Responding to the Secretary of State’s announcement on following the Independent reconfiguration Panel review into the decision to reorganise children’s cardiac services across England into fewer more specialised units Professor Terence Stephenson, Chairman of the AoMRC said

"We welcome the fact that the Independent Reconfiguration Panel and the Secretary of State acknowledge the case for change. The Academy of Medical Royal Colleges recognised that the Safe and Sustainable decision to concentrate surgical expertise into fewer larger surgical centres and the development of local networks of care could improve cardiac services for children, based on the need for a minimum of four surgeons per centre.

Change remains a matter of urgency – it is 12 years since the report of the Bristol Inquiry was published and patients have waited too long for improvements to be made. We would imagine that everyone who wants to see improvements in the care for children would be frustrated at another delay.

We do recognise that national service change on this scale is a complex undertaking and we offer our full support to work with NHS England and other stakeholders going forward to ensure the benefits of whatever long overdue changes to children’s heart services are necessary to provide the best possible service children and their families."

Unless the NHS faces up to the need to change how it delivers its services, it will descend into a 'vicious spiral' of poorly planned, reactive responses resulting in unsustainable demand, according to three organisations which have joined forces to call for a better approach to NHS service change.

The three organisations together represent royal medical colleges, patient groups and NHS organisations. It is the first time bodies representing all three major parts of the health service - patients, clinicians and its senior leaders - have come together to examine the need for changing how services are organised and how best to do so.

The NHS Confederation, National Voices and the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges are calling for 'more meaningful' engagement in how health services are arranged and changed with all those groups who are impacted by them. It says past experience of NHS changes, which can be driven by financial or clinical crisis, has polarised the debate to the extent that the service risks being paralysed, even though major change is essential for its successful future.

Their report, Changing care, improving quality, says rising demand and limited resources mean the reorganisation of services is essential for the NHS to remain sustainable and to continue providing safe, effective clinical care that meets patients' needs. It says that the term "reconfiguration" has become loaded with negative meaning, associated with making cuts and downgrading services, and that service changes are frequently viewed by the public as a threat rather than positive and necessary reforms.

The report says that making the case for change must happen earlier and that public and patients need to be fully involved from the outset. It emphasises the importance of a whole-system approach so that communities do not perceive change as a loss but understand how reinvestment in community-based services will deliver the quality and access they prioritise.

Published on the first day (Wed 5 June) of the NHS Confederation's annual conference, the report calls for meaningful engagement of the public, patients, politicians and health professionals in proactive, well-planned service changes, and highlights the highly influential role for clinicians in communicating a clear case for change.

It sets out five recommendations each for local health service leaders and their national counterparts in order to ensure essential reconfigurations - underpinned by sound clinical reasons - can proceed with the understanding and support of relevant stakeholders.

Mike Farrar, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, said:

"More than two-thirds of NHS Confederation members have told us 'political resistance' is the biggest barrier they face in relation to successful service reconfiguration. But political courage by itself is not enough to deliver the kind of change that the NHS needs at this point in its life; the service itself must overcome its paralysis in relation to change, and it must bring the right people with it.

"It is not good enough to say that it is 'difficult' to communicate the need for change to the public. Local people who use and rely on NHS services, whether they are regular service users or just count on it being there if they need it, deserve to have safe, sustainable health services. 'Tweaking' bits of the system in isolation from each other or changing only in response to external pressures will not deliver the long-term change we need for the NHS's survival.

"The onus is on us in the NHS to build the case for change amongst the people we need support from, so that 'reconfiguration' stops being a dirty word and starts to represent the kind of planned, well-evidenced change programme which the NHS deserves."

Jeremy Taylor, Chief Executive, National Voices, says:

"Patients are not best served by the current pattern of services. For the safest, highest quality care, hospitals need to be organised differently and more services are needed closer to people’s homes. But the changes needed are often highly controversial. The NHS has often failed to make a good case; to involve patients and communities in ways that would build trust and to follow through to ensure that the new pattern of services is better than the old. And the public are rightly suspicious of closures and downgrades that seem to be more to do with money than quality of care. It is hardly surprising that local politicians often rush to defend the status quo – even if it is not the longer term interests of patients.

"The NHS has always evolved to meet changing needs. We need a more honest debate and a better way of making the decisions. This should not be about the NHS getting smarter at public relations, but about working with patients and citizens to jointly shape the decisions."

Professor Terence Stephenson, Chairman of the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges, said:

"As clinicians, patients are at the centre of everything we do. Changes in how the NHS delivers care will need to happen to continually deliver high quality patient care in the future. These changes cannot be delivered by one group alone. We believe that bringing together clinicians, patients and managers is vital to ensure that everyone is working together for the same standards of care. We want to create a culture of joint working, where it is normal for patients to be involved in every stage of designing their healthcare. Leading positive change together will ensure that we are able to deliver the excellence in care people have a right to expect from the NHS."

View or download the Changing Care, Improving Quality report.

From today, NHS consultant doctors can apply for certificates that will help verify them for short-term work elsewhere in the NHS or at universities.

• Emergency or occasional treatment of a patient (e.g. to cover sick leave)
• Promoting continuity of care of a patient
• Allowing a consultant to provide short-term specialist training to other clinicians in the area of his/her expertise
• Allowing a consultant to receive short-term training/continuing professional development  to expand their skills in an area of practice that is new to them or in innovative techniques and technology. 

• Providing evidence of personal identity
• Ongoing honorary employment or research activity (an appropriate honorary contract should be used)
• Making an offer for long-term paid or unpaid employment
• Any other circumstance where an honorary contract is more appropriate  
• Sanctioning activity when the consultant is scheduled to be working for his/her substantive employer (except by agreement with the substantive employer)
• Locum appointments 
• Remediation purposes.

The Revalidation Support Team initiated a specialist portfolio project last year to explore what a high quality appraisal portfolio for doctors would look like; and to gain a better understanding of what information is needed and how it could be collected and used in the most effective way. This project was to build on the medical Royal Colleges and Faculties' work exploring how specialist guidance could most effectively lead to improvements in quality of care. The Faculty of Medical Leadership and Management, Royal College of Physicians London and the Royal College of Surgeons of England participated in the project and the portfolios have now been published.

More about the Specialty Portfolios Project

Example appraisal portfolios

Example appraisal portfolios comentary

For queres or more information please contact:  This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Joint Statement from the Trust Special Administrators of Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust and the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges

The GMC today published independent research (commissioned from the Academic Unit of Primary Medical Care, University of Sheffield, in collaboration with Capita Health) on the impact of CPD on doctors’ performance and patient/service outcomes.

• Time is provided for individuals to reflect on their learning after it has completed
• It is integrated with appraisal, linked to personal development plans and aligned with organisational objectives
• Organisational support is provided to facilitate change following completion of learning.

Speaking about the report, the Chair of the Academy's Directors of CPD Committee, Dr Ian Starke said:

"We welcome this study as a preliminary step to review the impact of CPD on a range of doctors. We support many of the recommendations in the report and hope we can use it as a stimulus for further development of an evidence base to support CPD across the whole scope of work of a doctor rather than looking at individual CPD activities.  

"Following initial discussions with the GMC regarding the report’s findings, DoCPD is looking forward to future collaboration particularly in the following areas which were highlighted in the report:

• The role of employers in facilitating effective CPD
• The links between effective CPD, appraisal, PDPs and service need
• The role of reflection
• Practical ways of promoting effective learning through CPD."  

Read the full GMC report

The Academy of Medical Royal Colleges has been seeking clarity from the Government on the implications of the revised Regulation 75 on competition and procurement. Following discussions, the Secretary of State has agreed to meet Academy representatives to discuss the concerns of Colleges. The Academy welcomes the Secretary of State’s offer and plans to meet with him as soon as is practicable.

• Drawing up implementation plans for how they and others can effect a major change in patient care and professionalism among medical practitioners 
• Identifying which of the report’s recommendations they can actively help implement and where they can lend support
• Holding a seminar in April for Colleges and Faculties to prioritise and develop their activity and proposals
• Developing a programme and tools to support clinicians and managers in deciding priorities and ensuring quality in difficult financial circumstances.

• The revision of quality assurance systems to identify and review unsatisfactory performance in pathology departments (Royal College of Pathologists) 
• Working with trusts to support clinicians in creating a culture where the clinical voice is strong (Royal College of Psychiatrists) 
• Launching a Clinical Accreditation Service to allow Trusts and Boards to benchmark service provision against evidence based standards (Royal College of Anaesthetists). 

The Academy would like to congratulate Mr Walter Merrick on being reappointed as Chair of the Academy Board of Trustees for a further three years. We look forward to continuing our work with him over that time. 

•  Granting of time out from training and/or employment for volunteers 
•  Formal recognition of volunteering for professional development 
•  A fragmented environment for volunteering activities 
•  Monitoring, evaluation and research of volunteering activities 
•  Information, training and support for volunteers 
•  Additional expenditures and the loss of employment entitlements for volunteers. 

 Academy Statement on Volunteering: Health Professional Volunteers and Global Health Development

The NICE Implementation Collaborative (NIC) NIC harnesses the skills, experience and dedication of organisations and individuals from across the healthcare system to improve patient outcomes for all. The NIC is a unique partnership whose members are committed to working together to support a system where patients have faster and more consistent access to NICE-recommended medicines, treatments and technologies.

This independent partnership between the NHS, the life sciences industry, healthcare professional bodies, key health organisations and the public is transformational and heralds a collaborative approach that will be critical in achieving improved outcomes for the whole population. The signing of the NIC concordat by all its partners is the very first time that the NHS and it's stakeholders have come together to work in this way and completely re-draws the landscape.

The Academy has signed up to the NIC Concordat which can be read here.

The NIC brings together all the key players in one place to find out what's stopping NICE treatments being used and then aims to find ways to overcome these barriers, in the new environment of CCGs locally determining appropriate and affordable prioritisation.

Members of the NIC:

On Monday 25 February, the Academy formally launched its report Measuring Up: the Medical Profession's Prescription for the Nation's Obesity Crisis at the House of Commons, sponsored by Dr Sarah Wollaston, MP, who gave a speech welcoming the report's recommendations. Also supporting the campaign launch and speaking was the Chair of the newly formed Obesity All Party Parliamentary Group, Rosie Cooper, MP. 

The launch was well attended by those individuals and organisations that had given evidence to the Academy's report as well as Lords and MP's; including the Minster for Public Health, Anna Soubry, MP, and the Shadow Public Health Minister Diane Abbott, MP and Shadow Health Minister Andy Burnham, MP. 

Professor Terence Stephenson, Chair of the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges, opened the launch summarising the 10 recommendations of the report including actions to be taken concerning healthcare professionals, the obesogenic environment and making the healthy choice the easy choice.

In conclusion he said that:

"Every person we heard from wanted help to lose weight, they wanted help to swim with the tide not against the current.

"Obesity is not any one government or industry's fault, there is no single solution and therefore it is everybody's responsibility to get together and put this situation right. Which is why we are inviting partners to create a coalition of the willing, of organisations across all four nations and governments to come together and begin to tackle this crisis."

Rosie Cooper, MP supported this view stating that:

Speaking after the launch Dr Wollaston MP said:

Dr Sarah Wollaston, MP & Professor Terence Stephenson	Anna Soubry, MP, Professor Terence Stephenson & Rosie Cooper, MP

 

• Food-based standards to be mandatory in all UK hospitals 
• A ban on new fast food outlets being located close to schools and colleges
• A duty on all sugary soft drinks, increasing the price by at least 20%, to be piloted
• Traffic light food labelling to include calorie information for children and adolescents – with visible calorie indicators for restaurants,  especially fast food outlets
• £100m in each of the next three years to be spent on increasing provision of weight management services across the country
• A ban on advertising of foods high in saturated fats, sugar and salt before 9pm
• Existing mandatory food- and nutrient-based standards in England to be statutory in free schools and academies

 Measuring Up

We are looking for your ideas to inspire improvement!

Trainee doctors are being asked to seize the opportunity to come up with ideas that will make training work better for them. 

Health Education England's Better Training Better Care programme has £100,000 to fund innovative ideas through its Inspire Improvement! project.  The funding is for trainee-led ideas that will improve their training and education, and in turn, improve patient care.

The trainee-led project ideas should demonstrate outstanding potential to meet the challenges set out in Sir John Temple’s recommendations, which are:

1. Training must be planned and focused for the trainees’ needs

2. Training requires a change from traditional perceptions of learning which recognises the modern NHS

3. Trainees must be involved in the decision making and implementation of training innovations that affect their present and future careers

To express your interest in this and to request an application form please email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.  or for more information visit the Health Education England website.

Applications close on 2 April 2013. After this there will be a shortlisting process. An expert panel consisting of senior figures from Health Education England, the Faculty of Medical Leadership and Management, the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges and the Conference of Postgraduate Medical Deans will judge the shortlisted applications and award funding in late April 2013.

Howard Ryland Clinical Fellow at the Academy said:

"As trainees we are ideally positioned to see where things could be improved, but we can lack the senior support, financial backing or voice to be able to effect these changes. The Make a difference! project will change that. The BTBC programme has identified £100,000 to fund a number of trainee-led projects that demonstrate outstanding potential to meet the challenge set out in Professor Temple’s recommendations.  

"There are no limits about what the project could look like, as long as it can show how it would positively impact on training and address one or more of the recommendations. Projects can have a local focus, but need to be generalisable in a national context. They also need to be sustainable, even when the original trainees have moved on... Good Luck!"

 Download the  Inspire Improvement! flyer. 

The Ethical Standards in Health and Life Sciences Group (ESHLSG), a group of 20 organisations (18 full members and two observing members) working together to improve the relationship between healthcare professionals and the pharmaceutical and life sciences industries, has launched a consultation on establishing a public register of payments made to healthcare professionals by commercial organisations.

Healthcare professionals and commercial organisations collaborate and interact in a range of activities from developing innovative treatments, sharing good clinical practice and delivering patient care. The group believes that the public disclosure of payments to health professionals represents a significant step towards fostering greater transparency and building greater trust between the medical community, industry and patients across the UK and Europe.

In June 2012, the pharmaceutical industry stated its ambition to work with the healthcare professional community to introduce a system of public disclosure of payments across Europe by 2016. Companies operating in the UK, will begin disclosing the total of payments made to healthcare professionals and the number of individuals receiving payments in spring 2013.

All healthcare organisations, commercial companies and individual healthcare professionals are being encouraged to complete the consultation questions online and to read the document Establishing a register of payments received by UK healthcare professionals from commercial organisations before completing it.

Sir Richard Thompson, co-chair of the ESHLSG and President of the Royal College of Physicians, commented:

“This consultation is intended to establish whether there is, in principle, support for a publically available, single, searchable system for disclosure of payments that is inclusive of all commercial life science organisations working in healthcare.”

As part of its work in evolving the relationship between commercial organisations and healthcare professionals in the UK, the ESHLSG has considered and outlined a set of principles on which a model of disclosure could be established, and, in particular, how healthcare professionals and industry might work together in such a system.

Deepak Khanna, co-chair of the ESHLSG and President of the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry, commented:

“The consultation outlines ESHLSG’s vision of the principles behind how a system of declaration could work. It does not make recommendations about which payments to declare or cover, or make specific recommendations about the practical implementation of such a system. 

“Our view is that the co-creation of a system to declare payments is the right course of action and that it should be developed and agreed jointly by the relevant stakeholder groups. A move to greater transparency would address societal demands, represent an evolution in the relationship between commercial organisations and healthcare professionals and would support new ways of working in the future.”

The consultation is open for a period of three months and the ESHLSG is actively seeking views from all members of the healthcare community which will inform how the system of declaration would work. 

The Academy funded the Royal College of Surgeons of England to produce a report: Hospital Episode Statistics: Creating the evidence to support revalidation

The report has been published this month. Follow the link above or download the report below. 

 Hospital Episode Statistics and Revalidation: Creating the evidence to support revalidation

• Hospital inpatients should be reviewed by an on-site consultant at least once every 24 hours, seven days a week, unless it has been determined that this is not necessary for the patient 
• Consultant-supervised interventions and investigations along with reports should be provided daily if the results will change the outcome or status of the patient’s overall care before the next ‘normal’ working day. This should include interventions which will enable immediate discharge or a shortened length of stay
• Support services both in hospitals and in the primary care community setting should be available daily to ensure that the next steps in the patient’s treatment, as determined by the daily consultant review, can be taken. It also acknowledges that it is outside its scope to look in detail at community services.

Revalidation of licensed doctors begins today. Senior doctors in medical leadership role will be amongst the first to go through the revalidation process under the GMC’s new way of regulating licensed doctors.

It is expected that the majority of licensed doctors in the UK will have been revalidated by 2016. Revalidation aims to give patients and the public, as well as employers and other healthcare professionals, extra confidence that doctors are up to date and fit to practice. All licensed doctors will need to revalidate on a regular basis (usually every five years) in order to keep their licence to practise.

Speaking on the process, Dr Tony Falconer, Academy Revalidation lead and President of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists said:

“I am pleased that the process of revalidation has finally started and like the majority of doctors, I hope that this process will improve the quality of medical care for patients and look forward to seeing the evidence of such progress.”

Professor Terence Stephenson, Chair of the Academy said:

“The Academy of Medical Royal Colleges supports the principle of revalidation. All the UK's doctors will be demonstrating that they are fit to practise in whichever field they work in”.

More information on revalidation can be read on the GMC’s website

The Academy’s role and involvement in revalidation can be read here

BMJ Open have published the results of the clinicians responses to the Hospital Episode Statistics report.

• 3.4% of the sample regularly access HES data
• 21% are regularly involved in clinical coding
• 6.2% meet coding staff at least monthly

The Academy of Medical Royal Colleges welcomes publication of the first Mandate to the NHS Commissioning Board and supports the focus on the NHS Outcomes Framework. The Academy is pleased to note the Mandate is now more concise and focussed than it was previously.

Professor Terence Stephenson, Chairman of the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges said:

"A mandate from the Government to hold the NHS to account against high-level outcomes will keep the spotlight on the importance of a patient-centred culture whilst allowing flexibility and innovation in how to achieve it

Seeking across the board improvement is ambitious. However it does avoid previous problems of distorting clinical activity and behaviour in unhelpful ways by setting specific targets in selected areas.

We are pleased to see that issues raised by Colleges during the consultation on education and training, seven day working and rare conditions have been included in the document.

It is good to see the recognition of the role that Royal Colleges play in achieving improvement in outcomes and the Academy, Colleges and clinicians look forward to working with the Government and Commissioning Board to improve patient safety, experience and outcomes"

For more details go to the mandate website: www.dh.gov.uk/mandate

• What change is necessary and why;
• The benefits to the public and how risks might be managed;
• The barriers that have hampered change and how they might be overcome;
• The principles that should govern any proposals, including the role of the public and clinicians.

Commenting on the Government announcement today that a consistent system of food labeling will start next year, Professor Terence Stephenson, Chair of the Academy said:

“Clear, consistent nutrition information on products will make it easier for people to choose the healthy option. As part of the evidence gathered to inform the obesity inquiry, there’s been real support for better food labelling; not just in supermarkets but in restaurants too.  Today’s announcement marks a small but significant step in the battle to change an everyday environment that currently promotes unhealthy eating – ensuring the nutritional value of food is made clear so consumers can make an informed choice.”

Follow the links for further information on the Department of Health's food label consultation and this announcement.

• Work in partnership with other organisations to develop a positive culture by promoting openness, transparency, fairness, reporting and learning as an important and integral part of providing safer patient and public care 
• Adhere to the principles of this charter to foster a culture of openness which supports staff to raise concerns 
• Share expertise to create effective ways of breaking down barriers to reporting incidents and concerns early on 
• Exchange information, where it is appropriate and lawful to do so, in the interest of patient and public safety 
• Signpost individuals to support and guidance to ensure that they are fully aware of and understand their protected rights under the Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998 (PIDA) 
• Seek to highlight issues where current law or regulations may restrict those who wish to raise a concern about a human error.

• Direct involvement of a College in remediation should be commissioned by a Designated Body and underpinned by an agreement covering indemnity and funding
• Colleges which provide invited reviews should agree a set of principles for the conduct and quality assurance of these reviews
• Colleges should review their guidance and educational resources so that Designated Bodies can access them to support the remediation of early or low level concerns
• Colleges should consider how they might encourage and develop the role of senior doctors who provide supervision for peers undergoing remediation
• Future involvement of Colleges in remediation is likely to take place in partnership with other organisations such as NCAS via PSUs, particularly where complex interventions such as external placements are required.

 Remediation Working Group Report

Pregnant women will be offered whooping cough vaccinations to protect their newborn babies following a rise in cases and deaths amongst young infants, Chief Medical Officer Professor Dame Sally Davies has announced.

Vaccinations will start next week and will be offered to pregnant women during routing antenatal appointments with a nurse, midwife or GP. 

Professor Terence Stephenson, Chairman of the Academy said:

"Whooping cough (pertussis) can be a dangerous disease but many people think of it as something from the past, not an infection which kills anyone nowadays. Whooping cough can kill, especially tiny, vulnerable infants. We welcome offering pregnant women this vaccine which will protect them and their babies."

The full details of the programme due to start next week can be read on the DH website.

The Academy publishes the final report from the Tri-Faculty pilot study to understand how revalidation will work for doctors working outside traditional NHS settings, from the three specialties of Occupational Medicine, Pharmaceutical Medicine and Public Health.

Download and read the reports 

• Inform the implementation of revalidation 
• Inform the development of guidance for doctors and designated bodies 
• Provide information to inform the Department of Health (England)’s business case for revalidation.

Five reports have been produced on the following themes and can be downloaded from the RST website.

• Testing and Piloting: a summary of findings and learning
• Medical Appraisal Guide Pilot: Pilot results
• Public and patient involvement in revalidation
• Doctors in Training: a summary of findings
• Colleague and Patient Feedback Study

*The four professions are: Royal College of Physicians, Academy of Medical Royal Colleges, Royal College of Midwives, Royal College of Nursing and Royal Pharmaceutical Society.

The Academy welcomes the NHS Revalidation Support Team's ORSA report and is pleased to see the excellent progress which has been made overall, reflecting the hard work to ensure readiness for revalidation anticipated at the end of this year.

Read the full report on the NHS Revalidation Support Team website.

The Academy Patient/Lay group is one of nine patient organisations have called on the government to give the go ahead for a new system of regular checks for doctors in the UK, arguing that patients need to know that the doctor treating them is competent and safe to practise.

In a statement sent to Andrew Lansley, the Secretary of State for Health, all of the organisations agree that patients and the public need to be sure that the doctor who is treating them is up to date and fit to practise and they hope he will confirm in the autumn that revalidation will go ahead at the end of this year.

Covering six themes - including the expectations of patients, the role of the GMC, the future development of revalidation and the role of patients in providing feedback - the statement says: ‘We support the revalidation of doctors and the additional assurance it will provide patients about the doctors who treat them. Many patients believe this happens already and are surprised to learn that this is not yet the case across the UK. 

‘Revalidation will be an important statement that a doctor is competent in their area of practice. We recognise the contribution that revalidation can make over time to the quality and safety of care that patients receive. 

‘We trust that the Secretary of State for Health will make this decision with the views and interests of patients paramount by ensuring there is no further delay in revalidating doctors’ licences.’ 

The Academy welcomes the statement and fully supports the views expressed in it of it's Patient/Lay Group. 
The Academy continues to work with the Colleges and Faculties, four nation DH's and the GMC to ensure successful implementation of revalidation. 

The statement was also welcomed by the GMC which is responsible for introducing Revalidation. 

Read the full statement online.

The Academy is pleased that Health Minister Simon Burns has written to ACCEA asking them to launch the 2012 rounds of Clinical Excellence Awards. 

Speaking of the news, Professor Sir Neil Douglas, Chairman of the Academy said:

"We are pleased that the Government has agreed to open the Clinical Excellence Awards (CEAs) round for 2012.

"The CEA scheme is a robust and transparent process for recognising and rewarding clinical excellence of doctors at local and national level. This encourages high quality care and innovation at local level but also helps ensure that at a national level the country remains a competitive centre of medical excellence. 

"We now look forward to the publication of the independent DDRB report so we can engage in discussions on a sustainable future for the scheme."


Health Minister Simon Burns said:

"In building a modern NHS, we want to continue to reward and recognise those who make outstanding achievements and give exceptional patient care. That is why I have asked the Advisory Committee on Clinical Excellence Awards to open the 2012 round for applications.

"We must ensure that this system is effective, affordable and sustainable. We are currently considering an independent report on Clinical Excellence Awards and how they should work in the future."

The Academy of Medical Royal Colleges today publishes guidance about doctors returning to practice. Measures to support doctors returning to practice after an absence, planned or otherwise, are essential as time away from practice can affect doctors’ skills, confidence and knowledge base.

The guidance, based on the considerable experience of the Return to Practice working group set up by the Academy, alongside a review of existing evidence on return to practice, contains:

• Advice for managing the issues facing doctors returning to practice
• Practical checklists for evaluating doctors on and/or before their return to practice 
• Recommendations for establishing an organisational policy on return to practice
• Recommendations for setting up an action plan to assist in returning to practice.

Professor Hugo Mascie-Taylor, Chairman of the return to practice working group stated that:

The guidance is designed to support doctors, employers and all those involved with the safe return to practice for doctors. Crucially, it provides practical help for doctors and employers and it sets patient safety at the heart of its recommendations."

Professor Sir Neil Douglas, Chairman of the Academy said:

 The Academy of Medical Royal Colleges believes it is important for patients, doctors, and employers that there are clear procedures to cover a doctors’ return to practice. We believe this guidance effectively fills this gap and we hope it will be adopted by employers locally”

A copy of the guidance can be downloaded from the Academy Revalidation Reports and Resources pages.

The medical profession has come together to launch a campaign on what it claims is the single greatest public health threat in the UK – rising levels of child and adult obesity.  

Health professionals from surgeons and psychiatrists to paediatricians and GPs are joining forces under the umbrella of the Academy of Royal Medical Colleges (AoMRC) to launch the campaign which begins today with a 3-month evidence-gathering inquiry.  

Professor Terence Stephenson, Vice-Chair of the AoMRC and President of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health is chairing the campaign’s steering group which comprises representatives from all 21 Royal Medical Colleges and Faculties.  

The campaign will seek the views of healthcare professionals, local authorities, education providers, charities, campaign groups and the public, in the form of written and oral evidence.  It will look specifically for research and experience of actions and strategies that work in preventing or reducing obesity covering 5 key areas:

• Action that can be taken by individuals (e.g. diet, exercise, positive parenting)
• The environment (e.g. advertising; food labelling; sponsorship, the built environment, local authority policies and facilities etc.)
• Clinical interventions (i.e. what  are the effective interventions that clinicians can make on preventing and tackling obesity)
• Fiscal measures (taxation, minimum pricing, corporate or personal incentives)
• Education (nurseries, schools, further and higher education and public information)

• A quarter of women (24%) and just over a fifth of men (22%) in the UK are classed as obese (Eurostat)
• The UK now has the highest rate of obesity in Europe with one in three children overweight or obese by Year 6 (aged 9)
• Obesity in children under 11 has risen by over 40% in ten years
• Based on current trends, half of children will be obese or overweight by 2020
• It could be costing the NHS £10 billion a year by 2050. 

Healthcare leaders from across the UK have today published a new set of guidelines to promote positive collaboration between health organisations and the pharmaceutical industry and help guide their working practices and interaction. The statement of best practice was signed by 18 healthcare organisations, including the Department of Health, the Scottish Government, the Welsh Assembly Government and the Academy.

The publication comes as collaborative working becomes an increasingly important way for the NHS to address key health challenges in a constrained budgetary environment.

The guidance has been formulated by the Ethical Standards in Health and Life Sciences Group (ESHLSG) which is comprised of leading figures from the professional, representative and regulatory bodies from the health professional community and life sciences industry. The Group was established to address issues in partnership which impact on the relationship between commercial organisations and health professionals and ensures that these relationships meet the high expectations of stakeholders, and particularly patients.

Specifically the statement:

• Acknowledges that active collaboration can deliver better patient care and improved outcomes
• Clearly describes the current working environment in which pharmaceutical companies and health care professionals operate and the rules and regulations to which all parties must abide
• Details in a “Dos and Don’ts” section, every day, practical advice for those working in collaboration to improve patient outcomes

Commenting on the launch, Professor Sir Neil Douglas, Chairman of the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges said:

The Academy is pleased to be part of a collaborative that sees industry and healthcare professionals working together in the interests of patient safety. Transparency, better understanding and sharing expertise between the professions and industry can only serve to improve clinical care and the education of all involved.”

 Stephen Whitehead, Chief Executive of the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI), said:

The NHS and pharmaceutical industry share a common agenda to improve patient care and clinical outcomes through high quality and cost effective treatment and care management. With this shared interest, pulling expertise and resources allows us to together tackle disease more effectively."

Guidance on collaboration between healthcare professionals and the pharmaceutical industry

The guidance can also be downloaded from the Academy Reports and Guidance web-page

The Ethical Standards in Health and Life Sciences Group (ESHLSG) is a multi-stakeholder group with representation from professional, representative and regulatory bodies from the health professional community, the life sciences industry (covering diagnostics, medical devices and pharmaceuticals) as well as patient organisations.

The Group’s role is to evolve the relationship between healthcare professionals and commercial life science organisations to ensure that it meets the expectations of stakeholders and creates a platform for increased collaboration and partnership for the benefit of patients. It will do this by promoting positive, collaborative behaviours and addressing areas of reputational vulnerability to health professionals and commercial organisations.

The Academy of Medical Royal Colleges Flexible Careers Committee, which comprises representatives from Academy member organisations, seeks to promote a good work life balance for all doctors and specifically to support flexible training and less than full time training.

As part of its current work programme the Committee has devised an electronic survey to identify if consultants, SAS doctors and trainees working less than full time (LTFT) are experiencing difficulties in working LTFT: if so how frequent are these difficulties, what type of difficulties are commonly encountered, and how (or if) they are resolved.

We also hope to review the additional responsibilities fulfilled by doctors, both FT and LTFT, to try to establish whether or not working LTFT currently restricts the ability to take on additional roles.

We hope to firstly identify, and subsequently quantify, important current issues for LTFT doctors so that we can advise all the Royal Colleges on how best to support their members.

The survey can be completed on line here and should only take a few minutes to complete.

We are very grateful for your help in completing this survey. The results will be published on the AOMRC Flexible Careers Committee webpage, and will be shared with all the Royal Colleges.

The Social Mobility Toolkit for the Professions, the first common framework to measure progress on social mobility, was launched in March 2012.

The toolkit, commissioned by Professions for Good, is designed to help employers and professional bodies understand the case for greater social mobility, collect and process socioeconomic data from their employees and members, and widen access to the professions for under-represented groups.

A template questionnaire of four questions allows organisations to gain insights into their socioeconomic make-up and track progress over the years. The toolkit also recommends best practice and existing schemes around mentoring, careers advice, internships and low-cost routes into the professions.

On behalf of Professions for Good, Spada surveyed 300 professionals and drew on the expertise of fifty representatives from universities, membership bodies, NGOs, regulators and Government departments. The toolkit’s recommendations are adaptable so that it can be used by organisations of all sizes, from a wide range of sectors.

The document is available on the Professions for Good website.

The Academy today published a consensus statement agreed by all its members recognising the importance of Higher Specialist Scientific Training (HSST) in ensuring appropriate career development and progression for a highly skilled healthcare scientific workforce.

Medical Royal Colleges now intend to support the development of curricula for top-level scientists working in areas relevant to each college’s field of interest, as part of the Modernising Scientific Careers (MSC) programme.

These curricula will be developed by both scientists, currently working at an appropriate level in the relevant field, and medically trained colleagues from Colleges.

The statement and proposed further work by Colleges is supported by the Department of Health.

Academy Statement on Higher Specialist Scientific Training