This will be my last EMJ supplement as President. I have been reflecting on the three years and on the questions, I get asked regularly; have I enjoyed my time, and will I miss it? It is a huge honour to be elected President…
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.
May 2021 – Many of you will have heard me say we are the safety net of the patient but cannot be the safety net of the system. There has been general agreement with this sentiment but what does it mean in the current environment peri-pandemic? How much of a safety net are we and where and how was the system failing such that we do clinical (and non-clinical) care that should be managed elsewhere?
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.
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.