Reflections on a Presidency and playing Cassandra

This will be my last EMJ supplement as President. I have been reflecting on the three years and on the questions, I get asked regularly; have I enjoyed my time, and will I miss it? It is a huge honour to be elected President of your College and the role is unendingly interesting. I have had the opportunity to meeting a wide variety of people and have tried to influence for good. It will be up to others to decide how successful I (and my team) have been.

Health inequalities: what can we do in Emergency Medicine?

May 2021 – Many of you will have heard me say we are the safety net of the patient but cannot be the safety net of the system. There has been general agreement with this sentiment but what does it mean in the current environment peri-pandemic? How much of a safety net are we and where and how was the system failing such that we do clinical (and non-clinical) care that should be managed elsewhere?

Emergency Medicine in a changing world

December 2020 – Will we have a safer more responsive emergency care system when we come out the other side of Covid? I have to believe we can, but it needs us to keep pushing. It is entirely possible that we will be in a third wave before the much-anticipated vaccine has any significant impact on our ability to deliver healthcare and as every week goes by the challenges for the health service increases.