‘We fully accept these findings. We will do better’
The RCP has accepted the report and its recommendations in full.
The King’s Fund has today published its independent learning review for the RCP. The review was commissioned following an extraordinary general meeting (EGM) in March 2024 on the role of physician associates (PAs).
Ten key recommendations focus on improving leadership, management and culture, and structure and processes at the college, including a governance review that considers Board effectiveness, college bye-laws and how RCP Council operates.
The RCP has accepted the review and recommendations in full and the leadership team has pledged to learn, and more importantly, to act, improve and rebuild for fellows and members.
Responding to The King’s Fund findings, senior censor and vice president for education and training, Dr Mumtaz Patel, who is acting as RCP president, said:
‘This King’s Fund report is important and sobering reading for all of us at the RCP. It shows how, as a leadership team, we must refocus on our core purpose – putting physicians first. We must review the way that we work if we want to be a high-performing and responsive membership organisation for physicians in the future.
‘The report highlights an organisation that was neither listening, nor responding quickly enough, to the questions and concerns being raised by its fellows and members. It points to the need for improvements in our culture, governance, processes and the way that we represent physicians of all generations. It calls for a more honest and open relationship with our membership, and one that welcomes constructive challenge rather than avoiding it.
‘Today is a moment for review, reset and refocus in all that we do. We owe this to our fellows and members, our staff and our volunteers. We hear loud and clear how we need to lead rather than respond to others’ agendas. The entire leadership team is committed to reflecting, changing and benefiting from external support to make these improvements happen.
‘We fully accept the findings of the review and are committed to do better. We have already made good progress in key areas, and with the presidential election also on the way in spring 2025, I believe that, for the RCP, this is a fresh start.
‘We are grateful for the support of fellows and members, and we welcome hearing your views to continue driving positive change at the RCP.’
RCP chief executive officer, Ian Bullock, said:
‘This is an important moment for the RCP and it’s right to admit that we have failed our membership on a key issue. The report highlights an organisation that had lost touch with its membership and the focus they expect from us.
‘I pledge to make sure that this changes. We fully embrace all the review recommendations and with the senior team, I will ensure we deliver. We will re-establish ourselves as a leading voice in medicine, which will only happen by making sure that we are listening to and engaging with our full membership.’
The King’s Fund presented the report and findings to councillors and trustees at an RCP Council meeting this morning (10 September). Work is already underway in a number of key areas:
- A PA oversight group has been established. This group will ensure that post-EGM short life working group recommendations are delivered by the end of 2024.
- A ‘next generation of physicians’ workstream will refresh the RCP’s workforce policy ambitions and explore how we can improve the working lives of early career doctors.
- The RCP will close the Faculty of Physician Associates (FPA) on 31 December 2024. From January 2025, PAs will have the option of affiliate membership of the RCP in line with other non-doctor professional groups.
- A refreshed membership strategy will put physicians at the heart of college business, re-establishing the RCP as the voice of medicine and the voice of our membership.
RCP Council and the RCP Board of Trustees will steer and monitor progress in all these areas.