December 2020 – Will we have a safer more responsive emergency care system when we come out the other side of Covid? I have to believe we can, but it needs us to keep pushing. It is entirely possible that we will be in a third wave before the much-anticipated vaccine has any significant impact on our ability to deliver healthcare and as every week goes by the challenges for the health service increases.
November 2020 – The Royal College of Emergency Medicine is the professional voice of Emergency Medicine. As such our core role is in promoting and influencing the shape of the standards and systems that EM clinicians’ practice to and in. When you read this, I will have been President for a year.
August 2019 – The social care crisis continues placing burdens on hospitals and bringing distress to vulnerable patients. This is evident is a number of ways, one of which is that too many people with dementia are not receiving the support that is appropriate to their needs, they end up in very busy Accident and Emergency Departments.
For some years now clinical teams in the UK have been changing the paradigm of acute illness management. When I was a young doctor all patients with a ‘serious’ illness would be admitted to hospital.
August 2019 – In an open letter President of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, Dr Taj Hassan, welcomes new trainees to the specialty.
April 2019 – April has brought Spring and the ‘winds of change’. It was a great pleasure to be able to announce last month that Dr Katherine Henderson will be the next RCEM President. I have known Katherine for well over 20 years and have absolutely no doubt that she will do an absolutely fantastic job for us when she starts in October.
The RCEM Presidential Election 2019 is now open for voting to all Fellows. We are pleased to have three excellent candidates – Dr Carole Gavin, Dr Katherine Henderson and Dr Chris Moulton. Below each candidate sets out their manifesto and why you should vote for them. Carole Gavin I have been a consultant in Salford for 18 years during which time emergency medicine has developed to become a major specialty with RCEM a key stakeholder in the development of national emergency care policy. Despite considerable progress we live in uncertain political and economic times and are dealing with increasingly complex Read more…
January 2019 – Happy New Year! There is no doubt that 2019 promises another year of challenge and also opportunity. I want to spend my last 10 Presblogs (!) describing some of the excellent work that has been done by the College as we aspire to support training and advise on care delivery in emergency care in one of the toughest environments in healthcare.
December 2018 – I joined the College in the autumn of 2010. A staff of 12 staff were my resources to help address the needs of 2,500 Members and Fellows. We had no property and rented some space from the Anaethetists. We rented space for our examinations and Study Days too.
November 2018 – Welcome to November. Another month of activity at RCEM as we push ahead on a number of fronts within the College. You will know that we continue to drive hard on the policy front and the RCEM Vision 2020 which is now entering its third year is showing steady progress in all domains.