BULLETIN

Page 10 | Bulletin 93 | September 2015
Patient Perspective
laycom@rcoa.ac.uk www.rcoa.ac.uk/laycom
Professionals may know otherwise but
the communication of their knowledge,
often in difficult circumstances, is
limited. The report recommends a
more robust system of communicating,
explaining and recording CPR decisions
between professionals and patients,
relatives and carers.
It was noted that whilst 97% of hospitals
have a resuscitation policy, only half
have a patient information leaflet.
So, we are going to consider how we
might take this forward. Whilst an
information leaflet may seem a limited
response to such a critical issue, it is
hoped that it is a small step in ensuring
those at the end of their lives die with
dignity.
Focusing the work of the Lay
Committee
We held our annual awayday
immediately after the College’s Strategy
Summit in May. We were fortunate to
have the President as our key speaker,
and he outlined his views on the
challenges the NHS faces over the next
five years and how the College needs
to respond. He emphasised the need
for teamwork, improving outcomes
and reducing variability in care, and
saw perioperative medicine as a key
component of those changes.
This did not all come as a big surprise
but led us to consider how we can
best position ourselves to support all
the new challenges – after all, we are
spread across all the key activities
and committees of the College. It
means that we are working to near full
capacity. Whilst we are carrying a few
vacancies we needed to think about
doing things differently.
We decided that we must focus our
activities, and be able to support (and
challenge!) the various ways in which
the perioperative medicine agenda
will play out – be it training, service
development or working with key
partners such as other Royal Colleges.
The new focus will be around five key
areas:
■■
Becoming an Anaesthetist –
including training and examinations
■■
Being an Anaesthetist – including
standards and safety
■■
Communications – including patient
information and consultations
■■
Working with Partners – including
internal and external stakeholders
■■
Research and Audit – including
national audits
This will help us to streamline our
reporting mechanisms and enable us to
respond to the growing perioperative
medicine agenda in a coherent way.
We will also be able to work in a small
number of teams to cover all the key
activities in a consistent fashion.
Well, that’s the plan anyway!
Goodbye Irene, goodbye.
Finally, I cannot let my first attempt at
an article pass without paying tribute to
my predecessor – the redoubtable
Irene Dalton.
Over the last four years Irene has
guided and developed the Lay
Committee (formerly the Patient
Liaison Group, PLG). In the early years
she was faced with a myriad of issues
in responding to the ever growing
demands of the College to sit on the
increasing number of committees and
deal with the wider range of issues the
College was pursuing
She faced all of these challenges with
her familiar ‘can do’ mentality and her
canny way of persuading those around
her to take up and carry the work
forward. She developed a group around
her who were quick to support and, at
times, challenge the workings of the
College.
No doubt, she drew on her experiences
as a long-serving Headmistress of
a large Comprehensive school in
Barnsley. Thus she developed a strong
community of support both within the
PLG and Lay Committee and across
the College. Also, she could identify
the salient points of an issue and be
clear about the way forward – in other
words, call a spade a spade.
Under her leadership the Lay
Committee has gone from strength to
strength. Her advice has been eagerly
sought from all sides of the College
and beyond. Several patient/lay
groups from other Colleges have asked
for support and have attended our
Committee to glean ideas to take back
to their own groups.
Irene was clear in wishing to make a
clean break from the Lay Committee
though she knows she will always be
welcome back. She is already planning
her next challenges, including studying
Ancient Greek and travelling the British
coastline.
We all wish her the very best in all her
endeavours.
So, in (nearly) the words of the great
Blues singer, Leadbelly,
Stay by the fireside of right.
Goodbye Irene, goodbye...