Search

I’d like to wish you all a very happy New Year. I realise that January is a very challenging time in the NHS, with winter pressures compounded by ongoing staff shortages and sickness. And in looking ahead to some of the College’s priorities for 2024, I’d like to highlight some of the work we're doing to try to address these issues.  

The urgent need for more doctors to be able to train as anaesthetists is always the first thing I raise in conversations I have with the government, NHS England and other decision makers around the country. Last month I wrote to the new Secretary of State for Health and Social Care to set out the need to address the current shortage of anaesthestists and to outline the impact this is having on the elective care backlog, among other things. 

In the last year we have secured some incremental improvements on this front, but there is a long way to go, and we will do all we can to maintain momentum in the year ahead.

October is Black History Month, and we welcome it as an opportunity to celebrate the contribution of black anaesthetists to the specialty and the NHS. This year’s theme is ‘Saluting Our Sisters’, in recognition of the fact that the many achievements of black women are too often overlooked. Over the course of the month, we aim to share profiles of some of our members whose achievements and perspectives we want to champion.

One such colleague is Dr Sethina Watson, who gave the address at this year’s Ceremony of Presentation of Diplomates, or ‘Dips Day’ as it is more commonly known. It was an inspiring speech, not only because it demonstrated the extraordinary determination evident in Sethina’s own path to becoming an anaesthetist, but also because of her ability to articulate the differences in our individual experiences while also identifying the motivations we have in common. We have shared Sethina’s speech on our website and it is well worth a read.

As always, Dips Day was a thoroughly enjoyable day all round, and it was a privilege to be part of people’s celebrations and to witness the pride and happiness of their families and friends.

Authors:

• Dr Rachel Holmes, CT4 ACCS Anaesthetics, Leeds Teaching Hospitals Trust
• Dr Suzanne Taylor, Consultant Anaesthetist, Mid-Yorkshire Teaching NHS Trust
• Dr Susannah Thoms, Consultant Anaesthetist, Mid-Yorkshire Teaching NHS Trust

Society for Education in Anaesthesia UK (SEAUK)

Email Dr Holmes

The 2021 RCoA curriculum states that ‘access to high-quality, supportive and constructive feedback is essential for the professional development of the anaesthetist in training’.¹ So, what do we mean by feedback, and what do we want this feedback to achieve?

The Oxford English Dictionary defines feedback as: ‘advice, criticism or information about how good or useful something or somebody’s work is’, only this is just half of the story. Another definition, relevant to us as trainers and learners, would be: ‘the information sent to an entity about its prior behaviour so that the entity may adjust its current and future behaviour to achieve the desired results’.² In the context of anaesthesia training, information is provided on the gap between a learner’s performance and a standard set by the RCoA, with suggestions on how the gap might be bridged. Self-reflection on any feedback is a vital ingredient to consolidating the learning achieved.