Health Service Focus

Thousands of members and hundreds of years

Laura Fleming, head of membership engagement at the Royal College of Physicians, explains why so many people are choosing to join, after the organisation recently welcomed its 30,000^th member.

The Royal College of Physicians (RCP) meets every definition of an august institution, having been founded back in 1518 by Royal Charter from Henry VIII, with its members now working across 30 medical specialities in every general hospital in the UK and others based around the world.

For the first time in its nearly 500 years, its membership has topped 30,000 (see box out), with 5,000 new members in just the last four years.

Head of membership engagement Laura Fleming credits two main factors: its increased focus on doctors at the start of their careers, and its increasing relevance in today’s NHS with landmark reports like ‘Hospitals on the Edge?’ and its Future Hospital Commission.

In 2011, the RCP introduced two new membership categories for medical students and foundation doctors, and now has over 1,000 members in these categories.

Fleming told us: “We have been increasing our presence at medical schools, careers fairs and through all channels to reach out to medical students, junior doctors, core medical trainees (CMTs) and specialty trainees as well. As the numbers have increased in those categories, we’ve started to also see the numbers increase in our ‘Associate’ membership grades (pre-MRCP UK), which includes CMTs.”

The number of Associate members has risen from 500 in September 2011 to 1,100 as at July 2014 (an increase of 120% in less than three years).

“We’re driving engagement, building relationships, and increasing their familiarity with the RCP, and then as the years have gone on, we are starting to see that translating into membership upgrades,” Fleming said.

In the two most recent membership engagement surveys, in 2014 and 2012, educational and career support was named as the top reason for members at an earlier stage of their career deciding to get involved with the RCP.

Fleming said: “In response to that, we have introduced a new ‘medical careers support programme’. That is in its early stages, but we’re taking that interest and building on it to try to give more bespoke support – doctors at the start of their careers have very different needs to our Fellows and collegiate members, who are at a later stage in their careers.

“We’ve now got a career support mentoring scheme in its pilot stages this year, which should be quite an exciting development. We’ve got 32 career development mentoring partnerships in place.”

The RCP has recruited a full-time member of staff and an RCP officer to lead on the new careers programme.

Increased relevance

In terms of increased relevance thanks to its research, campaigning and analysis, Fleming said the RCP has been working with its members to identify issues in today’s NHS.

She said: “We’re building on that, being really proactive, and now have these 11 core principles that we’re rolling out through pilot projects as part of the Future Hospital programme.

“Joining the RCP is an individual decision – it is about building up personal relationships and being part of a larger body of people who have a shared interest in improving healthcare.

“There are different motivations for joining depending on what stage of life and career a person is at. With the earlier career stages it is very much about what we can do for them as individuals, but for doctors at a later stage in their career, they’re more looking for what they can give back – but that in itself is career development.”

Being a mentor is proving quite a popular idea for new consultants, and mentoring others appears high up on the RCP’s survey asking people about what they value in the services it offers and the resourcing people are interested in, which Fleming said was a particularly interesting finding.

A doctor can join the RCP at any stage of their career and become a member – but they must pass MRCP(UK) to become a collegiate member. Becoming a Fellow involves a nomination process.

A very big birthday

There are only a select few institutions that can trace their history back half a millennium, but the RCP is one of them. It is starting to prepare now for its 500^th anniversary, Fleming told us. Those plans are at an early stage, but she confirmed that there are “lots of meetings and discussions” already going on. The celebrations will both further raise the profile of the organisation by highlighting its core achievements over the last five centuries, but also look ahead to the organisation’s future.

There will be an international aspect too, ensuring members as far afield as Australia and the USA are also engaged.

No time to rest

Fleming and her team cannot just sit back and pat themselves on the back having broken the membership record – the RCP now wants to reach 40,000 members by 2020, which she admitted will be a “challenging target”.

She added: “One of the reasons we’re stretching ourselves in that way is because we’re in the process of improving our online and engagement tools, which I think will really help us to reach out to new members in the future. We’re beginning a big push on our digital presence.”

The RCP says its overall mission is: “To support its members and Fellows during every stage of their career and thus improve the quality of patient care. By setting and monitoring the standards of medical training, the RCP ensures that patients are seen by fully trained, capable doctors.”

Sir Richard Thompson, who presided over a big jump in membership in his term as president of the RCP, said: “Over the last four years of my presidency I have been privileged to see the number of RCP members grow by 5,000 to 30,000. The RCP has worked hard to position itself as a modern and valuable organisation for physicians, with support for physicians at every stage of their career, tailored professional benefits, and unique and respected events. The 30,000 figure is significant – and I am sure that it will only increase in the years to come.”

The 30,000^th member

The RCP’s 30,000^th member is not just a name on a spreadsheet, but another active doctor working to improve healthcare. Dr Clare Farrington is a consultant in palliative medicine, based at Barnsley Hospice and Barnsley district hospital in south Yorkshire.

To commemorate the landmark for the RCP, Dr Farrington was awarded a stay at William Harvey House, the RCP’s Regent’s Park hotel for members and Fellows; an RCP gift set; and free entry into ‘Medicine 2015’, the RCP’s new flagship conference taking place in Harrogate in March 2015.

She said she joined the RCP to gain access to the online CPD (continuing professional development) diary, and to get easy access to the RCP’s high-quality clinical documents and reports, such as the landmark Future Hospital paper.

She said she felt the RCP’s role is to “provide leadership, benchmarks and support in an ever-changing NHS environment”.

RCP president Jane Dacre said: “I am delighted to welcome Dr Clare Farrington as our 30,000^th member. This is a significant milestone in the history of the RCP. The strength of the RCP lies in its members and Fellows and their involvement with the RCP, and their strong commitment to the highest standards of patient care, a position which continues to help us advise both the public and the government.”

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