Photograph © Matt Banks
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.
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