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Jono Brüün updates you on the College's approach to diversity, equity and inclusion.

New Year is always a time of reflection, particularly as for me it is also the anniversary of my joining as CEO at the College. That is now four years ago, and I find myself looking back on the challenges the College has faced over that time, the changes that have been made and the achievements of our volunteers, elected leaders and staff team.

It has been a remarkable four years. Within a couple of months of my appointment COVID-19 hit. The challenges for our membership were enormous. The specialty was at the frontline, and anaesthetists and intensivists had to learn and adapt at pace to provide the best possible care for the patients who were most seriously ill under very challenging circumstances. The College too had to urgently adapt.

Exams, which had always been held in person, were rapidly moved to virtual platforms. It was a steep learning curve for so many of us and it didn’t all go as smoothly as we wanted, due in large part to the pressures put on so many by the pandemic. Nevertheless, I was proud of the College, its examiners and the exams team, who, along with candidates, contributed fully to the subsequent independent review of our assessment process. The review was published earlier this year. Lessons were learnt and changes have been made that have seen us continue to welcome almost 5,000 candidates per year to the College for their exams.

Following our 2023 elections, we're delighted to have Dr Jon Chambers, Dr Paul Southall and Dr Sophie Jackman join our Council as consultant and anaesthetist in training members.

Dr Sarah Ramsay and Dr Matt Tuck have been re-elected for a second term as consultant and anaesthetist in training members respectively.

Dr David Urwin will be joining Council as a co-opted anaesthetist in training member, covering one of our trainee members who is on maternity leave.

We asked Jon, Paul, Sophie and David why they decided to stand for election – and more.

It's also associated with other risk factors for poor outcomes, including multimorbidity, sarcopenia and disability. Despite the prevalence of these conditions, current perioperative pathways are not always tailored to high-risk, older surgical patients, resulting in unacceptable variation in access to and quality of care across the UK. 

Comprehensive geriatric assessment (CGA) can be used to assess and optimise frailty, multimorbidity and other age-related syndromes, reducing postoperative morbidity and mortality with proven cost-effectiveness. Implementing CGA-based perioperative services is therefore key in delivering high-quality and cost-effective care of older people undergoing surgery.

‘May you live in interesting times’ has a heavy degree of irony at present. However, It is my honour to write my first piece as fifth dean of the Faculty and following our historic public statement, made in conjunction with the RCoA, of plans to start work to develop a UK College of Intensive Care Medicine.

I work as an intensive care medicine consultant in Sheffield, and a recent Diplomates Day photo of four happy ICM specialty registrars from my region brought home to me why it is right to start this work now. All four of them identify as ‘intensivists’, but two are single ICM CCT specialty registrars, one is dual with respiratory medicine, and one is dual with anaesthesia. Intensive care medicine as a stand-alone medical specialty is maturing, and it is inevitable that we should look to a future as an independent college which directly represents the interests of an increasingly diverse group of fellows and members and of the patients we treat.

If there is one thing we have learnt recently, it is to make sure we engage with you, our members. We need your valuable experience and views to shape the future of the College.

How the College is run for patients, and on behalf of its members

You may remember that back in February we took a single proposal regarding governance of the College to an Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM), asking members to back a package of measures to change the governance of the College and bring us in line with the laws which govern us in our legal status as a charity.

This proposal, while receiving the majority of votes, did not get the support of the two-thirds of attendees needed to pass it. Listening to feedback after the event, we learnt that members had not felt sufficiently involved in the drawing-up of proposals and that including all the proposals in a single vote was complicated.

October is Black History Month, and we welcome it as an opportunity to celebrate the contribution of black anaesthetists to the specialty and the NHS. This year’s theme is ‘Saluting Our Sisters’, in recognition of the fact that the many achievements of black women are too often overlooked. Over the course of the month, we aim to share profiles of some of our members whose achievements and perspectives we want to champion.

One such colleague is Dr Sethina Watson, who gave the address at this year’s Ceremony of Presentation of Diplomates, or ‘Dips Day’ as it is more commonly known. It was an inspiring speech, not only because it demonstrated the extraordinary determination evident in Sethina’s own path to becoming an anaesthetist, but also because of her ability to articulate the differences in our individual experiences while also identifying the motivations we have in common. We have shared Sethina’s speech on our website and it is well worth a read.

As always, Dips Day was a thoroughly enjoyable day all round, and it was a privilege to be part of people’s celebrations and to witness the pride and happiness of their families and friends.

These colleagues are easily recognised and often appreciated but, with the merry-go-round of training and rotational placements, attaining formal acknowledgement of their work can be overlooked. 

We recently took steps to nominate our College tutor and were delighted when he received a President’s Commendation from our College.

Several years ago, Dr Minich took over the school-wide final FRCA teaching programme. With his dedication and blindingly structured approach, it quickly became clear that we were fortunate to have an excellent educator in our midst. To say we all benefited from the provision of exam-practice resources and Dr Minich’s efforts coordinating hours of SOE practice feels like an understatement; it simply does not portray the level of help and support Dr Minich provided to the trainee body preparing for the exams.

I’ve been wondering recently how far I should be embracing or resisting my own background when speaking as a patient voice.

I took on the role of Chair of PatientsVoices@RCoA in September, and I’ve found it fascinating to learn about a whole range of issues that are new to me and to contribute to discussions about them. But I’ve also been struck by how often I’ve found myself thinking that the need for good communications lies at the heart of whichever issue is under discussion. And I’ve been wondering whether that reflects the reality, or my own particular interests.

The College hosts regular online ‘Let’s Talk’ events for our members. These meetings are an opportunity for you to talk with College representatives about whatever’s on your mind. 

You might have questions or feedback for us, or you might want to share your views or experiences on any number of issues affecting the specialty.