News and views from The Royal College of Emergency Medicine. Please use the "On this page" menu below for contents.
Summer has been late this year, but it is relief to hear mowers and more birdsong after a long winter. This month we celebrate Pride and the LGBTQIA+ community. We are marking it this year by launching the College’s first EDI calendar. We are committed to creating a compassionate and inclusive specialty in which everyone can be themselves – download the calendar below!
Industrial action grumbles on, but the anxieties about strikes causing unsafe emergency care do not seem to have been realised. Indeed, the reduction in elective capacity and increase in senior decision makers made for a better working environment in many places. It is reassuring that emergency care is better during strikes and that our problems are not insoluble. I’ve been on the road quite a lot since the last newsletter, meeting emergency clinicians all over the country is an enjoyable perk of the job, along with the nice meals in beautiful buildings.
We hosted an emergency care crisis summit in the House of Lords, along with friends from the College of Paramedics, British Geriatrics Society, Society for Acute Medicine and the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health. We started this by hearing from a patient who had spent over 24 hours waiting to be admitted. It was a well attended by MPs and Peers and I hope they are better informed and will make better decisions as a result. We are watching progress against the English Urgent and Emergency Care recovery plan like a hawk, it is a reasonable plan but only if it is fully implemented.
See our campaign to improve care. Resuscitating Emergency Care
Dr Adrian Boyle
President, Royal College of Emergency Medicine
@RCEMpresident
College NewsOSCE Examinations during industrial action
The British Medical Association (BMA) has announced that further industrial action by junior doctors will be taking place between 14 and 17 June 2023. These dates clash with the College’s MRCEM OSCE examination in London (12 to 20 June 2023).
Following internal discussions with EMTA and EMSAS, and thanks to great work by the Exams team and with huge gratitude to all those who volunteered to step in and work as examiners, the exams will be going ahead.
More details about the OSCE during the strikes here.
Escalating safety concerns during periods of Industrial Action
The industrial action taking place should not put patients or staff at risk. Neither the BMA nor NHSE want matters to become unsafe during this period.
Clinical Leads should ensure they are aware of, and action, their local escalation procedures if they need to during the strike period. These are usually through Chief Operating Officers and Medical Directors.
Our Workforce Census of Emergency Departments in England is now underway! Advanced sight of the questions have been sent to the Clinical Leads of each department in preparation of the Census link going live shortly. The importance of this project cannot be underestimated – our Census reports in Scotland and Wales successfully secured us an expansion of training places. It’s now time to do the same in England. Please chat to your colleagues and Clinical Leads to raise awareness of the Census and encourage your department to submit their data. This is our future, let’s not leave it blank.
See More Policy News
We were delighted to welcome our Royal Patron HRH The Princess Royal to our virtual study day, How to provide environmentally sustainable emergency care. HRH met members of the Environmental Special Interest Group to discuss their work, achievements and the GreenED project. She went on to listen to a talk from Dr Sandy Robertson about how emergency care can respond to the climate crisis, and delivered an address to the audience where she spoke of The College’s pragmatic and innovative approach to providing greener emergency care.
And you can read our Sustainability position statement here.
To mark the beginning of Pride month, the College has launched its first Diversity Calendar.
This calendar highlights key EDI awareness days and weeks and both religious and cultural celebrations that will be important to our membership and the Emergency Medicine community.
The College is fully committed to creating a compassionate and inclusive specialty and wider NHS in which everyone can fearlessly be their full authentic selves, feel valued and truly belong. There are many dates across the year that have been marked, while some may not be on the calendar, omission by no means exclusion.
The aim of the calendar – which has been created in consultation with the EDI Committee – is to promote awareness and education of key dates and celebrations and support and celebrate the diversity of the specialty, its staff and patients and honour the range of identities, beliefs, faiths and cultures.
The calendar can be used to organise local, regional and national activities, celebrations and campaigns while also being used as a reference while scheduling appointments, meetings and social events.
Get your copy of the EDI Calendar here.
To find out more about our EDI work email – edichairs@rcem.ac.uk
There is a view in policy circles that there has been too much investment in frontline emergency services…
The value of a trained and trainee emergency physician
Date: 26 – 28 September 2023
Abstracts submissions are now open for the upcoming Annual Scientific Conference. Abstracts are a key part of the conference with top submissions being invited to present either an oral presentation or a poster. Presenting your work can help to inform education and clinical practice, as well as providing personal development opportunities such as improving your presentation skills and enhancing your CV. Deadline for all submissions is Friday 23 June at 12:00 (midday) BST.
More information and submit your abstract.
Date: 8 June 2023
This virtual study day will provide practical advice on how to care for older patients living with frailty in the Emergency Department. You will also hear from frailty and GEM teams in action in the ED, and have sessions on QI methodology including how to apply it to improve the care of older patients in the ED.
View the programme online and register now.
All our virtual study days are available for booking on-demand for 6-months after their live date. This means if you’ve missed a study day you can register and watch the whole thing whenever suits you. Recent study days that have been added include:
The College is seeking Regional Vice Chairs for Yorkshire and Humber, South West, and South East Coast. Regional Vice Chairs play a crucial and rewarding role in advocating for their region and representing members in the College and key decision-making. Vice Chairs work closely with Regional Chairs, strengthening networks, engagement, and representation within a region. Deadline for applications is Friday 07 July. For more details and to apply please click here: Volunteering Opportunities
As you know, the delivery of emergency care in the UK has been marked by significant variability, leading to unintended consequences for Emergency Departments. In our ongoing efforts to address this issue, we are undertaking an exciting new project to identify best practices and establish a framework for excellence in emergency care. Our aim is to develop a comprehensive set of guidelines that accurately define Emergency Medicine Services and outline the necessary resources and standards for delivering exceptional care. Your input at this stage is vital to ensure that the guidelines we develop align with the specific needs and challenges faced by those working in emergency care. To complete the consultation, please click on the following link: GPEMS Consultation
Calling all Emergency Medicine practitioners in low and middle-income countries! The College is thrilled to announce the availability of grants for research projects aimed at enhancing emergency medicine services in low-income countries. Funding of up to £5,000 is available for research initiatives focusing on improving the delivery of emergency medicine in low or middle-income countries. To be eligible for this opportunity, applicants must:
For more details, including the application form and guidance, please visit: Research Grants for Lower Income Countries.
A poster for your Emergency Medicine Research Proposal is also available.
Application deadline: 17:00 on 22 June 2o23
We’ve launched our new campaign to tackle the problems facing Emergency Medicine. Five Priorities for UK Governments to #ResuscitateEmergencyCare lays out what UK governments must focus on to tackle the crisis, improve patient care, retain staff, and prevent harm. The five priorities are:
You can read the full recommendations here, and the press release here.
The College routinely sends a College Representative, also known as an Assessor, to attend recruitment panels across the UK (in-person and virtually) for consultant appointments interviews, known as Advisory Appointment Committees (AACs). Having an Assessor on a recruitment panel ensures transparency, fairness and equality is achieved for the candidates and appointing trust.
RCEM would love to extend the list of Assessors to improve availability and diversity while also relieving pressure on the Assessors who already support us. If you’re interested, more information can be found here, or email: AAC@rcem.ac.uk if you’re keen to sign up.
Developing national standards to drive Quality Improvement in hip fracture care – A collaboration between the Royal College of Emergency Medicine (RCEM) and national clinical audits in the UK and Ireland.
Hip fracture is the most common, serious injury in frail and older people presenting to the Emergency Department (ED). Each year in the United Kingdom and Ireland, over 75,000 will suffer a hip fracture. Diagnosis is usually made promptly making hip fracture the ideal model with which to examine the quality of the care provided to frail and older people.
Position Statement on the Use of the SNAP Regimen for the Treatment of Paracetamol Toxicity has been revised, and now addresses both adults and children. This is following the work of an Expert Advisory Group. The college is grateful to those members from other organisations, including NPIS and BASL for their participation in the EAG.
RCEM membership provides the opportunity to subscribe to the Emergency Medicine Journal (EMJ) at a hugely discounted rate. Many membership categories include access to the (EMJ) and we want to help you make the most of the content available to you.
If you are not currently subscribing to the EMJ and would like to or for any queries relating to your EMJ subscription, please email us at membership@rcem.ac.uk.
The EMJ is the leading international journal reporting developments and advances in emergency medicine and acute care. It is an international peer review journal covering pre-hospital and hospital emergency medicine, and critical care. The journal publishes original research, evidence-based reviews and commentaries on resuscitation, trauma, minor injuries, disaster preparedness and response, toxicology, acute medical and paediatric emergencies, diagnostic testing, teaching, clinical operations, decision making and reflections on clinical practice. The journal is aimed at doctors, nurses, paramedics and ambulance staff.
Your subscription automatically includes both postal and digital copies. The postal editions are sent out in the third week of each month to arrive with you at the beginning of the following month. If you wish to update your subscription to receive it digitally only, which is not only a reduced price but also more environmentally friendly, please do let us know by emailing membership@rcem.ac.uk.
To access content online, please login via your RCEM membership account and you can then set your preferences with the EMJ to be alerted to the latest articles.
Published monthly EMJ podcasts bring you the latest research highlights, news and author interviews so that you can stay abreast with the latest developments in emergency medicine.
Subscribe and listen anytime, anywhere. Available on Apple, Spotify, Google and Stitcher podcast platforms.
Stay up to date with the latest EMJ published content on the following platforms:
Twitter | Facebook
Update your personal data and EDI information – help us to help you!
Help us create a fair and equal healthcare system for all by filling out our demographic data form. We know that emergency medicine is diverse, but we need concrete evidence to fully understand the extent of this diversity. Your data will help us advocate for everyone and ensure that we are representing all social groups.
Please take a few moments to review your data in your RCEM account
As a charity committed to equality, we have legal obligations to meet, including the Equality Act (2010) and Charity Governance Code. We will use your data only for statistical purposes and never publish it in a way that identifies individuals. Rest assured that your data will be held in accordance with our Privacy Policy and existing laws on UK General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018. Access to your data will be restricted to staff involved in processing and monitoring, not those involved in decision-making processes.”
All members have the benefit of being able to enjoy RCEM Lifestyle Rewards at any time via https://www.rcem-rewards.co.uk/. Members receive new exclusive discounts and added value offers every month on a wide range of luxury products, services & experiences.
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Get £5 off your first Winston Trial Set, when you sign up to a Harry’s subscription.
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Classic South Africa – 16 nights from £2,855 pp. A great fly drive itinerary – Cape Town, the Winelands, the Garden Route and a game safari…
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The Exams department has now completed the delivery of the first diets of each of our three theory exams. A total of 2145 candidates sat the MRCEM SBA exam on 25 April, the largest exam the College has ever delivered, and we successfully delivered the MRCEM Primary exam on 17 May, to close to 2000 candidates around the world.
Our OSCE team are currently delivering the FRCEM OSCE in London, which is running between 15 – 26 May. We’re extremely grateful to the 133 individual examiners who are volunteering their time to help us examine 320 candidates sitting this diet. The next MRCEM OSCE is taking place in London in June, and will be quickly followed by another MRCEM OSCE in Chennai, India.
We’re delighted to have approved 125 new Examiners for training so far this year, already exceeding the total number of new Examiners trained last year. We couldn’t deliver our exams without the invaluable support of our Examiner network, so we are always looking for new examiners and/or question writers. If you or a colleague are interested or would like to find out more, please click here or email Examiners@rcem.ac.uk.
Looking for a summer fitness goal? We are looking for willing volunteers to represent RCEM at the Royal Parks Half Marathon on Sunday 8 October. If you think you’re not a runner, that’s ok – walk, jog, hop if you want to, across the 13.1 mile course which takes in some of London’s most beautiful green spaces. You’ll be cheered on by a veritable support squad from the College itself and even have your own t-shirt! It’s a fantastic way to welcome in autumn and raise money for the College’s fundraising activities at the same time.
If you like the sound of representing RCEM, please email fundraising@rcem.ac.uk for more information. You can find out more about ways to support RCEM in general and if you would like to suggest an activity we are always open to ideas. Again, please drop us a line at fundraising@rcem.ac.uk
Support RCEM – How to support RCEM with fundraising and our charitable work including FAQs, resources, ideas & inspiration.
Adrian wrote in the New Statesman about the widespread shortfall of beds in the NHS across the UK. The article looks into the latest data around NHS beds in the UK and the effect such a significant shortfall has on Emergency Medicine, its staff and its patients.
Read our policy briefing here: RCEM Explains: Hospital beds across the UK
