Email your comments

This is the last column I will write as President and I wish to take the opportunity to wish Graham Mulley all the best with his Presidency and to congratulate Finbarr Martin on his election as President-Elect.

The Society is in good hands with these two who have contributed so much to the development of the specialty.
It is difficult to sum up my time as President in a few words. Our membership has grown and our most visible activities – the two conferences and Age and Ageing are thriving. If there is one unifying theme for the last two years, it is a deliberate policy of increasing the influence of the Society through partnerships. We now host the Older People’s Specialist Forum which brings together all health professions concerned with older people. We have developed a close working relationship with Help the Aged with a joint policy committee and have built on our strong collaboration with Research into Ageing. We host the national Hip Fracture database, a joint project with the British Orthopaedic Association – something that many geriatricians would have thought was impossible ten years ago.

Our links with the Royal Colleges of Physicians have been strengthened in a number of ways. The President of the BGS is now an ex-officio voting member of the Council of the London College where I have been joined by several other BGS members who hold a variety of offices from Trainee Representative to Vice-President. Joint work is continuing on re-validation, clinical effectiveness (audit and guidelines), ethics and information technology. I have just signed the Memorandum of Understanding establishing the Knowledge Based Assessment which will lead to the new qualification of MRCP (Geriatric Medicine) which will be held for the first time next year.

I am taking on a new role as Clinical Director in my Trust and now also Chair the R and D Committee, posts in which I hope I will be able to translate some the ideas and experiences I have gained into more concrete plans for my local community. I am also continuing as Secretary-General of the IAGG-ER Clinical Section and hope to see a strong UK contingent at our meetings.

I can’t leave office without saying a big thank you to all our members who volunteer to sit on Committees, help with conferences, write responses to NICE and assist in so many other ways. None of this would be possible without the hard work of the team at Marjory Warren House.

Clinical Excellence Awards
The England and Wales nomination process has started. Graham Mulley will represent the BGS at the RCP London President’s meeting for Gold, Silver and Bronze. I have been asked to sit on the Platinum Group. Good luck to all the applicants but please, please, read the instructions and remember deadlines are deadlines. You can not get an award unless you apply!

Colleagues often ask what tactics they should adopt in order to get a national award. In one respect it is very simple – work hard, be innovative, write and talk about your achievements and follow the instructions. Some other tips – be on good terms with the Trust Medical Director and Chief Executive; enrol the help of a senior award holder who can review your submission; and do not be afraid to blow your own trumpet. The new marking system (0, 2, 6 and 10) points for each domain does ensure a degree of conformity but of course there remain inequities that I have discussed with the leaders of the national scheme.

Care Home Medicine Conference
This will take place on 30th June 2009 at RCP London and I hope that as many of you as possible will be able to come. We will cover a broad range of topics including regulation, staff development, pandemic flu as well as talks on specific clinical issues. Put the date in your diary and tell your colleagues. There will also be an opportunity to try out the Colleges new interactive technology.

British Society of Rehabilitation Medicine
Rehabilitation medicine is facing some of the same challenges that we are in sustaining and developing their services in today’s NHS climate (See Professor Chris Ward’s article). We hope to invite him to a meeting with either the UKMC or a smaller group of officers to discuss joint working.

EUGMS
I had a very enjoyable three days in Copenhagen at the EUGMS. As you know we run the Secretariat of the Society which appears to be thriving under Paul Knight’s Presidency. A decision has been made to hold a full conference every year. Participation is a wonderful way to meet geriatricians from other countries and to enhance your cv!

RCP Re-validation
Work on revalidation is progressing and it appears likely that the first licences to practice will be issued next year. Both the Department of Health and the Greater Manchester Neuroscience Centre (GMNC) have produced papers on the subject which are worth reading to get the latest update. Peter Belfield has also written an update. Present thoughts are that re-certification of specialist status will be incorporated into the relicensing process and that most of the paperwork will be done at local level. Appraisal will be undertaken in a more standardised manner with greater emphasis on performance management than at present. The spectre of a formal re-testing of knowledge remains, but hopefully not before I retire in 2012!

Knowledge Based Assessment (KBA)
I have signed the Memorandum of Understanding with the Federation of Royal Colleges that has established the KBA. The Federation is keen to hold the first examination as quickly as possible. We think it more sensible to wait until Spring of next year. This will give more preparatory time to candidates as well as increasing the number of people who are eligible and who want to take the examination. Success in the examination and completion of training will allow trainees to become MRCP (Geriatric Medicine).

Academic Geriatric Medicine
I have heard that the Department of Health Studies in Reading, which includes Geriatric Medicine, may be closing. It is clearly Government policy to centralise research into a small number of large centres. This neglects the vital role that Academic Departments have in teaching, developing capacity amongst a broad range of professional groups and applying scientific method to other areas of enquiry. This is particularly short-sighted in view of the demographic shift and its consequences for the NHS and society as a whole. I am sure Graham and the Academic and Research Committee will be reaching for their cudgels in getting through our message.

The Society’s Medal for the Relief of Suffering
Just before the last UKMC I had the pleasure of awarding the Society’s Medal for the Relief of Suffering to Professor Jerry Morris who at the age of 98 is still writing papers and book chapters. It is worthwhile noting that Jerry “retired” from his Chair at the London School of Hygiene at much the same time as I started training as a geriatrician. He passed the MRCP almost 70 years ago! Jerry was one of the founders of Social Medicine and has undertaken pioneering work in the area of inequalities in health. He has played a major role in public policy serving on the Seebohm Committee that examined Social services and on the Black Report, the conclusions of which were suppressed by the then government. More recently he has been working with Shah Ebrahim on issues of ageing. Supported by Age Concern he has defined a minimum income for healthy living for older people. This was published in the International Journal of Epidemiology last year. It is well worth reading, not only for its scientific content but as an example of how to write a paper in a clear, easy to understand way. I was able to wish him yasher koach.

I would like to conclude this column by paying tribute to two of our members who have recently died. Jed Rowe was an inspiring, innovative and respected clinician and teacher who I was privileged to have known. Older people have lost a great champion and we mourn his loss. I was so pleased to have been able to present the President’s Medal to him last year. (see Alistair Main’s tribute written at the time on the Newsletter website: www.bgsnet.org.uk/may07/14_jedrowe.htm and Peter Mayer’s obituary.

We have also lost David Levy (obituary to follow in the next issue, one a number of South African doctors who settled in the UK during the Apartheid era. He worked in Bolton with Arup Banerjee, establishing one of the most sought after placements for registrars in the Region. He was a caring and compassionate physician, described in two emails to me as a “lovely man” and “a real gent”, descriptions by which we would all seek to be remembered. Our condolences go out to their wives, Theresa and Shirley respectively and their families. May their memory be a blessing.

Peter Crome

BGS Newsletter, Oct 2008
Issue 18 ISSN 1748-6343 18