RCPCH Notes - Winter 2010

WINTER 2010 NEWSLETTER

Notes Children and young People’s Participation

Children and Young People’s Participation is so much more than being involved, engaged, being part of something. Children and Young People’s Participation is about challenging discrimination and power imbalances.

It is about creating a society that invests in its children and young people, values them and their expertise. It is about ensuring accountability to some of our most vulnerable citizens, reassuring each one that ‘you matter, you count, your protection and your potential matters to us’, it is about eradicating the invisibility of children and young people in our policies, legislation, strategies, organisations and society.

Training Event: United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child: Implications on Child Health Services and Paediatrics This was a highly interactive and stimulating day exploring the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) including equity, discrimination, participation, child protection, the vision and structure of the UNCRC and how Paediatricians and other health professionals can use the UNCRC effectively to advocate for child health.

For more information visit: http://www.rcpch.ac.uk/Policy/Advo cacy/UNCRC-training-event-2010

Children and young people have a right to the highest attainable standard of health service (UNCRC, see pg. 11) and whilst improvements have been made over the years, the challenge still remains to create innovations that will transform children’s health and health services.

Earlier this year two Members of our Youth Advisory Panel, Alex Willsher and Ravi Mistry presented at the Royal Society of Medicine at an event organised

by Dr Vic Larcher: Enhancing the lives of children and young people, how far should we go? (continued on p 11)

Forthcoming event

"My Right to the Highest Standard of Health" Friday 4th March 2011, National Museum of Wales, Cardiff A flagship policy conference will be held at the National Museum of Wales in Cardiff to highlight issues in children's health in Wales and the UK. We are delighted that the Welsh Assembly

Deputy Minister for Social Services, Gwenda Thomas A M will be opening the conference. We have secured the unprecedented opportunity of all four UK Children's Commissioners to speak to our delegates. (continued on p 11)

Notes 1 Children and Young People’s participation

2 Registrar’s column

3 College Update

4 Media update

5 National Audit – 1 year on

Registrar’s column

6 RCPCH – 2011 Annual Conference Speed Croquet at the Annual Conference

7 SSASG news Annual General Meeting 2011 Save the children:

8 CPD – 2010 Audit Excellence in Paediatrics

9 Membership Subscriptions 2011

Sometimes we (and by that I mean the Officers of the College) are in danger of forgetting that RCPCH is a membership organisation which relies on its members both for a large proportion of its income and for its members’ time and expertise to support its work. It is easy to think that what matters is what happens at Theobald’s Road. It is important that we remember that without all our members, and the contributions you make, we could not do what we do.

Policy updates

10 Training Matters RCPCH Events

11 RCPCH Prizes

Copy deadline for next issue: 1st February 2011 Managing editor: Graham Sleight Editor: Joanne Ball Email: newsletter@rcpch.ac.uk Editorial services: Work Communications www.workcomms.com Published by: The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, 5-11 Theobalds Road, London WC1X 8SH. Tel: 020 7092 6000 Fax: 020 7092 6001 Website: www.rcpch.ac.uk Email: enquiries@rcpch.ac.uk The College is a registered charity: no. 1057744 and registered in Scotland as SC038299

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Recently many of you (just over 1200) took part in an electronic survey on the benefits of membership. The results of this have been considered by the Executive Committee and will inform our thinking about future development of the College and the relationship between the Officers and staff centrally with members. The issues raised also help inform the reorganisation of the College structure as they reinforce the need to be more outward facing and responsive to members as well as continuing to work on policy development, education and training.

There were a number of important themes that came out of the responses and I think they can be aggregated into a few broad issues. These are accessibility, relevance and communications.

Accessibility – the College is still seen as being somewhat English and Londoncentric, and you felt we needed to develop more regional meetings and training events, and find ways to engage with members better (see communications). As part of our reorganisation review I am considering, along with the Chief Executive, our committee structure with the aim of developing a more devolved (perhaps in part to regions) way of working, with a greater emphasis on virtual work, and less focus on “meetings in London”. While it is correct that most children, and most members, are in England, that is not an excuse for not engaging in the agendas elsewhere, which we continue to try to do. As part of our reorganisation we are strengthening our work outside England.

Importantly we also recognise the need to

improve our support for members outside the UK, and in particular consider how we can broaden educational opportunities for overseas members.

Relevance – the top reasons for membership were support for continuing professional development followed by training. These reflect our core functions as a Royal College. We need to broaden the opportunities we offer by, for example, developing more regionally based courses, offering preparation for MRCPCH, using the internet as a tool to broaden access to education and training opportunities.

Communication – you feel that we should be better at communicating, and most valued the Archives, followed by the e-bulletin (with this being seen as more useful than this newsletter). The website was a source of frustration, in particular the difficulty of finding information on it (which is being actively addressed). There was a message from some that we should be better at using new technology such as social networking to encourage more interaction with and between members.

E-learning was also seen as a useful tool which we should develop further. Overall we were encouraged to be more innovative in the way we communicate, with more use of e-mail, e-learning and interactive web resources. And perhaps we should use these tools as a way of engaging more often with you on issues of policy and strategic direction.

DR DAVID VICKERS Registrar

Notes

A message from Terence Stephenson

I recently received a letter from Professor John Forfar, who was one of my predecessors as President of the British Paediatric Association from 1985 to 1988.

I regularly of course use the textbook of which he was originally the senior author, but we had never met in person. He began his letter by expressing his profound admiration for what the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health has achieved in recent years. He then noted that I had recently expressed the view that ‘in a College such as ours sincere criticism is valuable’, a view with which John Forfar concurred. His criticism was that he could see little evidence that the College was involved with the children of servicemen who had died or been incapacitated or suffered post-traumatic stress disorder following military service.

John Forfar himself served as a young doctor in the Royal Marines, including the D-Day landing on the 6th of June 1944.

When he returned to civilian life as a consultant paediatrician, initially in Dundee and then in Edinburgh, he kept in contact with the families of the soldiers he had served with and provided advice to families where a father had been killed or seriously injured.

The picture accompanying this column was painted by a war artist Leslie Cole and depicts a dressing station in a cellar in Salanelles near Caen in Normandy.

Dr Timothy Chambers, a recently retired consultant paediatrician in Bristol, pointed

Picture courtesy of the Imperial War Museum: catelogue no IWM ART LD 4575 by Leslie Cole.

out to me the remarkable similarity of the doctor operating in the dressing station to John Forfar. I was able to ask John Forfar about this in a follow up telephone call in response to his letter. He is indeed the doctor featured in the painting but he told me that this was a re-enactment staged 200 miles away from Salanelles and about two months later. However, the scene is a correct depiction of events and some of the people posing as wounded soldiers were actually present at the original first aid station. Painted on the trestle table was an Austrian Jew who had enrolled in the Marines to act as an interpreter, his fluent German being valuable to the advancing army. He had been wounded and suffered a massive haemothorax.

Thanks to John Forfar’s prompt attention, the wounded Austrian marine survived to have a very successful career in the United States.

I have undertaken to pursue with colleagues in the armed forces the current provision of advice and help to children whose mother or father have died or been injured during military service. I thought it would also be appropriate to acknowledge the tremendous courage and strength in adversity of one of our former presidents.

PROFESSOR TERENCE STEPHENSON President, Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health

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Notes

Media Update Nick Lessof appeared on Sky News on behalf of the College in August to talk about age-assessment as part of a package about an Iraqi boy who faced deportation after social workers judged him to be an adult. Then a joint letter was published in The Independent from the College, the Royal Colleges of Psychiatrists and GPs about the detention of children of asylum seekers and reminding the Coalition government of its commitment to ending the detention of children and families.

In mid-August, The Guardian reported that 32% of pupils skip breakfast before school. The College’s Officer for Health Promotion, Mitch Blair, was quoted saying that “this is yet another study that reinforces the need for regular mealtime routines.”

At the end of August, Terence Stephenson appeared on BBC 2 Newsnight in a package about GP Commissioning.

The story was based on a Muscular Dystrophy Campaign study that found many GPs had no knowledge of musclewasting conditions and a claim this would result in inappropriate referrals.

Into September and the College was mentioned in Irish News as we supported Action Cancer’s campaign to ban smoking in cars. Neena Modi, Vice President for Science and Research, was quoted in The Guardian about a study published in The Lancet which cast doubt on sugar as pain relief for newborns. She said “This is an important study. Sucrose is given because it seems to work. If it's confirmed that sucrose doesn't work, we have a problem because we don't have any effective treatments for acutely painful procedures in newborns" and added that a bigger study, involving more babies, was needed and drug companies should speed up the development of treatments.

The College continues to campaign on tobacco issues. In an Observer article, Terence Stephenson was quoted on why

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a ban displaying cigarettes in shops must go ahead – he stated that “a ban on displaying cigarettes publicly will cut smoking rates and improve children's health by reducing their exposure to tobacco products.”

With the publication of the Kennedy Report on children’s NHS services and the Government’s response, the College issued a statement which was quoted in The Daily Mail, BBC online, Guardian online and The Times. Terence Stephenson also appeared live on the BBC News channel commenting about the two reports.

At the beginning of October, the College succeeded in writing the Thunderer column in The Times. Terence Stephenson and Damian Roland, Chair of the Trainees’ Committee wrote a piece entitled ‘We must not send junior doctors back to the dark ages’.

The piece stated that ‘To continue training doctors safely in a 48-hour week, we must either have more consultants on the wards or amalgamate services…

Our preferred solution is to increase the number of consultant paediatricians so that care can always be provided by fully trained doctors. However, that is unlikely until the economy has recovered… The solution is not to ask trainees to work more hours — nor to leave them overstretched and under pressure so they do not have time to train.’

Chris Hanvey, chief executive, was quoted in Children & Young People Now magazine in an article about the potential impact of the Comprehensive Spending Review (CSR) across different areas of children's services. He said "Children's health is broader than the NHS and links closely with social services, education and the voluntary sector. Will health be expected to pick up service provision that is cut by the CSR? Will there be even larger gaps in service provision through which vulnerable children can fall? Safeguarding

services cross the health and social care sectors and any cuts to social services will inevitably put additional pressure on the health service." After publication of the CSR, he wrote an opinion piece stating that “the deep cuts in local authority budgets will inevitably have knock-on effects on children’s health, particularly in relation to health promotion.

The already announced changes to quangos that contribute to better child health are illustrative of this, which means that though child health may have escaped the worst of the pain in the near term, our failure to invest adequately in children’s health now will store up a legacy of future poor health.”

In mid-October, Terence Stephenson was quoted in two Observer articles – one about the state of hospital food for children (also quoted in the Daily Star) and the other about the alleged ‘guerrilla marketing’ that is happening on social networking sites trying to advertise cigarettes to young people.

The Lancet reported on the BPSU annual report and also published a letter from the College in response to a recent letter about exams overseas. Simon Newell, Graeme Muir and Ramesh Mehta wrote a reply stating that ‘The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) collaborates with overseas colleagues in 20 centres, holding our clinical examination in six countries. All our work overseas is part of a joint initiative and can only succeed if shared by both agencies: the RCPCH and our partner organisation in the host country.’

To keep up-to-date with news articles that mention or quote the RCPCH, or to stay informed about what is going on within paediatrics and child health, visit the website for a regular summary of articles – www.rcpch.ac.uk/media Claire Brunert Head of Media Affairs

Notes

National Audit – 1 year on ….

The ongoing mapping process has resulted in the United Kingdom being divided pragmatically into 20 tertiary regions and approximately 200 ‘audit units’. Particular thanks to those who have agreed to act as ‘audit unit’ leads.

Audit units will represent hospital and community paediatric services together and will be supported to describe how care is organised, measure how care was delivered to a retrospective cohort, and survey what young people and parents think about their service. The diagram illustrates regional and secondary components with examples of the 3 audit domain quality measures for one audit unit (i.e. service descriptors, clinical audit and user experience).

The RCPCH is currently working to develop a user friendly web based data collection tool to support data entry.

Early adopters for the audit are the regions based in Dundee (Northern Scotland), Cardiff (South East Wales) and Cambridge (East Anglia). They are being invited to enter data via the web portal in January 2011 with the audit being rolled out to the rest of the UK in May 2011.

The Epilepsy12 Audit (United Kingdom collaborative clinical audit of health care for children and young people with suspected epileptic seizures) commenced its second year in October 2010. This marks the completion of the methodology and engagement phases and the start of the data collection phase. This RCPCH managed project is funded for 3 years by the Healthcare Quality Improvement Partnership (HQIP) and Quality Improvement Scotland (QIS) and has the following primary aims: • to facilitate health providers and commissioners to measure and improve quality of care for children and young people with seizures and epilepsies

• to contribute to the continuing improvement of outcomes for those children, young people and their families Many thanks to all those who have supported the project to date and recently helped describe how services and pathways are configured locally.

Clearly a project on this scale and focussing on long-term conditions such as epilepsies has many complexities and challenges. Much consideration has been given to achieve a practical and meaningful methodology. Summary and full methodology documents, along with many other resources, are available from the RCPCH Epilepsy12 website (www.rcpch.ac.uk/epilepsy12).

If you would like to know more or to find out how to join in with your local audit team contact Zaki Kramer, Project Support or Rita Ranmal, Project Manager, epilepsy12@rcpch.ac.uk, tel 020 7092 6167, www.rcpch.ac.uk/epilepsy12.

Colin Dunkley Epilepsy12 Lead on behalf of the Project Board.

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Notes

Speed Croquet at the Annual Conference David Walker was invited to run a pilot session of Speed Croquet at Warwick University in 2010 to see if it was feasible and attractive to the conference participants. The opportunity arose as a result of success introducing the game to an international conference at Nottingham University in 2009, and the realisation that the Warwick campus has an easily accessed croquet lawn at the Sports Centre only 3-4 minutes walk from the Arts Centre.

The inaugural game was played one lunchtime by a dedicated collection of 8 players. Each game takes only 10 minutes, with participants playing in pairs, and is great fun. The first winners of the RCPCH croquet cup were Russell Viner and Alistair Scammell, who beat David Walker and Rollo Clifford by 135 to 100 points. The winners were awarded University of Warwick mugs and celebrated in the traditional way by helping lift the hoops and collect the balls! The collection of charitable donations as an entry fee meant that we were able to raise £80 and donated this to Gua Africa.

The setting and facilities for croquet at Warwick are excellent; the lawn is big enough for at least two croquet games to run simultaneously.

The speed croquet rules that were used permit 8 people to play at once on a single lawn, so if we were to run two lawns we could have 16 people playing for 10 minutes, four to five times per hour, meaning that up to 80 people could be organised to play within a hour. It is a highly social game, as anyone can play; the pairing means that you meet new people and its rapidity of completion means that it can be fitted into limited time slots.

The attendance would have been much higher had there not been so many lunchtime meetings taking place. In conclusion, we are proposing to run Speed Croquet again in 2011, scheduling it for the end of the afternoon as a wind down session, with drinks for participants and spectators. The highest scorers will be announced each morning. David Walker and Ricky Richardson are seeing if an attractive trophy could be sourced to ensure that Speed Croquet joins the official RCPCH sporting agenda.

See you next year on the croquet lawns of Warwick University. I wonder who will be the conference champion pair in 2011?

David Walker Rosalind Topping

Alice thought she had never seen such a curious croquet-ground in her life.

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RCPCH 2011 Annual conference 5-7 April 2011 Registration is now open for the UK's biggest and most exciting Paediatrics and Child Health Annual Conference.

Early Bird Registration:

• ‘3.6 million neonatal deaths: are we delivering?’

Book by 18 February 2011 to take advantage of our early bird discount! See the registration section of our website www.rcpch.ac.uk/Conference-2011

Dr Joy Lawn, Director Global Evidence and policy, Saving Newborn Lives/ Save the Children USA

Make sure you're part of the 2011 conference, when we return to Warwick University with an inspiring and exciting programme including prestigious speakers, updates on key clinical issues, the latest paediatric science, and opportunities to network with colleagues.

‘The RCPCH Annual Conference and exhibition provide plenty of opportunities to make new contacts, discuss and debate and just unwind!’ (quote from 2010 delegate) George Fredric Still Memorial lecture We are proud to announce that Lord Robert Winston, Professor of Science and Society, Imperial College, London will deliver this prestigious lecture on ‘Assisted reproduction: what dilemma?’

Leading international and UK experts have been selected to deliver keynote lectures, on exceptionally interesting topics, which include:

• '5 articles which changed my practice' Professor Howard Bauchner, Boston Medical Centre, Massachusetts, USA • 'What has NICE done for children' Sir Michael Rawlins, National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence, London • 'Trials in neonatal-perinatal medicine' Professor Roger Soll, University of Vermont College of Medicine, USA • Tackling inequalities in child health: can we do better?

Professor Catherine Law, Institute of Child Health, London The 2011 conference heralds a new and attractive set of activities and events–as these are finalised they will be posted on the website: www.rcpch.ac.uk/Conference-2011 Be There!

Notes Annual General Meeting 2011 In accordance with the Bye Laws the College wishes to serve notice to the membership that the next Annual General Meeting of the College will be held on Wednesday 6 April 2011 at 6.15pm at the University of Warwick, during the College’s Annual Conference.

Motions and items of business should be submitted in writing to the College Registrar not less than 10 weeks before the date of the meeting (Wednesday 26 January 2011), accompanied by the signature of 15 Ordinary Members or Fellows.

British Society of the History of Paediatrics and Child Health.

This Society is open to all interested in the history of any aspect related to the history of paediatrics. The Society does have two meetings each year.

The spring meeting of the Society will be held in Warwick on the afternoon of Wednesday 6th April 2011 during the College meeting.

The autumn meeting of the Society will be held on the 9th and 10th September 2011. The venue will be the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

Papers relevant to the history of any of the aspects of paediatrics are invited for either of these meetings.

Abstracts should be sent to the Administrative Secretary (Mrs Karyn Cooper) at karyn.cooper@clinmed.gla.ac.uk or to the Honorary Secretary (Professor D G Young) at dgy1x@clinmed.gla.ac.uk.

Details of the Society and on membership can be obtained from either of the individuals mentioned above.

All interested in the history are invited and those desirous of joining the Society should contact either of the above individuals indicating their interest. Details of membership will be supplied to them.

Alternatively you can communicate with the above individuals by post at: Royal Hospital for Sick Children Yorkhill, Glasgow G3 8SJ.

SSASG News: As I write this, we have just had our very successful 2010 SSASG Information Day. It was good to meet up with so many SSASG Paediatricians from all parts of the UK and to share information about important issues for SSASGs. The Presentations and Workshops generated a great deal of useful discussion on current and future roles for SSASGs in the Paediatric Workforce as well as providing helpful advice on Revalidation, CPD and Training.

Committee aims to make SSASG Paediatricians more aware of how their interests are represented within RCPCH. We aim to have SSASG Regional Representatives in every UK Region to pass information between College and Regional SSASG Paediatricians. There are currently 7 SSASG Regional Representative vacancies and I would urge you to consider applying for one of these posts.

Details are on the RCPCH Website. www.rcpch.co.uk

These are challenging times for Paediatricians. As we heard from Dr David Shortland, Vice President, Health Services, RCPCH is currently examining how best to plan a sustainable Paediatric Workforce for the future and is also developing Service Standards for Paediatric Units. Dr Carol Ewing, RCPCH Workforce Officer and Martin McColgan Workforce Information Officer presented the most recent RCPCH Census results which show that overall, almost 20% of Lead Paediatric roles are currently being carried out by SSASG Paediatricians.

This figure is as high as 40% in some Community Paediatric Services. SSASG Paediatricians are taking opportunities where these arise to develop and extend their roles. If you have not already done so, I would encourage you to make contact with your local Associate Dean who has responsibility for SSASG doctors to see what CPD/Training opportunities are available in your area.

RCPCH website Following on from some suggestions made about the SSASG pages on the College Website, the SSASG Committee is working with the College Website Redesign Group to improve navigation and content of the SSASG Webpages.

Many of you gave very helpful feedback on this at the Information Day. Please feel free to send further comments to the SSASG Committee Administrator Serean.Williamson@RCPCH.ac.uk

It is very important that SSASGs are actively involved in discussions concerning the development of our roles within a future Paediatric Workforce.

The College Census has shown that less than one third of approximately 1300 SSASG Paediatricians in the UK are Members of RCPCH. The SSASG

SSASG update meeting 2011 We are already looking ahead to the 2011 RCPCH Spring Conference in Warwick.

There will be a SSASG Update Meeting (with Lunch provided) on Wednesday 6th April 2011 at 1230. By the time you receive this Newsletter, you should have received a Survey seeking your suggestions for a Keynote Topic for this Meeting.

Finally, I am happy to announce that Dr Carol Roberts, who is currently the SSASG Committee representative on the Revalidation Committee, has also now become Deputy Chair of the SSASG Committee.

Dr Jane Wilkinson Chair RCPCH SSASG Committee

Save the children: Child survival Archives of Disease in Childhood has joined forces with the BMJ to support its chosen 2010 Christmas charity Save the Children.

The aim is to raise at least £30,000; the money will support child survival projects in countries such as Sudan, Sierra Leone, and India.

• Sudan’s child mortality rate is 135 deaths per 1000 live births. 1 in 7 children will die before their 5th birthday. There is a critical shortage of trained health workers.

Why Save the Children?

• The charity calculates that if healthcare became free across Africa, as it did in Sierra Leone in April 2010, the lives of 800 children could be saved each day.

• Save the Children’s programmes in India reach 600,000 people directly and a further 4m through collaboration with the government. In Delhi, 7% of urban poor children die before they reach 5 years old.

UK readers can donate £5 by texting GIVE to 70555. You can also donate by visiting www.savethechildren/bmj

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Notes

CPD – 2010 Audit As revalidation approaches, the results of this audit are of increasing interest. Many thanks to all our 2010 auditees for their patience and trouble in getting their portfolios together. The table below sets out the key results in comparison to the two previous years.

2008 (%)

2009 (%) 2010 (%)

Total Eligible from random selection

208

205

226

Claimed credits and evidence met all recommended annual requirements

120 (58)

137 (67)

150 (66)

Claimed Credits/Evidence did not meet recommended requirements

39 (19)

21 (10)

38 (17)

Nothing Submitted

48 (23)

47 (23)

37 (16)

A significant fall in the proportion of non-compliers may be partly due to increased awareness of the importance of CPD as a component of revalidation. From this year, these paediatricians will be called for audit again in 2011.

A review of our own audit processes and those of other Royal Colleges has identified the need to improve guidance and support provided to doctors selected for this audit. The College will be producing revised supporting documentation to assist auditees for the 2011 Audit.

This review and a 2009 CPD survey (presented at Warwick 2010) further prompted discussion in our CPD subcommittee on whether the standard for audit should be strengthened in the light of recommended requirements for revalidation. Initially, we have made minor changes to the list of admissible and inadmissible evidence for CPD. This should have little significant affect for most auditees. Further changes will be gradually implemented over the coming years.

Over 90 distinguished speakers from 17 countries will present the latest developments in paediatrics. The conference programme will include plenary sessions, parallel workshops, round table discussions and debates on controversial areas. Interactive case reports will involve the audience as will sessions on how to solve problems while seeing patients using immediate technology aids to discover the available evidence-base. Two special Latest Advances sessions in cardiology and haematology will be introduced in this year’s “Excellence in Paediatrics”, where experts in these paediatric subspecialties will give delegates brief presentations of the latest advances in their field. An innovative Meet the Editor session is aimed at those with work in progress: Four Editors of renowned journals published by Wiley-Blackwell will discuss the paper reviewing process, offer insights and answer questions.

The 2010 Excellence in Paediatrics conference has been accredited from both the European Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education and the Royal College of Paediatrics & Child Health for 18 hours of external credits.

The Book of Abstracts will be published as a supplement to the journal Acta Paediatrica and special awards in 3 different categories have been established to prize exceptional research work. Also, bursaries will be offered to participants studying or working in a "Least Developed" or "Landlocked Developing" Country,

Excellence in Paediatrics

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“Excellence in Paediatrics” aims to present the latest, most insightful and authoritative overview of key developments in paediatrics, by outstanding speakers from all over the world. Using a variety of innovative sessions it is addressed primarily to general paediatricians, including those in training, and general practitioners with an interest in child health, while also being of interest to specialist paediatricians.

• The Cochrane Child Health Field and EPA/UNEPSA will organize sessions on Respiratory Medicine.

The conference is presented by WileyBlackwell, publisher of internationally acclaimed journals and textbooks in the field of paediatrics. The Scientific Committee of “Excellence in Paediatrics” has 28 members mostly drawn from Wiley-Blackwell journal editors. Special attention is being given to:

• The University Hospital of Vienna will deliver a session on Food Allergy.

• The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health will present a ‘’Hot Topics’’ session, an interactive case study on Child Protection and a ‘round table’ on Adolescent Medicine.

• The Children’s Hospital Boston & Harvard Medical School will present two interactive case studies.

• The Karolinska Institute will present a round table on Sudden Infant Death Syndrome.

• The programme also contains contributions from:

• Environmental Health

o British Paediatric Surveillance Unit

• Gastroenterology & Nutrition • Infectious Diseases and Vaccinations

o European Society for Paediatric Gastrenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition

Leading Centres of Excellence are organizing special sessions:

o European Society for Paediatric Infectious Diseases

covering their expenses of participation to the conference, giving them thus the opportunity to attend this first class event.

It is also noteworthy that in view of the World Aids Day (1 December 2010), the total income generated by the registration fees for the Conference workshops will be donated to KEEP A CHILD ALIVE to support its mission in the fight against AIDS. (KEEP A CHILD ALIVE is a registered 501(c)3 charity in the US dedicated to providing life-saving, anti-retroviral treatment, care and support services to children and families whose lives have been affected by HIV/AIDS in Africa and India).

Notes

Membership Subscriptions 2011 The College is determined to improve the services offered to members.

Every day paediatricians work tirelessly to improve the lives of children and they deserve the best support their College can offer. In order to achieve this improvement we have embarked upon an ambitious programme of change, which includes redesigning the web-site, raising the College’s voice within government, improving the regional services to members, re-focusing the overseas activities, promoting the speciality as a career (eg though student membership) and attracting new sources of funding. But, inevitably there is a cost to these improvements.

In 2010 Membership subscriptions were not increased due to the recession.

Prior to 2010 the College has aimed to increase subscriptions in line with, or just below, the increase in the Retail Price Index; this aim has been met for all recent years except 2009, see chart.

Council recognises the current financial climate for individuals and organisations and for the College to fulfil its obligations to the membership, this year subscriptions will have to be raised. This is due to; • Non staff costs which accounts for more than half of expenditure which are expected to go up by RPI • The increase in Valued Added Tax which goes up from 17.5% to 20% in January which is estimated to cost the College £82,500 in the calendar year 2011

• Reduced government funding • Costs related to investments in improving the services offered to members.

Therefore Council and EC, taking into account the financial climate, has agreed that membership subscriptions for 2011 will be kept below the RPI and rise by 3% only.

The main subscription rates for 2011 will be as follows Membership Type

2011 Annual Subscription

Rate shown includes Archives?

Fellow UK* and Republic of Ireland

£450

Yes

Fellow rest of EU and North America

£338

Yes

Fellow Elsewhere

£215

Yes

Ordinary UK* and Republic of Ireland

£377

Yes

Ordinary rest of EU and North America

£282

Yes

Ordinary Elsewhere

£180

Yes

Junior (UK only)

£75

No

Honorary Fellow

£0

No

Senior Fellow/Member

£52

No

Associate UK*, EU and North America

£287

No

Associate elsewhere

£279

No

£0

No

Medical Student Affiliates

*as in previous years, those resident in the UK pay additional levies and payment surcharges may apply for some payment methods.

Members are reminded that subscriptions are fully tax deductible and UK tax payers should be able to claim up to 40% back from the Inland Revenue.

Concessions are available for those members who have difficulty in paying their subscription due to financial hardship. Members who need to apply for a concession please contact the membership team on 0207 092 6060 or membership@rcpch.ac.uk where a request will be treated confidentially.

If members have any other queries regarding subscriptions the Membership team will be delighted to advise and help Dr Sue Hobbins, HONORARY TREASURER, RCPCH

5.0%

Policy Update

4.5% 4.0%

At the July meeting of the College Executive Committee, the President commented on the large amount of activity across the College and asked for a digest for this newsletter of the work being undertaken on behalf of members.

3.5% 3.0% 2.5% 2.0% 1.5% 1.0% 0.5% 0% 2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

Subscription RPI

2009

2010

In the Policy area, a new initiative began in July with a breakfast meeting on “Time for Training” addressed to a select audience by Sir John Temple. In October the subject was GP commissioning that encouraged some forthright views and concerns regarding the best service pathways for children’s health. Further breakfast sessions are planned on other subjects as they provide the College with a useful sounding board of opinion.

Efforts to work through the Scottish and Welsh offices on policy matters are

moving forward including; improvement to children’s early years (Scotland); and the rights and participation of children in their health (Wales). The policy team have also replied to several consultations, most notably the Coalition Government White Paper on Health and the Kennedy report. The intercollegiate safeguarding competencies for health professionals has been published. The College has submitted responses to the following important consultation documents: 'Quality Standards in Forensic Medicine' produced by the Faculty of Forensic and Legal Medicine and 'Review of Access to the NHS by Foreign Nationals' from the Department of Health.

Operations have been considerably affected by the deepening cuts in government health spending. (continued on page 10)

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Notes

Training Matters Last year saw the possibility of great changes within the health service and the profession received a number of reports regarding the state of Medical Education. One report, the Temple Review of the effect of the EWTD, stated a 48 hour week was sufficient to train future consultants. However this can not be the case though when trainees deliver the majority of the service. The problem is further exacerbated by rota gaps which remain unfilled in many parts of the country. Paediatric trainees may therefore feel things are very much the same!

The Trainees’ Committee cannot resolve these problems on their own but it would be useful to reflect on what we have been doing in the last year. I hope to have an annual report on the Trainees’ Committee available in Spring 2011 and will invite comment from Trainees on our effectiveness within and outside of the college.

Doctors Office Space A statement regarding the need to protect an environment for trainees to undertake potentially confidential tasks (regardless of financial pressures affecting trusts) was presented to the Training Committee.

Non-educationally valid tasks The Trainees’ Committee were asked by the Training Committee to draw up a list of tasks which were felt to be of limited use for training. The Trainees’ Committee believe not all tasks can be of intrinsic educational value but many can be provided by other means (routine bloods by paediatric phlebotomists and nursing staff) or limited in their use (trainees should not be expected to provide a new born check if its sole purpose is to allow for a discharge within four to six hours). We believe fast

track discharges with a baby check are a privilege and not a right and if trusts wish to provide this service they must not use trainees to deliver it.

Work Place Based Assessments Trainees will be aware the fees for assessment and e-portfolio were increased to £100 this year. The Trainees Committee have produced a list of quality metrics to be applied to Work-Place Based assessments to ensure trainees are receiving value for money. These are being developed in conjunction with the RCPCH Assessment committee and should come into effect from 2011.

Spring Meeting The Trainees’ Committee hosted a question and answer session at the RCPCH Conference in Warwick.

Attendance was good with some difficult questions posed to the expert panel (see the Summer RCPCH News http://www.rcpch.ac.uk/doc.aspx?id_R esource=7307). Feedback suggested that trainees enjoyed this session and that it shouldn’t clash with other events. This has been taken on board for the 2011 meeting.

The statements mentioned can be found at: http://www.rcpch.ac.uk/Training/ Committees-for-Training/TraineesCommittee As always please do get in contact.

I get very few e-mails despite always receiving negative feedback about the college, training and sometimes even the Trainees’ Committee when I meet trainees. We can’t do anything to address concerns unless we know about them!

Cheers Damian Dr. Damian Roland Chair of the RCPCH Trainees Committee Contacting the Trainees’ Committee Please e-mail trainees.committee@rcpch.ac.uk for any training queries you may have.

Your regional representative may be found at www.deaneries.rcpch.ac.uk and will be able to assist with local issues.

RCPCH Events See http://www.rcpch.ac.uk/events for more details about the following events: Child Protection Safeguarding Children: Child Protection in Practice (CPIP)

St David's Day Conference 'My Right to the Highest Standard of Health'

Dates: Ongoing Venue: N/A (e-learning) Fee: £50 per module

Date: 4 March 2011 Venue: National Museum, Cardiff Fee: £70 (RCPCH members) and £60 Early Bird (before 23 December)

Court Skills in Child Protection Date: 5 - 6 May 2011 Venue: RCPCH, London Fee: £300 (RCPCH members) and £375 (non RCPCH members)

Policy update (continued from page 9) Projects at negotiation have been stalled pending attempts to reduce costs and tender requests have been withdrawn. The College has had to be innovative in its attempts to continue work on the affected projects (eg.

E-learning) that would otherwise have had to close. The database of trainees is now complete and proving a valuable resource and the updated version of the e-portfolio system successfully launched. The take up of membership examinations in India has been successful as part of the growing international programme and partly in recognition of growing interest, an international strategy has been drafted for discussion. Professor Steve Greene has completed his term as Chair of

10

the International Board and David Baum Fellow and the position has been advertised.

Re-structuring of the College is in progress and the Education, Training and Assessment teams are collectively re-inventing the way they work to improve member services.

As part of the College IT strategic review, proposals for merged systems to support professional development are being considered. The Annual Conference has been a success this year and will continue at Warwick next year.

Internal Services have been working with consultants, SIFT, and user groups (including webinars with members) on the design and

preparations to re-launch the web-site to provide easier access for members. A survey is taking place to seek member views on the benefits of membership and the services they would most value. The incident management plan has been reviewed and proposals for simplification suggested.

HR are currently fully engaged with restructuring issues and recruitment of new positions to support member services, fundraising, funded research proposals and international work.

Roger Hammond Director of Operations

Notes Children and Young People’s Participation (continued from page 1)

They joined high profile Academics and Clinicians to explore ethics and enhancement. The young people’s presentation threw open ethical dilemmas in the context of children’s rights: “In our pursuit to enhance individuals and create a society where all children and young people are equal, are we reinforcing an unfair society and inadvertently discriminating children and young people even further?” (Caplan 2002). Our quest for perfection may produce adverse consequences by disrupting our delicate social and natural dynamic. It is therefore imperative that we consider the perspectives and rights of children and young people, (UNCRC, 1989) as we consider the ethics of enhancement, will we only know that we have gone too far, when it is too late? Professor Terence Stephenson went on to explain RCPCH’s commitment to children and young people and leading the way to transform child health services.

Don’t forget Not Just a Phase, a guide to the participation of children and young people in health services that we developed with our Young People’s Health Special Interest Group (YPHSIG) earlier this year.

The guide provides key information to ensure the safe, meaningful and ethical participation of children and young people within the delivery of health services and practically demonstrates how we, as Child Health Service Providers, can contribute towards creating a culture of participation within Child Health Services.

“Over the years, I have had the privilege of working with children and young people from many walks of life and I am continually fascinated by their insights, resilience and capacities to deal with traumatic, unfamiliar and at times life threatening situations. We do a great injustice to children and young people when as a society we fail to listen to their views, take on board their perspectives and value their contribution in shaping child health services.”

Professor Terence Stephenson, President, RCPCH

Article 24 1. States Parties recognize the right of the child to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health and to facilities for the treatment of illness and rehabilitation of health. States Parties shall strive to ensure that no child is deprived of his or her right of access to such health care services.

(Convention on the Rights of the Child, 20 November 1989) To keep up to date on RCPCH’s Children and Young People’s Participation: www.rcpch.ac.uk/cayp

My Right to the Highest Standard of Health continued from page 1

'My Right to the Highest Standard of Health' is designed to capture knowledge, innovation, and expertise on children & young people's health.

The programme will address key issues including child health policy, safeguarding, inequities and participation. It will be an innovative opportunity for clinicians to engage with policy makers, young people and other key stakeholders. A full day of insightful and challenging presentations will culminate in a Question and Answer forum chaired by Helen Mary Jones AM, Chair of the Children & Young People's Committee in the National Assembly.

Registration: Non Members: £115. RCPCH Members: £70. Trainee Members: £60.

Early Bird (before December 23rd) Non Members: £100. RCPCH Members: £60.

To pre-register your interest in attending this event please contact myrighttohealth@rcpch.ac.uk

11

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