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MRCP New Members Ceremony
The last time I attended the MRCP ceremony was over 30 years ago when, miraculously, I was successful. A relatively new innovation in London is that the new members are addressed by representatives of the Medical Specialties. Their brief is to encourage recruitment to their own specialty. In May, I spoke to the new diplomates alongside representatives from Rheumatology, Nuclear Medicine and Neurology. I hope I was successful. It would be good to know if any candidates who are seen at interviews mention what I said.

Joint Specialty Committee, London College
I chaired my first meeting of this committee at which two new lay representatives were present. I found their involvement useful and I think the BGS needs to consider how best to involve the public in our work. I intend to raise this at the UKMC.

Clinical Excellence Awards
Consultants in England and Wales should be considering whether they wish to apply for a National Clinical Excellence Award in the 2007 round. The British Geriatrics Society will decide on our nominations in the autumn. All eligible consultants are encouraged to apply for a BGS nomination and we will only consider applicants who send us completed Curriculum Vitae Questionnaires. This year we have extended the deadline for the receipt of nominations until 30 September 2006.

I would recommend that all intended applicants read all the latest information on the ACCEA website including the Annual Report which gives information on the ages at which candidates are likely to be successful. It is necessary for applicants to complete a new Curriculum Vitae each year. Having been nominated by the BGS in one year, it is not automatically guaranteed that you will be nominated in the next year. Each year is a separate competition with successful candidates dropping out and new applicants joining the selection process for BGS nomination. However, members of the nominating group are aware of who was supported in the previous round. I am afraid there are relatively few absolute rules for success. It is, however, uncommon for awards to be granted to those less than 45 years old and those who have been consultants for less than 10 years. Please use your Regional Clinical Excellence Award Advisor for advice. That is what they are there for!

Healthcare Commission Associates
The Healthcare Commission is seeking Associates from the field of geriatric medicine. They are called upon to provide advice from the analysis of events which led to a complaint to involvement in the investigations. I’m told the time commitment may range from a few hours to many days. This work is remunerated.

For further information contact Nazneen Chowdhury on 02074489274 or email

Halls of Marble
They say everything is bigger in the USA and that’s certainly true of the Mayo Clinic where I delivered Grand Rounds in the Department of Medicine. I think the foyer of the new Gonda Building is larger than some of our smaller community hospitals! As always, one is struck by the technological innovations that probably will only come to my hospital well after my retirement. All I can say is that if you are ever admitted there, please opt to go on the Sleep Enhancement Programme. Otherwise, blood letting begins at 4.00 a.m. in order that the results can be available in time for the doctor’s ward round at 7.00am! Thanks to Dr Greg Hanson and his team for making the visit so enjoyable.

Similar expanses of marble were observed in the Headquarters of the United Healthcare just outside Minnesota. I met a number of people involved with the introduction of the Evercare pilots in the United Kingdom. They were obviously interested in how the community project was proceeding and made the comment that they thought that insufficient attention had been paid to relationships between Community Matrons and established geriatric medicine services, and that there was a lack of medical mentoring in the project.

Canadian Geriatrics Society
At the end of April I visited Vancouver to give a guest lecture to the Canadian Geriatrics Society. Although Geriatric Medicine is a recognised specialty and taught in the Medical Schools it has failed to take off in the same way as it has in this country. There were very few residents. I was told the principal reason for this was the lack of a decent pay structure to support geriatricians’ clinical work. An interesting promotional activity was a Fellows Dinner when leaders of the specialty sat at the same tables as residents and students. Perhaps we should consider this rather than having a top table at our Annual Dinner. On the other hand, a whole evening with somebody like myself may be sufficient to discourage even our most enthusiastic trainees.

I hope to see as many of you as possible at the EUGMS in August and/or the Autumn meeting in Harrogate.

Peter Crome