PROFILE - Gordon Crosby

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

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.