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 to help us to support our membership better. The main focus of this survey was on how we are doing in providing a service to you which is the why the results and feedback below focus on these areas rather than on some other aspects of the College work.

Some headline results from the survey are included below along with steps we are taking to action feedback received.

We are always interested to hear your feedback and we have the Member Engagement Group (or MEG for short) which aims to provide members with a voice of sharing feedback with the College, and we also have a member services survey which is always open to receive feedback on how we are doing.

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Survey results

Where we’re doing well

• The top scoring area was ‘being friendly and welcoming’ with 82% of members saying this was either ‘excellent’ or ‘good’.
• 91% of members responded positively to ‘how well they think we communicate with them’, this is an increase from 74% in 2018.
• RCEMLearning continues to be rated as a valuable resource with 61% of members selecting this in their top three member benefits.

Where we’re doing OK

• 23% of members responded that they were ‘very satisfied’ with the service provided by the College.
• 81% of members said they were satisfied or very satisfied with the service being provided by the College .

Where we need to improve

• 4% of those responding suggested that they ‘very unsatisfied’ with the service provided by the College.
• Only 37% of members said that they were ‘aware of the name of the person who chairs my regional/national board’. – increasing regional engagement is a key activity for 2022 so expect to hear and see more from your regional representative sin the coming months.

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Overall Satisfaction – You said, we did (so far)….

Interactions with College staff

Timeliness of response to request/queries was the poorest scoring area looking at interactions with College staff with only 67% of members saying this was either ‘excellent’ or ‘good’

The College continues to invest and prioritise providing an efficient service to all members across all areas of the College. The Member service team was formed in 2021 and continues to develop its scope across the College in raising the standards of customer service delivery to members. A key part of this is the utilisation of LiveChat functionality which allows for a much quicker response to queries being raised. A new registrations team as part of the wider examination team was also formed at the end of 2021 with one of the aims of this team being to help dela with queries relating to exam registrations.

Events

Virtual streaming of face-to-face College events/conferences available online was a high priority for a future member benefit

”Continue to offer virtual conferences etc once face to face return – much easier to attend if other commitments eg childcare”

Both the Spring CPD and ASC in 2022 are hybrid conferences meaning there is the opportunity to watch online as the event will be live streamed if you are unable to attend in person. We also introduced a live stream of our Diploma Ceremonies, so friends and family unable to attend can celebrate live with you. We have a dedicated events page for our catch-up events where you can watch recordings of study days and conferences that you may have missed (https://rcem.ac.uk/past-events/).

The survey showed a mixed preference for virtual and physical events with 51% of respondents preferring virtual events and 49% preferring face-to-face events.

In 2022 we have a mix of virtual and face-to-face events. The face-to-face events predominantly focus on events where there are practical hands-on workshops or group work activities that don’t translate well into the virtual environment. Lecture-based days are mainly staying in the virtual world given the increased accessibility they offer to our delegates.

Kaizen

Overall feedback on Kaizen was 46% of members answering positively with 54% answering negatively on their experiences so far. 7% of respondents were ‘very satisfied’ with their experience with kaizen so far, with 19% saying they were ‘very unsatisfied’

The College continues to work on refining some of the issues identified by users with Kaizen since its launch. We continue to listen to users and have held the several events such webinars, MEG, roadshows with members to gain feedback towards improving the platform

Website

‘Please modernise the website’ and ‘Need to update the website and delete old information’

Absolutely! We’ve been a bit behind the curve in terms of website design but over the past year we’ve worked to modernise and improve the site. We hope you like what we have done so far, but we are continuously seeking to improve it and working to ensure you find relevant, up to date content easily and quickly. There is still work to be done, but we are on the case.

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Dispelling some myths….

‘any chance we could have a college lanyard per year?’

We will happily send a lanyard to any member who requests one.

‘Unidays as well as NUS affiliation’

The College is registered with TOTUM Pro (formerly NUS) and all professional learners including students, Trainees and ACPs are able to register via: https://login.rcem.ac.uk/atsscrape/RCEM/Membership/TOTUM_PRO_notloggedin.aspx Unfortunately the College does not meet the criteria to partner with UniDays

‘Exams in more locations, too many only located in London which makes expensive exams even more expensive.’

As of 2020, all written examinations are delivered with Pearson VUE. Examinations can be sat in any Pearson VUE test centre.  Please see https://home.pearsonvue.com/rcem to find your nearest test centre.

‘re-entry for lapsed members.’

The College does not have any re-joining fees and you are only required to pay for any membership subscriptions that remain unpaid from a period when you were a member. Anyone re-joining after a lapsed period of greater than two years has any outstanding fees wiped.

‘We can do without the paper journal’

Members can opt out of the EMJ paper copy and move to online only at anytime please contact membership@rcem.ac.uk

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What you would like to see in the future

Webinars (online seminars), podcasts, Discounted accommodation/travel through College membership, Train the trainer were the highest scoring potential future RCEM developments that you would like to see offered as a benefit/service.

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Member Engagement Group (MEG)

The MEG (Member Engagement Group) is a growing pool of RCEM members across all career stages with whom the College has an ongoing dialogue and it was created to involve our members in what we do and how we do it. The MEG is an important feedback mechanism which gives members the opportunity to have input on any aspect of the College, ask questions, offer insight, make suggestions and connect with other RCEM members. The College can also ask the MEG for specific feedback and all input allows us to, where possible, make improvements and develop our services and support.

This commitment to an ongoing conversation with members will yield greater understanding all round to help inform improvements in both the RCEM member experience and the wider Emergency Medicine community.

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Full survey data can be found here.