – including college officers, resident doctors and special advisers – made up more than a third of our media coverage, up from a quarter.
Whether we’re speaking out about long-term public health challenges or responding to immediate NHS pressures, the RCP continues to make sure the voice of physicians is heard.
Media highlights: January–July 2025
Corridor care
In January, the RCP called for a zero tolerance approach to corridor care. Our statement, alongside our call to publish the data on corridor care as soon as possible and all year round, was covered by the Independent and the Express.
We later published RCP membership snapshot survey findings which revealed 78% of respondents had delivered care in unsafe, non-clinical settings such as corridors and waiting rooms in the previous month. The story gained widespread coverage across national media, including ITV’s Good Morning Britain, Sky News, Daily Mail, Independent and the Times.
Specialty training bottlenecks
In February, we turned the spotlight onto escalating competition ratios, which are leading to serious bottlenecks in medical training. Our Resident Doctor Committee co-chairs spoke out about the impact of this uncertainty on their colleagues, their NHS careers and their health and wellbeing in an exclusive interview with the Financial Times.
They reiterated our campaign call for a comprehensive review of medical postgraduate training which was also covered in the BMJ and the Independent, and within days, the UK government had announced the national medical training review – a commitment we welcomed as a first step towards improving the experience of resident doctors.
Health inequalities
In April, the Guardian and the Independent reported that 89% of respondents to an RCP membership snapshot survey were concerned about the negative impact of health inequalities on their patients. Almost half (46%) of respondents said at least half of their workload involved illnesses linked to social factors.
Media coverage highlighted the RCP’s call for the government to set out how its health mission will address illness caused by health inequalities. In the coverage, Dr John Dean urged government to ‘provide assurances that improving health and tackling health inequalities remains a priority’ and for ‘a cross-government strategy to reduce them and address the social determinants of health’.
Outpatient care
Published in April, Prescription for outpatients: reimagining planned specialist care, which set out the RCP’s vision for reform of outpatient care over the next 10 years, was covered by the Telegraph and the BMJ. Writing in an opinion piece published by the BMJ, RCP clinical lead for outpatients Dr Theresa Barnes highlighted that in 2023–24, there were over 135 million outpatient appointments in England, describing ‘a story of mounting pressure, wasted time and missed opportunities. Patients report letters arriving after appointments have passed, clinics cancelled at short notice and rescheduled months later, and general practitioners unsure whether referrals have been received.’
Assisted dying
The month of May saw the RCP speak out on the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill. Our position – that while the RCP is neutral (neither supporting nor opposing a change in the law), there remain deficiencies in the draft legislation that would need addressing to achieve adequate protection of patients and professionals – was covered by the Times, the Independent and Sky News.
This was followed by a Sky News interview in June, in which Dr John Dean, then RCP clinical vice president, spoke to a further joint statement from the RCP and Royal College of Psychiatrists.
Air quality
Published in June, a brand new RCP report, A breath of fresh air, highlighted the growing evidence that toxic air is linked to an increasing number of diseases and contributes to around 30,000 deaths a year in the UK at a cost of more than £27 billion, and urged the government to treat air pollution as a serious and preventable public health threat. The Independent, the Guardian, Sky News, LBC, the BMJ, the BBC, and the Mirror all covered the report, quoting RCP fellow and special adviser Professor Sir Stephen Holgate. It was also covered by news outlets in all four nations.
Obesity
In July, the RCP published an updated obesity statement, which called for action to tackle obesity by:
- reducing the aggressive marketing and advertising of unhealthy food
- increasing the availability and affordability of healthy food
- funding equitable access to NHS weight management services across the country.
Findings from the latest RCP membership snapshot survey revealed that 80% of respondents said that over the past 5 years the number of patients they see with obesity has increased.
RCP fellow and special adviser on obesity Dr Kath McCullough appeared live on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme where she said weight loss drugs alone aren’t a magic silver bullet. They need to be rolled out alongside wraparound care, access to healthy nutritious food and green spaces, and funding for equitable access to weight management services.