Nov 2014 – I hope this epistle finds you well. As I write on the Monday afternoon after the busiest weekend my department has ever had, I confess to being a little war-torn. An almost 20% rise in attendances with an even greater rise in the proportion conveyed by ambulance is an exhausting experience for my ED team, and I know that these circumstances are being replicated up and down the length of
the UK and Ireland.
Oct 2014 – October and the season of mists and mellow fruitfulness! We are approaching the first anniversary of the launch of the ‘College 10 priorities campaign’ and we can celebrate a major achievement – namely a substantial increase in the numbers of doctors recruited to both CT1 and CT3 posts via the HEE funded expansion in ACCS EM posts and the GMC recognition of transferable competencies through the newly established DREEM schemes.
Sept 2014 – September – children back to school and for those of us juggling family and work life, the sense of a ‘return to normal’.
August 2014 – August! And with it a new cadre of doctors, an increase in barbecue related burns and dare I hope; a Test match win for England?
July 2014 – With Summer in full swing (hopefully) I trust most of you will be looking forward to some well earnt holidays with family or friends.
June 2014 – Those readers who regularly following my musings in this column will be surprised to learn that out of apparent randomness occasional linkages and connections may appear. Thus it is, that as I report a very successful CPD conference in Cardiff these same readers will react with some surprise to the news that I met the partner of the Twitter follower with a predilection for Victorian sewers and mankinis!
May 2014 – Another busy month for the College and more encouraging signs of progress in delivering the #CEM10 agenda.
April 2014 – Easter is upon us, and as I write this newsletter from the archipelago of small hills surrounded by water that was once the county of Somerset I can only hope that it has stopped raining. My regular train journeys to London now begin with an impressive ride across the Levels with flood waters stretching as far as the eye can see. Perhaps an excuse to visit the Boat Show with a view to purchasing a ‘Presidential Launch’!
March 2014 – And so to March, and with it the hope that Winter is behind us. Of course there is actually very little difference in patient numbers and pressures in the Winter when compared to any other season. It is however often the case of a ‘straw breaking the camel’s back’ and indicates how fragile many systems are. Recent meetings have revealed that many organisations start planning for Winter in September whilst the DH started back in January!
Feb 2014 – Life in the parish has been busy of late and activity has led to significant progress. As you will all know we published our ’10 priorities’ document last Autumn and it has had a major impact. Top 3 issues currently being progressed ar