Abstract
Our first 6 months in the AiT Chair and Vice-Chair roles have been fascinating, and as Akram alluded to in his article in February, we have been through a teething process in understanding the bigger picture. You don’t know what you don’t know until you do, and when you do it shapes who you are.
In that spirit, the RCGP opened its doors in March to a large group of GP registrars (known as AiTs at the time of writing) from all over the UK for a meeting at 30 Euston Square with travel and accommodation provided for Faculty reps from further afield. This kind of face-to-face gathering is anticipated every year from now on, and will provide the backbone for shared understanding in the online meetings, next scheduled for the evenings of 25 September and 20 November. The regional RCGP faculties encourage reps to attend, so whether new to ST1 or approaching the end of ST3, connect with your faculties, dip in on Teams and see for yourselves what goes on.
What have we learnt in the first half of our tenure? We have learnt that election years are slippery for the NHS and general practice, promises are made and not made, rhetoric shifts and insecurities abound. We have learnt that MRCGP exams are hard, expertly crafted, professionally delivered and run so as not to make a profit; they are among the least costly and most educationally reliable of the Royal College membership exams and when they very occasionally go wrong (for whatever reason) the pain ripples through the whole community, a community that pulls together to give support and aims to improve the process. We have learnt that in the UK the role of physician associates (PAs) was first introduced in 2002 and that numbers have grown to the low thousands; over half (full-time equivalent) work in primary care, and the NHS’s planned increase in GP registrar and PA roles raises questions about how our supervision can be delivered. We have learnt that the RCGP have come top on the climate and health scorecard among the Royal Colleges. Well done to our RCGP. As the issue of sustainability is embedded in our curriculum, we will gather knowledge on what sustainability issues mean for health, our communities and our practices.
The RCGP Council – made up of four Officers, GP leads from the 32 faculties, 18 nationally elected members, three AiT/First5® chairs, six members of the Trust’s board and 12 invited observers – remain buoyant in these choppy waters. We meet in person for a whole day four times a year. You can observe by arrangement, although numbers are limited, and if you do you will see the impressive level of work, discussion, genuine engagement and commitment. Much of the discussion is related to GP training, because we are the future of generalist doctors in the community, and all of the discussion is both practical and aspirational. The RCGP has one charitable aim: to encourage, foster and maintain the highest possible standards in general medical practice. That’s it, simple to say, complex to do.
Here we are at a changeover time in training again: August 2024. Exams and portfolios are in abeyance over the summer. There is time to gather thoughts and forces for the next phase of the training marathon. Three years sounds a long time as we set off in ST1, but as portfolios, exams and preparations dominate through ST2 and ST3, it is worth stopping on the way to look over the parapet, appreciate the landscape, look into the horizon and see the bigger picture.
