Role of the Royal College of Physicians adviser

A personal comment For the past two years I have been the Royal College of Physicians adviser (RCA) for South Trent. This post is considered to be a very high honour and nomination and election is done by colleagues who are Fellows of the College. However, in the present environment, with so many extra commitments expected of consultant physicians, there may well be no volunteers for this role. In this situation a suitable Fellow is usually approached by the outgoing RCA, suggesting that he/she may be willing to do the job. The candidate should be an experienced physician, although not necessarily involved in acute take. The purpose of the post is primarily to maintain the standard of general internal medicine across all medical specialties. This is becoming more important with the increasing numbers of general medical patients being admitted to all hospitals in the UK. The post has changed …