President's view: Spring 2026
Welcome to spring's issue of the Bulletin. The days are beginning to get longer and warmer, and while workloads remain challenging, our advocacy work across the UK has brought some positive developments over the past few months, including questions raised in Parliament regarding the need for more training places and current bottlenecks.
We’ve published our manifesto for Scotland and are continuing our conversations with MPs to support this.
As I shared back in January, 2026 is a year of change and growth for the College, with our move to a new home at the forefront of this. We’re making excellent headway on updates to Jubilee House and will share regular updates over the next few months, with previews of our new exam, event and meeting spaces. As we prepare to leave Churchill House, we want to hear your memories of our time in the building we’ve called home for nearly 20 years.
Alongside our move to Jubilee House, I’m also pleased that we’ll have a new CEO joining us in August. Craig Jones was formerly a Lay Trustee for the College from 2018 to 2024 and brings with him a wealth of knowledge and experience in healthcare and the charitable sector, most recently from his tenure as CEO of the Royal Osteoporosis Society.
You can learn more about the first National Clinical Audit of Perioperative Care, which the RCoA was appointed to deliver last year, and ACSA has provided the first-ever accreditation to an independent hospital.
Further details and insight from our 2025 Census are due to be shared over the next few months, and additional resources are available on the move to our new exam formats, including some Q&A webinars in June. The review of our membership model is open for feedback, and I want to thank everyone who has already shared their thoughts.
Anaesthesia 2026 is now just six weeks away, and I’m looking forward to meeting many of you there and enjoying an exciting few days of learning and networking. You can join us in person or online, for just one day or all three.
Personal reflections
As always, this issue is packed with personal stories and reflections, which make the Bulletin such a worthwhile read. Dr Raghavendra Kulkarni’s account of his stroke attack switching from clinician to patient is particularly powerful. Many of you will find his story inspiring. However, it’s also a valuable reminder of the vulnerability felt by many of our patients and the importance of listening and helping them advocate for the right care. Sarah Barley-McMullan from our PatientsVoices@RCoA group explores this challenge further through her own experience with Long Covid.
On top of this, Dr Nike Odeleye and Dr Andrew Burch both contemplate the value of going beyond the day-to-day to explore new opportunities and what they’ve gained through doing so. It shows how great our profession is at thinking outside the box.
Value of community
Many articles celebrate the power and support we find in professional communities and building inclusive and supportive work environments. Dr Emma Vallis-Booth shares ways to enable neurodiverse-friendly anaesthetic training; Dr Layla Brookfield and Dr Hannah Dawe take us through the creation of a women-only mentoring programme in their local trust, and Dr Chris Oddy writes of the many opportunities to scale research through the Resident Research Networks.
Further afield, Drs Adana Ali, Karishma Bhagaloo, Laeshelle Basanoo and Selma Mohammed, all working at Sangre Grande Hospital in Trinidad and Tobago, share the vital work they’re undertaking through a chronic pain clinic, finding ways to align global standards in pain management with the local needs and perspectives of patients.
I hope to see many of you at our conferences, events and meetings over the next few months, and I am always happy to hear your feedback and ideas, so do come and say hello!