President

The General Medical Council has published an update of ‘Good medical practice’ as ‘detailing the principles, values and standards of doctors working in the UK’ 

You just can’t blink or you’ll miss something. After a Monday in minors, churning through legions of sprained ankles and bumped heads…

December and January have been particularly torrid. An early and unexpected Group A Strep outbreak resulted in huge pressure on paediatric areas, and then the predictable ‘twindemic’ of flu and COVID resulted in extraordinary exit block and hideous crowding.

December is traditionally a time of celebration and I hope you are all able to get some time off with your families during the holiday period. Like many of you, I will be ‘celebrating’ Christmas by working overnight on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, our patients’ illnesses and injuries are no respecter of the calendar.

I travelled up to Birmingham for the Conservative Party Conference and attended a health event led by the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care. The event was in a small hot, noisy room overfull of people lobbying anyone in government, a good analogy for emergency care. Finished with a nice dinner with Luke and Pooja…

Adrian Boyle, EM Consultant in Addenbrooke’s Hospital Cambridge, succeeded Katherine Hender-son as President of RCEM at the AGM held on 4 October 2022 during the Scientific Conference in Belfast.