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The Royal College of Emergency Medicine elects its fourth President

17 March 2022

The Royal College of Emergency Medicine is delighted to announce that Dr Adrian Boyle has been elected as its next President.

Dr Adrian Boyle is an Emergency Medicine Consultant at Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and has been serving as Vice President of The Royal College for Policy and was previously Chair of the Quality Committee for six years.

Dr Adrian Boyle will be the fourth President of The Royal College of Emergency Medicine, but he will be the organisation’s seventh President since its inception as The College of Emergency Medicine, incorporated by Royal Charter in 2008. Dr Boyle will formally take up his post as President in October 2022.

The President-elect, Dr Adrian Boyle said: 

“I am honoured to have been elected by Members and Fellows of The Royal College of Emergency Medicine to be the next President. It is a privilege to follow in Dr Henderson’s footsteps, and I will bring the same passion and advocacy that Dr Henderson has brought over the past three years.

“Urgent and Emergency Care has not faced a deeper crisis than at present, I am determined to do what I can to keep patients safe and support Emergency Medicine staff. It will be a huge test with the ongoing pandemic and plans for recovery, but it is paramount that Urgent and Emergency Care does not continue to face unprecedented and unsustainable pressures.”

Outgoing President Dr Katherine Henderson said: 

“I congratulate Dr Boyle on his election, and I thank the other two candidates Dr Higginson and Dr McKechnie. All three of these candidates would have made a superb President. I look forward to inducting the President-elect over the coming months ahead of the handover in October.

“It has been a privilege to be President of The Royal College of Emergency Medicine, and an immense privilege to be The Royal College’s first female President.

“As all our members will know it has been an incredibly challenging few years. It has been an honour to advocate for our members and the Emergency Medicine specialty in such trying times. The Royal College has grown substantially and is a leading voice in health, we are on the road to achieving great things. I look forward to seeing my successor, Dr Boyle, carry on the excellent work of The Royal College.”

The other candidates in the election were:

  • Dr Ian Higginson, Vice President of The Royal College and Emergency Medicine Consultant at University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust
  • Dr Martin McKechnie, former Vice Chair of Scotland and substantive Consultant in Emergency Medicine in NHS Lothian

The ballot operated on the basis of voter preference with a single transferable vote methodology. There were 4,455 eligible voters for this election, 1,713 votes were cast online. Voter turnout was 38.5% of Members and Fellows and the elections were conducted officially and independently by Civica Election Services.

-ENDS-

Notes to editor

The history of The Royal College of Emergency Medicine dates to the Casualty Surgeons Association (CSA) which had seven Presidents from 1967 – 1990. The CSA changed its name in 1990 to the British Association for Emergency Medicine (BAEM) which had seven Presidents between 1990-2008. Overlapping with BAEM was the Faculty of Accident and Emergency Medicine (FAEM) which had five Presidents between 1993 – 2006.

In 2006 the Faculty of Emergency Medicine (FAEM) changed its name to College of Emergency Medicine (CEM), and in 2008 BAEM merged with CEM to form The College of Emergency Medicine, incorporated by Royal Charter. The College had three Presidents from 2006 to 2013.

In 2015 the College was awarded the title ‘Royal’ by Her Majesty The Queen and became The Royal College of Emergency Medicine (RCEM), since 2015 RCEM has had three Presidents.

To read more about the history of The Royal College and the history of Emergency Medicine head to our website’s about page.

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