Current Issue
Message from the Editors in Chief
Professor Sunil Bhandari
Dr. Makani Purva
2020 signals the start of a new decade along with new opportunities, dreams and challenges.
Winter is upon us and the NHS continues to face unprecedented pressures on service delivery. The ED 4-hour performance and elective performance has been at its worst in the last few months and for the NHS the standards set previously, now seem unachievable. The reasons for this dismal state of affairs are multifactorial: - staffing pressures, lack of adequate resources, poor capital investment, rising patient expectations and complexity and many more. Despite this, our colleagues continue to provide the best possible care under demanding circumstances.
Necessity is the mother of invention. If we must survive, we need to re-invent ourselves. Continuing to do the same thing and expecting a different result is insanity (slightly paraphrasing Einstein). The need of the hour is to innovate - is to think outside of the box and to bravely change our practice. Resilience is all about adapting to new challenges and we need to invest in building system resilience.
Brexit is looming and with that the country will need to face the new future with courage and determination. The impact of this change on our economy is unknown despite the volume of material published daily. No doubt this will have an impact on our global issues such as medicines procurement, workforce recruitment, research, legal and employment matters and this will need to be factored in.
Each of these challenges is an opportunity to try something new. If we can approach these challenges with optimism and build our resilience by challenging current norms, we will be well placed for the next decade.
