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Introducing the SAS advocate role

SAS Doctors

To change "what is" into "what should be" is advocacy. Bringing together Dr Gauri Sankhe, the first appointed SAS advocate in the country, and Dr Rob Fleming, who continues to advocate for SAS/LED colleagues, and hoping for many others to follow.

Dr Ashwini Keshkamat, RCoA Council member

The 2021 SAS contract reform introduced a new strategic role to support the health and wellbeing of the SAS workforce, the ‘SAS Advocate’. This role provides an opportunity to challenge the status quo, and to potentially change the culture and expectations associated with being an SAS doctor.

Perhaps the most common barrier to meaningful change is culture. Individuals and organisations can both be guilty of assuming that the status quo always exists for a reason. However, there is perhaps no more dangerous justification for continuing to do something than that ‘we have always done it this way’.