NEW EXECUTIVE BOARD

By The College
Contact the author by e-mail at christopher.johnstone@ntlworld.com

This last year has been one of development and growth for Executive Board with an increasing amount of team working in taking forward the work of the day on behalf of Scottish Council.

The Executive Officer Team is made up of eight posts including the Chairman, 2 Deputy Chairmen (looking after Policy and Finance respectively), and Executive Officers providing leadership on Education, Quality, Membership, Patients and Public and Clinical Development.

We are delighted to introduce three new Executive Officers for the coming year and would like to take this opportunity to extend our thanks to Dr Murray Lough and Dr Moray Grigor who have stepped down from their posts this year. Bill Reith remains a member of Executive Board for one year as immediate past chairman while Mairi Scott takes over as Chair, freeing up the Education portfolio.

Members of Executive Board
Chair Dr Mairi Scott
Immediate Past Chairman Dr Bill Reith
Deputy Chairman (Policy) Dr Jenny Bennison
Deputy Chairman (Finance) Dr Jim Rodger
Executive Officer (Membership) Dr Gordon Crosby
Executive Officer (Education) Dr Lesley Skinner
Executive Officer (Quality) Dr Tricia Donald
Executive Officer (Patients & Public) Dr John Foster
Executive Officer (Clinical Development) Dr Clare Polack

Dr Lesley Skinner, Executive Officer (Education)
Lesley is a practising locum and Assistant Director of Postgraduate GP Education for the South East Scotland Deanery and has a considerable past experience in medical education. She is familiar with the work of the College, having previously held the position of PEP Director from 1994-1999.

Lesley is responsible for leading the College in Scotland’s work in relation to education and professional development. One of her first tasks will be to take forward a vision of CPD element of the Colleges work in Scotland.

Dr Gordon Crosby, Executive Officer (Membership)
Gordon has been a principal GP at Carnoustie Health Centre, a training practice, since 1981. He has an interest in out-of-hour and is currently lead clinician in Angus for the development of out-of-hours provision. Gordon has been involved with the East of Scotland Faculty Board for a number of years and is currently Honorary Secretary.

Gordon will act as a point of contact within RCGP Scotland for members and will lead the work that the College in Scotland undertakes in working with its members. This includes ensuring that Executive Board takes into account the needs of members in relation to new developments being considered. (See insert)

Dr Clare Polack, Executive Officer(Clinical Development)
Clare first came to Edinburgh in the mid 80s to do a BSc and found herself back here in 2001 to take up a higher professional training fellowship. She is currently a practising non-principal and spends two days a week at the Department of General Practice at the University of Edinburgh. Her main remit is undergraduate teaching, although she is also involved in some postgraduate teaching. She is looking to become a GP principal. Clare will be responsible for leading the College in Scotland‚s work in relation to developing initiatives which provide additional support to members in developing their clinical skills.

PROFILE - Gordon Crosby

Gordon Crosby I am pleased to be given the chance to take up the post of EO (Membership) and I do so with some trepidation knowing that there will be quite a steep learning curve. I think the college faces some significant challenges over the next few years and although the membership as a whole is slowly rising, I think these revolve around the recruitment and retention of young doctors. It would be nice to see more successful MRCGP examinees taking up full membership of the college and it would be nice to see fewer young members allowing their membership to lapse. I would hope to explore these issues through the Faculty Liaison Forum so that we can co-ordinate local and national ideas and developments. I would be keen to explore the idea of a young members group as I think this would engender enthusiasm amongst young College members but I believe it would also give the College in Scotland new ideas which would be relevant to young members, to work on.

I suspect there is a message issue here. I believe that the College needs to get the message across that College activities are very relevant to doctors at all stages of their careers. Relevance exists at various levels including clinical issues, non-clinical or professional issues and thirdly the social aspects of belonging to RCGP Clinical issues include specific topics, the contribution of college to the greater knowledge pool (such as its involvement with SIGN) and the relevance of quality practice particularly now that clinical governance is becoming a major feature of our working lives. Non-clinical issues might include the business of practice, including such issues as implementation, at practice level, of the new contract; and appraisal and revalidation. These are clearly all of great relevance to day-to-day working in General Practice and I think that the college needs to get this message across and to demonstrate that it can help its members, particularly those just finding their feet in a new career.

I am looking forward to this task as I think it is important but I am not blind to the fact that the College will be competing for doctor's time in an era when constant change seems to be the norm.

hoolet is the magazine of RCGP Scotland. It is supported intellectually, financially and emotionally by RCGP Scotland.

This issue maintained by Robert Hallam.