President’s welcome!
Dear Fresher,
Congratulations on your exams and Welcome to some of the best years of your life! You’re about to embark on a journey to read arguably the best degree in the world – Medicine, at one of the best universities in the world – Oxford. What a journey it will be!
We know this is a new start for you and everything might seem a little nerve-wracking and daunting, but we are here as your MedSoc Committee to help you settle in, get through all the excitement, and make your time here at Oxford more enjoyable and less stressful.
This Freshers’ Guide has been put together to tell you a little bit about MedSoc, and give you a few tips and words of wisdom for what lies ahead.
Remember – we’re always here to help and we’ve done it all before, so don’t hesitate to get in contact with any of us at any time!
Vino Mani
Dear Colleague
I am writing to you concerning the developing crisis in medical training, research and health education across universities and colleges in the UK. As a trade union representing staff in a range of health education roles, the University and College Union (UCU) believes that the country’s reputation for research and innovation is now under threat and that reduced research funding, job cuts in medical and health education and a falling number of clinical academics will ultimately damage frontline health provision. The BMA warned in July this year that ‘there will soon be insufficient staff to educate and train the UK’s aspiring doctors’.
Recent data published by the Medical Schools Council (‘Report on Academic Workforce’ May 2009) demonstrates the need for immediate concerted action to support clinical academia:
• the number of clinical lecturers has fallen 47% between 2000-2009
• 58% of clinical academic workforce is aged over 45. The number of clinical academics in the 26-35 age range is insufficient to replace number approaching retirement
• there is particular concern for a number of clinical specialties including Pathology where staffing levels have declined 58% since 2000, and Anaesthetics which has seen a 40% drop in staff since 2000
• the crisis described by the Medical Schools Council can only be exacerbated by the job losses and cuts in course provision currently taking place in medical and health faculties across the Higher Education sector, including a 20% cut in staff at the Faculty of Medicine at Imperial College London and
University College London, King’s College London and University of Leeds
• Education provision for nursing, midwifery and other health professions is also under threat from with Trusts raiding training budgets and this will inevitably result in an impact upon patients
At a time when medical schools such as Imperial College London are at the forefront of tackling the most serious modern public health problems such as the Swine flu pandemic and the search for an AIDS vaccine; the threatened cuts in jobs and course provision at these institutions are misguided and myopic. These cuts are not isolated. Training budgets for health professionals are also under pressure at a time when investment in health and education should be a priority.
We now want to put pressure on Government to urgently address this funding crisis and we would like to invite you as someone involved in medical and health education to take part in our “Condition Critical” campaign. The campaign launch will be on Wednesday 9th December 2009 in Central London (details to follow) so please put this date in your diary. We want to make this event as big as possible and to involve the whole spectrum of health education professionals and students who are concerned about the future of medical training and provision in the UK. Please contact me with ideas and suggestions or indicate if you’d like to be involved in the event – it would be great to have as many imaginative ideas for highlighting the issue as possible.
Thank you very much in advance for your support. This is a very important campaign not just for staff working within these professions but for the country as a whole and it’s crucial that Government ensures that there is sufficient provision to secure the UK’s position as a world leader in medical innovation, our ability to educate the health professionals of the future and the quality of patient care across the country.
Regards
Ed Bailey
UCU, National Organiser
To whom it may concern,
I am a final year medical student currently conducting a survey into the use of medical related applications on ‘Smartphones’ (e.g. iphone, blackberry…) amongst medical students and doctors. There is a lot of literature concluding that these applications are of great assistance, but none that we can find on current usage. We hope to rectify this.
Would you be good enough to publisise this survey amongst your members,
Anything that you can do would be greatly appreciated
Please don’t hesistate to contact me if you require any further information
Kind regards
David Hindmarsh
5th Year Medical Student
University of Liverpool
————–
To whom it may concern,
We are looking at medical related applications for ‘Smartphones’ and their uptake and usage amongst doctors and medical students.
If you have a Smartphone would you be so kind as to fill out a short questionnaire:
“Smart doctors or Smartphones?”
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/BPLH8BW
Thank you for your time and effort
Kind regards
David Hindmarsh
5th Year Medical Student
University of Liverpool
d.g.hindmarsh@liv.ac.uk
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