Professor Jugdeep Dhesi is President of the BGS. She is a consultant geriatrician at Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust and Professor of Geriatric Medicine at Kings College London.
Following a turbulent few years at the Royal College of Physicians of London, voting has now opened in elections for the new RCP President. Eight candidates are vying for this prestigious role, leading the oldest Medical Royal College and representing over 40,000 members and fellows from across all medical specialties.
The President of the RCP has a responsibility, not just to their own College but to the entire healthcare community. The RCP is the voice of physicians across all specialties and their President is invited to represent all doctors in meetings with the Government and in the media. While there are very real internal issues at the RCP that will be a priority for the incoming President, it will also be important for them to have an external focus to ensure that the voices of clinicians and their patients are heard at the highest level. The new President will be coming in at a time of change in the NHS with the recent announcement that NHS England will be abolished and the publication of the upcoming Ten Year Health Plan and subsequent refresh of the Long Term Workforce Plan.
Society is also changing which means that patients are changing. Older people use the health service more than any other population group – most RCP members and fellows, across almost all specialties (with the notable exceptions of paediatrics and obstetrics), will spend large parts of their working lives caring for older people.
Most older people seeking healthcare do not have one condition requiring the expertise of one specialist. Rather they have multiple long-term conditions which require holistic, person-centred care delivered by a multiprofessional and multidisciplinary team.
It was with all of this in mind that I read the election statements and watched the election videos of the eight candidates. I was pleased to see that one candidate specifically mentioned the ageing population and increasing numbers of people with chronic conditions. I was however disappointed that it was only one candidate. Older people are the largest patient group using health and care services, and, as the population ages, this group is only going to grow. The new RCP President must be prepared to acknowledge this demographic and operational reality, and show leadership in ensuring the health system works for those who use it the most.
I was pleased to see several candidates acknowledge the challenges currently facing health and care staff. These include having to provide care in hospital corridors and the sense of moral injury that comes as a result of not being able to give appropriate care for patients. Several candidates also talked about equality, both in terms of reducing health inequalities and also improving equality within medicine. However, the majority of the candidates’ statements focused on the internal issues at the RCP.
As stakeholders of the RCP, we urge the successful candidate to look externally as well as internally. They must ensure that the RCP remains the trusted voice of clinicians across all specialties and works to improve healthcare for the people who matter the most – patients. We look forward to working with the new President to help them to ensure that the needs of those who use the health service most are met.
After a period of turmoil at the RCP and within the wider health system, it will be vital to elect a credible leader who can be held accountable for steering the College effectively. We urge all BGS members who are fellows of the RCP to vote for the person they believe will best serve the interests of patients and the workforce who care for them.