The Breast Cancer Care Carol Concert

 

Photograph © Matt Banks

It’s been an intriguing, and emotional week, with a number of clinical and political issues being brought to the fore.

It’s always nice to get an evening away from College, and a poignant highlight this week was attending the Breast Cancer Care Carol Concert at St. Paul’s Cathedral. It was an exceptionally moving evening, punctuated with some beautiful singing from the choir and 14-year-old Faryl Smith. Jane Hinnrichs, the Chair of Trustees for Breast Cancer Care gave a truly inspirational talk. In it she spoke about what it is like to live with breast cancer. It was incredibly moving; her story of living with breast cancer since 1994 resonated deeply with me, and felt very similar to the story of my own family.

I have also been actively involved with a contentious and emotive issue – that of the appalling treatment of children and young people in immigration removal centres. The College and I have been in discussions with the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, the Royal College of Psychologists and the Faculty of Public Health, and have put together a joint statement recommending that this shameful practice is brought to an immediate end.

Dr Les Ashton and Dr Jane Roberts have been leading the work of the RCGP on this issue, and I commend the hard work and commitment they have shown.

As a civilised society, we cannot sit back and allow these practices to continue – they are unethical and unacceptable. Reading the testimony of children who have been detained in these centres upset and angered me. Children should not be asking, as one girl did, “Why do they have to put us in cages?” One child described the process of being taken into custody: “We were sleeping and the officers came. It was scary and mum was crying.”

This outrageous practice has attracted a lot of media attention, as has the joint stances of the Royal Colleges and the Faculty of Public Health. I spoke about child detention on BBC Breakfast last week, and echoed the call to bring child detention to an immediate end. While I do not usually watch my own interviews, I was proud to bring attention to this horrendous story.

I must thank the hundreds of you who responded to the questionnaire I circulated from Professor Mike Richards. Your excellent submissions on the role of the GP in early diagnosis have now been sent to the DH for consideration. Professor Richards’ responses were published in the December edition of RCGP News, and I’ll keep you informed of progress.

As always, I value your opinions and feedback enormously, and I urge you to get in touch if you have any comments or questions for me.

The RCGP AGM

It’s been another exhausting two weeks, the culmination of which was the RCGP AGM in London. The AGM was, as ever, a fantastic opportunity to highlight and reflect upon all of the excellent work that goes on in College.

The AGM is always an odd time, as it combines the welcoming of new members with the departure of old friends, and this year was particularly poignant, as we said goodbye to David Haslam and Maureen Baker, who left their offices as President and Honorary Secretary respectively.

The College owes a huge debt to both David and Maureen, who have worked tirelessly above and beyond their duties.

David has the distinction of being one of a small band of College members to have served both as Chairman of Council and President; he has carried out the role of College President with great charm and charisma, a crowning achievement at the end of many years of service to the College.

A particular highlight of the AGM was the unveiling of David’s presidential portrait. David’s diplomatic skills are legendary, and it is perhaps this trait that the portrait best captures. It’s an excellent likeness, and the skills of Bing Jones, the artist, are to be commended. What’s also interesting is that Bing is himself a doctor, and divides his professional time between work as a portrait painter, and as a doctor in blood and bone marrow transplantation.

Our new President and Honorary Secretary, Iona Heath and Amanda Howe are already embracing their new roles with energy and enthusiasm.

As we welcome new members, it is interesting to see that the average age of the Council continues to decrease. This is an exciting time for College, and I for one am looking forward to what this continuing injection of youth and energy will bring in the future.

I recognise that the first years after training can be a difficult time for new GPs. They may find themselves working in an unfamiliar practice and may miss the guidance of a trainer, and peer support from their VTS group which they enjoyed as an AiT. The College is working on a new initiative called First5 which will support new GPs from completion of training to the first point of revalidation at five years. There are five pillars to First5 which are: connecting with college, mentoring and peer support, help with revalidation, career guidance, and continuous professional development (CPD).

The idea of First5 was suggested by Dr James Parsons, South Yorkshire AiT rep, was developed by the AiT committee in 2008 and was recently supported by College Council. This is a major project for us which is being taken forward by a First5 task group led by Dr Clare Gerada, Vice Chair of Council. Dr Clare Taylor, Chair of the AiT Committee has recently been appointed as First5 CPD fellow. Her role will be to identify the specific CPD needs of First5 and to develop CPD materials and resources to address these needs. I will keep you updated on our progress with this exciting new project.

Like many of you, my attention this week has been focused on the plight of those caught up in the flooding in Cumbria. In this difficult time I urge you all to spare a thought for all of those who have been affected, and for the GPs who are coping with these adverse conditions. It has been particularly impressive to see GPs setting up temporary surgeries and ensuring that the disruption to patient care remains at a minimum. Our own Mike Bewick, the Medical Director of Cumbria Primary Care Trust has been heavily involved in the relief effort and has been keeping us informed of events.

I am really impressed with the hours that Mike and his colleagues have put in – GPs always rise to the challenge as professionals when needed – well done to all of you.

The effects of climate change on health is a huge challenge that we as GPs cannot afford to ignore. I must commend Tim Ballard, the RCGP Sustainability Lead; at the College we are embarking on an ambitious programme to take a critical look at the environmental impact of our activities and how to decrease our carbon footprint. The decisions being taken about any relocation from Princes Gate to a new HQ will have at their heart the sustainability of either a new build or an adaptation of existing premises.

GPs can make a difference to this daunting problem. Some of the actions we can take to help our patients now have the added co-benefit of helping with carbon reduction. Examples include encouraging more walking and less car use and decreasing the amount of red meat in the diet, to name but a couple.

We are in the privileged position of being highly valued by the population and through this we have an opportunity to take a lead and make a difference. Not only will our patients listen to us about their health, they are also likely to take a lead from our wider concerns and take note of our personal actions.

I’ve spent the last two weeks on something of a whistle-stop tour of the UK, visiting and speaking at a number of RCGP Faculties up and down the country. My travels have seen me as a far and wide as Glasgow, Edinburgh, North Wales, Dorset and London. It is always so interesting and valuable to see first hand the College at work at a local level.

This month I also attended the Proprietary Association of Great Britain Conference on Self Care – the resounding theme of which was changing the culture of dependence in the NHS. For the first time the conference was co-sponsored by the RCGP and it raised some very important points, particularly on the navigational role of GPs.

Very often these days, and rightly so, patients come to their GP pre-armed with information they have downloaded. What is crucial is that, as GPs, we take a guiding role, as is the very ethos of General Practice, to direct patients to information that is credible and evidence-based.

The conference report and a podcast of views from the speakers (including myself) can be found at http://www.pagb.co.uk/

I would also like to point you, and your patients, in the direction of The Hippocrates Prize. The Prize, supported jointly by the Warwick Institute of Advanced Study and the UK national Fellowship of Postgraduate Medicine, is a new international poetry competition, on the theme of poetry and medicine, with an Award fund of £15,000. More information can be found at http://www.hippocrates-poetry.org/