I wish you all a very Happy New Year. Many of you will have been working over the festive season, but I hope you were able to find some time to rest and recharge with friends and family. As the year begins, I am acutely aware of the challenges we are all facing at work as we move into the peak of extraordinary winter pressures in the NHS.

Find out the latest announcements at the College.

The following new appointments were approved, and with sadness we record the deaths of some of our fellows.

I woke up with my heart pounding and a splitting headache wondering if I had said anything too embarrassing at the previous night’s Hospital Awards Ball, dreading the coming weekend on call. I was a highly successful award winning consultant, but inside I felt hypocritical and anxious. Enough was enough. I decided that was it, I would stop drinking alcohol for good.