TAKE CONTROL

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

Are you fed up hearing about changes to general practice after the decision has been made? Do you think the College in Scotland ought to do more to help its members? If so, we’d like to hear from you.

Scottish Council of the Royal College of General Practitioners is looking for nominations from members in Scotland for new members to join Council in November 2004 and contribute to the development of the College in Scotland.

RCGP Scotland is growing from strength to strength as an organisation that is able to influence change. Our opinion is sought on most decisions that affect primary care and members of Council have the opportunity to discuss and contribute to these decisions from an early stage. In the last year, this has included the impact of the new GMS contract, changes to the GP curriculum, updates to the College exam, and the implementation of revalidation and appraisal.

As well as responding to these developments externally, the College in Scotland is also proactive about developing tools that help GPs meet the challenges of practice life. In the last year, Scottish Council has approved the launch of the RCGP Scotland Revalidation Toolkit, a new version of Practice Accreditation and the introduction of the Educational Providers Accreditation Scheme.

Nominations for this year’s election are open until 30 July 2004. You can nominate yourself, or someone else with their consent, as long as you or they are a member ‘in good standing’ and work or live in Scotland. As well as the four meetings a year, there is the option to become involved in a wide range of other opportunities and areas of special interest. The term of office is normally three years and travel costs to attend meetings are reimbursed.

Further information and nomination forms are available from Scottish Council Secretariat, RCGP Scotland, 25 Queen Street, Edinburgh, EH2 1JX, tel: 0131 260 6800, e-mail: policy@rcgp-scotland.org.uk. Details can also be downloaded from our web site: www.rcgp-scotland.org.uk.

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

This issue maintained by Robert Hallam.