North East Faculty News

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North of England Faculty Newsletter
Annual General Meeting - Andrew Smith
Lecture Lumley castle will be the venue for this
years Annual General Meeting on Monday 19th
November 2007. The magnificent spectacle of
Lumley Castle has proudly dominated the County
Durham landscape for 600 years.. Surrounded by
beautiful parklands overlooking the River Wear
and Durham County Cricket Ground, Lumley Castle
is a magnificent monument to a bygone age of
chivalry and honour. If you would like to stay
overnight at the castle please contact them on
0191 3891111 and they will be please to arrange
your accommodation. This year we have managed to
secure Professor Raymond Tallis as our guest
speaker. Below is a small piece prepared to
entice. The Triumph of Medical Science and the
Paradox of Anti-Science   By
Professor Raymond Tallis. Please be aware that
last years Annual General Meeting was attended
well, this year we are limited to 100 guests,
therefore please book your tickets as early as
possible to guarantee your place. Leaflets are
included in this newsletter. First come first
served basis.
"The beneficial effects of science, and in
particular medical science, on life expectancy,
health expectancy, and comfort expectancy is
self-evident, though the facts (to be described
in the talk) are even more extraordinary than
most people realize. Even so, there is a rising
tide of hostility towards science and a pessimism
about the capacity of science to solve the
problems that humanity faces. Why is this?
The talk will  examine the basis  of
anti-science, the lure of magic thinking (in
particularly in alternative medicine), the
dangers they present and what should be done to
address them.
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North of England Faculty Newsletter 2. Data and
Board Members
Its time for you to keep us up to date!

• I am pleased to advise you that all College
  members
• can now update their contact and special interest
  details
• online. This can be done by accessing the
  College's
• new On-Line Services section on the web
  and applies
• to addresses, telephone, fax and email
  details the
• password for the RCGP Members Only Area and
• someone's special or clinical interests.
• Further details and links to this new area are in
  the
• Members Only area of the College website
• www.rcgp.org.uk/members

There are many changes occurring in General
Practice, many of which need the opinion of the
RCGP. We therefore need your email address so we
can contact you with information that requires
urgent attention or feedback from the grass roots
members. If you keep your Special Interests up
dated then we can also contact you regarding any
courses which may be of interest to yourself and
your career.
Have you noticed the change of the logo. The
North of England Faculty has proudly transferred
from using the crest to the new logo. We will
still use the crest for AGM work and formal
events.
The North of England Faculty Board
Dr Paul Creighton Provost Dr Malcolm
Thomas Chairman Dr Dinah Roy - Hon Secretary
Dr Ahmet Fuat - Hon Treasurer Dr Valerie
Taylor - Council Rep Dr Gopal Munisamy
GPRs Rep Dr Iain Lawther Dr Toby Lipman
Dr John Bookless Dr John Leigh Dr Manjit
Suchdev Dr Thomas Poyner Dr Ashley Liston
Dr Elizabeth Kendrick
Please forward all your pieces for the Newsletter
to the faculty office cbartram_at_rcgp.org.uk. This
is your newsletter, we need your experiences and
stories.
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North of England Faculty Newsletter 3. Policy
EUCATIONAL PLANS, ADVERTISING AND CONFLICT OF
INTEREST 1. EUCATIONAL PLAN The North of England
Faculty Board has emerged from a spell of
hibernation. A number of courses have been
commissioned or developed to begin the
development of an educational programme. Nearly
all of these are commissioned from individuals or
organisations all produce profit for the faculty
and all have been agreed by the board as being
useful things to offer our members. All have (so
far) received good feedback and have accordingly
been offered recurrently. Next step It is clear
that the potential educational activities that we
COULD put on exceed our capacity to deliver. The
board has therefore established a working party
to develop an educational strategy for the
faculty. This will report to the board in the
autumn and should result in a further expansion
of the educational offer, within an agreed
framework. We will report further in the next
newsletter. nMRCGP Preparation Course The board
is keen to offer support to GPRs whose status
is that of Associates of RCGP in Training
AiTs. We have voted a budget of 2000 to an RCGP
examiner in the patch, Dr Alan McCubbin. He is
going to develop a proposal and business case for
a 2-day preparation course for the AKT and CSA
components of the new MRCGP process. We expect
him to report to the board by the end of 2007 and
for the course to be offered sometime in
2008. 2. ADVERTISING WITH THE NEWSLETTER We are
happy to offer, to individuals, partnerships or
companies, the ability to include an advertising
flyer with the newsletter mailings. You are
responsible for your own production costs, and
pay the Faculty a fee (contact Clare Bartram for
details). It is a requirement that this
advertising carries no express (or implied) RCGP
or Faculty endorsement. We reserve the right to
reject anything that appears inappropriate, or
that may compete with a Faculty or RCGP
initiative. 3. CONFLICT OF INTEREST POLICY The
RCGP has a robust Conflict of Interest policy.
All members of the board have signed this and our
administrator will ensure its updating, annually
or more frequently as needed. Board members
absent themselves from discussions and decisions
relating to potential conflicts of
interest. Chairman Dr Malcolm Thomas
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North of England Faculty Newsletter 4. GPR to GP

Shocks and Surprises - The Transition from GP
Registrar to Salaried GP (Dr Emma Haywarda
salaried GP in Leicester) The postman was a bit
surprised to be greeted at 7.30am with such
enthusiasm and excitement. I am not usually all
smiles at that time as I head off to work but I
had spotted him carrying a large brown envelope
and I knew that it contained my CCT. It was not
just the fact that this particular bit of paper
had cost 500 to obtain, but that it represented
the happy completion of 9 years of hard work from
medical school through to the end of GP training.
The bemused postman congratulated me and I left
for work with a feeling of.. freedom. The
feeling of freedom came as a surprise. I still
had a lot of work to do with membership exams
looming, but it was good to know that I had
successfully jumped through all the mandatory
hoops and that I could now choose my own path.
Most of my life had been committed to getting to
this point. Having decided aged 10 that I wanted
to be a doctor, my focus had always been on
getting to the next stage in order to achieve my
dream. Now that I had qualified in my chosen
speciality it really felt as though I had the
world at my feet. As I tell patients when they
ask if there are side effects to a new drug I
suggest to them, there are good bits and bad bits
to everything in life. Whilst I enjoyed the
freedom to be an independent GP I found there
were some down sides. I had to find a job no
more placements planned out years in advance for
me to just turn up to! Once I had found a job
there was a contract to negotiate. This was a
more delicate task than I had anticipated. I had
foreseen that August would be a stressful time as
I adjusted to working fully independently. I was
fortunate to have most of my sessions in
practices where the partners were tolerant of
frequent questions and very supportive when I
felt out of my depth, but locums were a different
matter entirely. My peers have also commented on
the feeling of isolation. The thing we miss most
about Wednesday afternoons at the VTS is the
support we gained from each other. However, it
is good to see the friends I made during
training now following their dreams. One is
pursuing research which will lead to him
spending time in Africa next year, another works
part-time in General Practice and spends the rest
of her time working on a community allotment and
dreaming of opening a tea-shop. Becoming a
portfolio GP combining sessions in General
Practice with teaching at the University was
perhaps my greatest surprise of all getting the
job I always wanted Emma Hayward
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North of England Faculty Newsletter 5. Education
and Training
Time Management
A half-day workshop that will allow
participants to Learn about principles of
time management Improve their work-life
balance Identify their roles in life and set
practical personal goals Recognise how they
can be more efficient Reduce procrastination
Identify what they can delegate and how to
Spot what they can dump!
Can YOU afford to miss this course? Return your
form straight away to guarantee your place.
DERMATOLOGY
Wednesday 24th October 2007 Durham County
Cricket Club Members fee 75.00 Non-Members
fee 95.00 Suitability Everyone in the health
profession. Return the enclosed leaflet to the
Faculty Office.
Psoriasis and Eczema 'The presentation will
highlight key management points, and the use of
newer treatments to help provide optimal care for
patients with eczema and psoriasis' Lasers in
Dermatology The first lasers used to treat skin
conditions occurred over 40 years ago. In the
last 20 years major advances in laser technology
have revolutionised their use in the treatment
Birthmarks and Moles that matter. An overview
of birthmarks and moles with clinical
significance. Highlighting the ones that are in
need of urgent attention.
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North of England Faculty Newsletter 6. Education
and Training
Increase your Effectiveness (and reduce your
risk) A one-day consultation skills
workshop 09th October 2007 at Collingwood
College, Durham. Suitable for - Established or
in training doctors, nurses and allied clinical
professionals who wish to extend their own
consultation skills. Prices are 100 for
RCGP members - 120 for non-members Tea
and coffee will be supplied and a hot buffet
lunch served. Please return your leaflet with
payment as soon as possible. Dr Malcolm Thomas
will be Facilitating this event. Courses first
come first served basis. Refunds will incur a 10
fee. No refund if cancelled 14 days or less.
Enhance Your Telephone Consultations Recent
studies show that around 20 of daytime primary
care contacts with patients are on the telephone.
This figure is rising, affecting us all.
Hospitals are using the telephone more to reach
out to patients and heavy and increasing use is
made of the telephone for emergency care. Half
day seminar to enhance your Telephone
Consultations Wednesday 5th December _at_
Collingwood College, Durham. 0900
1230. Promoting Effective Behaviour
Change There is an increasing research base to
show us which behaviours help. In this seminar,
we introduce some of the most significant
evidence and allow the group to process it with
facilitated discussion. In particular, the
techniques of Motivational Interviewing have much
to offer are explored. Group exercises allow
the participants to examine some of the important
messages, moving to rehearsal of the specific
skill areas that will most repay development.
Participants will leave the seminar with the
enhancement of some particular skills for these
conversations with patients. Half day seminar
Promoting Effective Behaviour Change Wednesday
5th December _at_ Collingwood College, Durham. 1330
1630. 60.00 for members, 70.00 for
non-members or a reduced cost of 100.00 for
members for both seminars and 120.00 for non
members for both seminars.