Supporting our members and advocating for change during COVID

One year ago, today, Chinese authorities officially identified the first coronavirus case. Over the past year, our members have worked tirelessly to care for the sickest COVID-19 patients and have played an important role redesigning services to maintain as ‘normal’ an experience as possible for their non-COVID patients. And, just as our members have cared for their patients, we know that the pandemic has come at great personal expense to them, to their colleagues and to their families.

The entire College team has also responded in full force, from launching our internationally recognised clinical guidance hub (in collaboration with the Association of Anaesthetists, Faculty of Intensive Care Medicine and the Intensive Care Society), to supporting patients with new resources, to advocating for the specialty with decision makers at the highest level of government and the NHS across the UK. As we have done so, we continue to generate considerable media coverage about what our members most want, need, and think.

Like so many of you, we are extremely heartened by the support of colleagues and the encouraging news that an effective and safe vaccine has arrived in our hospitals. But first we all must get through this difficult winter.

To support our members and advocate for impactful change during the challenging months ahead, the Policy & Public Affairs Team at the College will be doing five things over the next six months:

Firstly, we will continue raising the profile of the work our members have done and continue to do to fight the virus. We will do this in a variety of ways, including by publishing, in early 2021, a brief impact paper to measure how the pandemic has impacted the health and wellbeing of our members; and new research into the contribution of our members to the COVID-19 front line.

Secondly, we will be giving a voice to our members through a busy programme of parliamentary activity. On this point, we are delighted to be joining (and to have contributed to the development of) an exclusive roundtable hosted by the All-Party Parliamentary Health Group (APHG) to discuss surgical innovations during COVID-19. Watch this space for the briefing paper that will soon follow.

Thirdly, we will lead the way in learning the lessons from COVID-19 as it relates to our specialty and ensuring that they aren’t forgotten amidst so many competing priorities for the NHS, public health, and social care.

Fourthly, and related to the point above, we will place COVID-19 learning at the heart of our UK-wide policy influencing campaigns. We’ve recently begun work on two manifestos for the upcoming Scottish and Welsh elections in May 2021 with this commitment at the fore. Our manifestos will be published in February.

Finally, we’re going to be actively supporting the work of other teams across the College and the Faculties of Intensive Care Medicine and Pain Medicine. Their work has been, and continues to be, an engine and inspiration for much of our public affairs work and we’ll be amplifying their messages across Westminster, Holyrood, Stormont, and the Senedd.

Like in all we do, we can’t do this alone. If you would like to get involved in any or all of our ‘five things’ please get in touch by emailing advocacy@rcoa.ac.uk, visiting our webpage or following us on Twitter using @RCoAnews.  We look forward to hearing from you.

Mark Weiss