Today marks the end of my first four weeks in post at the Council of Deans of Health and I wanted to pass on my thanks to the many members and other stakeholders who have welcomed me into my new role, and to the team here who have supported my induction through briefings and continue to answer my numerous questions! It was fantastic to have the opportunity to meet many members at the conference in Leeds before I started, and many of the issues we discussed there have become topics for the introductory meetings I’ve held with regulators, policy makers, our trustees and other partners over the last few weeks. My first days coincided with the launch of the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan for England which gave even more impetus to our work, and resulted in the opportunity to visit the University of West London with the Health Secretary, Steve Barclay on my second day in post – whilst that was a whirlwind start it was an excellent opportunity to discuss the challenges and opportunities around the NHS workforce at the very highest level, and to showcase the fantastic work of our members.
I’m very much looking forward to continuing to meet with members over the summer and into the Autumn – including attending in person meetings of our nations groups in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. In the meantime, please do get in touch with me if you would like to set up a call or a meeting – I’m really keen to hear the views of members as I settle into the role. If you haven’t already had the opportunity to respond to our member survey, then please do so – I’m committed to reading all the responses and will reflect on how we can continue to evolve our support for members in light of your feedback.
I’d like to take this opportunity to say thank you to one of our staff team – Al Barker – who has been managing our communications on a number of time-limited projects, and curating this bulletin, since November 2022. Good luck with your next project, and thanks for sharing your expertise with us over the last few months.
We also say a final farewell to Brian as our outgoing chair. Professor Alison Machin formally takes over on 1 August, and the three of us, along with the wider team, have been working closely together to ensure a smooth transition. Once again, Brian, thank you for your enormous contribution to the Council.
Finally, I hope that you are all able to find some time for a break over the summer ahead of what I am sure will be a busy start to the academic year in the autumn.