Guests
ACP – Past, Present & Future: A Brief Overview & RCEM Position
In this blog RCEM Vice President, Lisa Munro-Davies looks at the the history of Advanced Clinical Practice, the latest national developments, and what the future might hold.
Policy
Urgent and Emergency Care Recovery 10 Point Action Plan
In this briefing from the RCEM Policy Team, we explore what NHS England set out to achieve with the UEC Recovery 10 Point Action Plan, and how well it has fared.
News
Beds in the NHS
In May 2022, RCEM published a policy report uninspiringly called ‘Beds in the NHS’. Despite the dull title, it attracted significant media attention, being a lead story in national media. As is often the way, the story was recycled into local papers giving us coverage in publications as diverse as the Milford Mercury, Grimsby Live and the East Lothian Courier. Unusually, there was almost universal agreement from all sides of the media that the NHS does not have enough beds for the work it needs to do.
Guests
Windrush Day
In this guest blog, to commemorate Windrush Day 2022, Dr David Chung, Co-Chair of RCEM’s Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Committee, explores the background of and pays tribute to the Windrush generation. When I was a child, the name Windrush was not a thing. I was a West Indian, but our stories were not told. Today it is feels right that a seed which was tumbling through the winds of time has landed, taken root, and now is a tree, strong and beautiful, with a name. Windrush. This story has a long bloody preface, but the most relevant chapter starts in Read more…
Guests
Clean Air Day 2022
In this month’s blog, Chair of RCEM’s Environmental Special Interst Group, Dr Sandy Robertson, looks at the impact pollution has on the body to mark Clean Air Day 2022. Today is Clean Air Day, with this year’s message highlighting that air pollution dirties every organ in the body. We know that air pollution has a huge effect on our health, from increasing emergency presentations on bad air days to an increase in cardiovascular disease over the long term. We thought we’d take the opportunity to highlight how we can reduce the harm caused to ourselves and our patients by air Read more…
Guests
RCEM Membership Survey 2021
In this blog, RCEM Vice President for Membership, Dr Carole Gavin looks at the feedback members gave us via our survey at the end of 2021, and the improvements we are making as a result. Thank you to all our members that responded to our membership feedback survey at the end of 2021. It was great to receive both a good response rate (with around 10% of members having their say, and also receive some valuable feedback on how we are doing which will help us work towards meeting your needs better. Thank you to all who took the time Read more…
President
Beds not tents. Emergency ambulance patients made to wait in tents because our hospitals are full
Writing in the Health Service Journal, RCEM President, Dr Katherine Henderson explains why the use of tents in front of EDs to facilitate ambulance handovers are dangerous for patients.
Guests
The best and the worst of the NHS
In this month’s guest blog Dr Graham Johnson, Consultant Emergency and Paediatric Emergency Medicine at Royal Derby Hospital, discusses his family’s recent experience of receiving care. Last Thursday I had the pleasure of experiencing the very best of the NHS. My son had an elective orthopaedic procedure at the Robert Jones Agnes Hunt Hospital in Oswestry. We had a spacious, clean bedspace on the ward and were greeted by cheerful, professional, and thorough staff, who paid lots of attention to us both. The anaesthetist arrived shortly after, followed by his surgeon, who spent time discussing the procedure with my son Read more…
President
RCEM Presidential Election 2022 – meet the candidates
The RCEM Presidential Election 2022 is now open for voting to all Fellows. We are pleased to have three excellent candidates – Dr Adrian Boyle, Dr Ian Higginson and Dr Martin McKechnie. Below each candidate sets out their manifesto and why you should vote for them. Members eligible to vote can cast there vote using the unique codes they have been emailed at www.cesvotes.com/rcempresident2022. Voting closes at 12pm on 25 February 2022. Adrian Boyle I graduated from Southampton University in 1994 and after a few jobs on the south coast and with no clear career plan, I spent time in Read more…
President
The state of Urgent and Emergency Care and the question of the Clinical Review of Standards
This newsletter is England focused because it deals with the performance metrics debate. I hope it will still be of interest to those of you in the devolved nations struggling with many of the same issues. I last wrote to you specifically about the Clinical Review of Standards when the consultation document was published and since then we have been in an accountability vacuum. NHS England publishes the Urgent and Emergency Care metrics monthly, documenting the deteriorating position of our Emergency Departments and ambulance services but without any articulated strategy as to how to link elective recovery and pandemic recovery Read more…