I am very aware that some of our non-clinical colleagues and even some of our local medical seniors are uncomprehending of the reasons behind strike action juniors are about to take, so here's T&O junior doctor Ben Dean @bendean1979 explaining the current situation very well:
And here's a helpful piece from Kailash Chand @KailashChandOBE and JS Bumrah outlining the issues: http://www.theguardian.com/healthcare-network/2015/sep/29/jeremy-hunt-stop-bullying-junior-doctors-new-contract?CMP=share_btn_tw
I realise I don't have to explain the situation to trainees but I have been taken aback by some corridor conversations I've had with senior staff members and what they think the dispute's about (eg thinking it's a conventional pay dispute: they are not asking for more pay, they're asking not to have a pay cut) so thought these links would be a helpful resource.
At time of writing, the strike is set to go ahead on Tuesday. The contingency plans first drawn up for the potential action days in December have been put in place again.
I would like to thank our Admissions Office who again have been contacting patients and rearranging operation dates (I know some of my patients certainly appreciated having their procedures a couple of weeks early). They have worked tremendously hard ensuring the impact on our elective patients has been minimised.
Social Media Lesson
Interviews for CST & HST are coming up. There's no time when interviewing candidates on such a mass scale to surf the interweb, but there is time to do that ahead of Consultant/GP partner interviews, so I'd like to ask you again to think about your social media profiles.
The first question David Elliott asked me at my @ASPHFT Consultant interview was 'what would I find if I put your name into Google?'. I had never thought to check at that point but I've never had a Facebook account & Twitter is a recent development for me, so I had no real skeletons.
It will have taken Sun journalists all of 60 seconds to trawl social media to find evidence of the Moët Medics lifestyle:
None of the photos the (alleged) journalists pulled up are bad, by any stretch of the imagination. But it does serve to highlight that all our unlocked lives are open to spin and interpretation - so be aware. Don't let your Consultant/GP partner interview be prejudged. Think ahead and curate what people see about you.
Here is the GMC Social Media Guidance:
I understand that to be under such strict rules even in your personal life is an onerous burden and takes the fun out of it - but if you describe yourself as a doctor or allude to your profession even indirectly, you are on show as a healthcare professional.
Congratulations of the Week
Well done CT surgeon (Mr) Dan Rossiter for winning the Training Programme Directors' Poster Prize at the @HEE_KSS Core Surgery Prize Day held at Maidstone General Hospital @MTWnhs on Friday:
Health Education England: Kent, Surrey and Sussex
The LETB website has changed to be unified under the Health Education England masthead. Confusingly, it is not the first or even second choice on a Google search and many of the links you might have accumulated in the past most likely don't work anymore. This includes links that look like "kssdeanery.org". If you're on social media, you'll see their Twitter handle has gained an extra "E" @HEE_KSS but the surgical one remains the same @HEKSSspeciality.
Here is the weblink as it is now: https://hee.nhs.uk/hee-your-area/kent-surrey-sussex
... and the @ASPHFT pages can be found here: http://www.doctorsintraining.org.uk/
Surgeon of the Week
(This is a personal triumph as I have been hunting down this one since this blog began, so I am indebted to Foundation Programme Director Tayo Johnson for retaining a vice-like grip on him to let me get the shot. He has literally run away from, up till now. Run. I kid you not.)
This week's shy superstar is Consultant Urologist Sachin Agrawal. Sachin is yet another colleague who was here as a junior and came back to stay, which says something about a hospital I think. In fact Sachin & I were juniors in T&O together over a decade ago.
In an aside, it is no accident that Urology has featured heavily here in this section. Urology is the only Department to have received Green Flags in the @gmcuk National Trainees Survey and provide constant support at Surgical LFG (local faculty group) meetings. My Urology colleagues can always be counted on to support educational events, giving up their spare time to do so and between them have garnered the most responses for nominations for the Surgical Trainer of the Year 2015 Award - which will be announced later this month. I am grateful to @SuzRankin for kindly agreeing to award the accolade.
So big round of applause to all our Urology colleagues and my grateful thanks!
Forthcoming Attractions
A date for the diary @RoySocMed Trauma Symposium 2016:
This meeting is organised by @ASPHFT's own Jon Monk @jonny_monk and stars David Elliott @davidsimonellio amongst the fantastic speakers on this 3 day trot around the hot topics in Trauma. Get on and quickly book your spot as we are right up against the 6/52 booking notice deadline
