A Spring message from our Medical Director

Spring is a season of renewal and new beginnings. The NHS just emerged from a very busy winter and prepares for the year ahead with more challenges on the horizon. While there was record hospital attendance, recently released figures showed that throughout winter, waiting times in A&E were the shortest they had been in years, and waiting lists, even if slightly, continued to fall.

This is due to the incredible hard work of all staff. However, now that the Medical Training Prioritisation Act has become law, there is significant concern amongst many employers who face the coming winter with concern that rotas may not be filled. The NHS certainly did not need this uncertainty right now.

Moreover any silver linings shine even less brightly against the background of current national and international affairs. Society is becoming increasingly polarised, conflict is on the rise abroad, and at home we continue to see healthcare staff being the target of violence and racism. Many of you would be rightly concerned about families and friends in areas engulfed in war and strife and we all must hope this conflagration is brought to a swift close.

Despite this, I would like to encourage all of our members to focus on hope, kindness and generosity, the values that most faiths around the world celebrate during Spring, through Ramadan, Easter, Passover, Holi and similar celebrations, and which are also some of the most important values people associate with working in healthcare.

We recently celebrated Holi, which carries a message of unity and equality, where all barriers are dissolved in a mass of colour and everyone is ‘one’, showing hope is as unstoppable as colour spreading through water. As we go through Ramadan, Passover, and Easter we continue to focus on communal solidarity, spiritual discipline, and kindness, and contributing to those who are less privileged.

I hope you will join me in my determination for this year, to spread kindness, charity and understanding in times of division, both in your personal and professional lives.

Dr Joydeep Grover, MBBS, MRCEM, FRCEM

Medical Director