The Royal College of Emergency Medicine has a dedicated communications team.
If you are a member of the media and you would like more information about the College and its work, or you would like to make a request to speak to one of our spokespeople, please contact the team via communications@rcem.ac.uk
We kindly ask you do not contact our spokespeople directly as they are all busy working Emergency Medicine clinicians and may not be in a position to respond.
Please contact the communications team and we will respond to you as soon as possible.
The communications team’s office hours are 9am – 5pm, Monday to Friday. But we are also contactable outside of these time for urgent media enquiries.
If you do want to contact us out of hours, please use the same email – communications@rcem.ac.uk – which is monitored closely by the communications team member on call, and we will respond promptly.
If you are interested in our latest analysis of NHS performance data, please visit our Data and Statistics page where you will find information and graphs. Please feel free to use these images in your coverage attributing them to RCEM.
Patients in mental health crisis twice as likely to spend 12-hours or more in Emergency Departments than other patients
A new report from The Royal College of Emergency Medicine finds that patients presenting with mental health problems are twice as likely to spend 12-hours or more in Emergency Departments than other patients.
RCEM responds to Secretary of State’s ‘Our Plan for Patients’
Responding to the announcement by the Health and Social Care Secretary and Deputy Prime Minister Thérèse Coffey, President of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, Dr Katherine Henderson said:
Letter to Prime Minister Liz Truss from RCEM Lay Advisory Group Chair
The Prime Minister talks about GP appointments but Emergency Departments are in cardiac arrest…
RCEM statement on Her Majesty The Queen
We are immensely saddened to hear of the death of Her Majesty The Queen.
New Prime Minister must show leadership and get to grips with crisis in Emergency Care
Responding to the latest Emergency Department performance figures published by NHS England for August 2022, President of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, Dr Katherine Henderson said:
“The data is stark. We are worried about the coming winter. These are the second worst data on record. Too many patients are waiting too long. We know long waits contribute to patient harm. In August over 29,000 patients waited over 12 hours after a decision to admit was made, with some patients waiting up to three days for a bed. We think the consequence of this is shown in the ONS data as 500 excess deaths a week. We must not accept these long stays as normal. We need to see leadership and meaningful action that gets to grips with this crisis.
Emergency Care ACP Supervisor Training Day
The next EC-ACP Supervisor Training Day will take place on 20 September 2022.
Urgent and Emergency Care System in South West in crisis ahead of ‘looming’ winter
Responding to the latest Emergency Department performance figures for the South West Region, Dr James Gagg, South West Regional Chair of The Royal College of Emergency Medicine, said:
“The data for the South West is shocking. Large numbers of patients facing extremely long waiting times. The reality on the ground is awful, ambulances queuing outside packed Emergency Departments with no beds in which to move patients. Patients waiting in inappropriate places such as corridors. The situation is bleak. This is at a time of year where Health & Social Care Systems historically function better ahead of the recurring winter crises.
Basic care of older people can be assured by expanding capacity and both the NHS and social care workforce
Basic care of older people can be assured by expanding capacity and both the NHS and social care workforce 7 September 2022 Responding to the
July sees worst performance figures ever recorded in Scotland
Responding to the latest Emergency Department performance figures for Scotland, Dr John-Paul Loughrey, Vice Chair of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine Scotland, said:
“The latest Emergency Department performance figures for July should ring alarm bells to all political and health leaders. These are the worst performance figures since records began, with over 4,000 patients waiting 12-hours or more in major Emergency Departments in Scotland – equal to nearly one in every 25 patients.
RCEM AGM – 17:10, Tuesday 4 October 2022
This year’s Annual General Meeting will be held on Tuesday 4 October at our Annual Scientific Conference in Belfast.
RCEM survey finds half of Children and Adolescent Mental Health services in the ED are described as poor or awful
Half of respondents said children and young people facing mental health crises arriving between 3 and 7pm experienced waits of 12-24 hours to see a specialist mental health professional.
Only one in five Emergency Departments reported having a full 24/7 service.
Exams update from the Chief Executive Officer
The past months have seen significant work here at the College to address the issues…
Oversubscribed OSCE exams – increased places in 2023
There is currently an extremely high demand for exams places, but we are planning to expand our capacity to facilitate extra places in 2023.
Diploma ceremony 2022 – extra places and additional day
Following the high volume of interest in the Diploma Ceremony on Thursday 1 December, we have replanned the logistics to accommodate an extra 50 graduands for each ceremony on this day.
Reflective practice log issue resolved
It was recently brought to our attention that there was an oversight during the data migration from the NES ePortfolio, relating to the ‘Reflective Practice Log’ form.
NHS England’s crisis mitigation plan can only succeed if there is political will to do so
Responding to NHS England’s letter ‘Next steps in increasing capacity and operational resilience in urgent and emergency care ahead of winter’, Dr Adrian Boyle, Vice President of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine said:
