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Royal College of Emergency Medicine elects first female president

The Royal College of Emergency Medicine (RCEM) has announced Katherine Henderson as its newest president, becoming the college’s first female president.

Henderson won her election against two other candidates and will leave her current post as a consultant at St Thomas’ Hospital London to formally take up her post in October.

The president’s term of office is three years, which Henderson will begin at the forthcoming AGM in October when she replaces the current president Taj Hassan.

Henderson said: “I am delighted and honoured to have been elected by the fellows of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine. It is a huge privilege to become RCEM’s next president.

“While there are certainly challenging years ahead, I am eager to lead the college in facing these head on and will work hard to represent all members of our fantastic specialty.”

She added: “The recent news of plans to replace or amend the four-hour target means that the work of the college has never been more important.

“How we measure emergency care to ensure patient safety and drive flow is a key priority for me, but in addition to this I am determined to tackle the issue of corridor medicine, improve retention and enhance the value of college membership.”

Very pleased to have been elected the next @RCollEM President. Will be working from now so that when I take over formally from Taj in October I am ready to face the challenges of another NHS winter- campaigning for no corridor medicine.

— Katherine Henderson (@KatherineRCEM) March 15, 2019

The outgoing Dr Hassan congratulated Katherine on her election success and thanked the other two candidates: Chris Moulton, who is the vice president of the college and consultant at the Royal Bolton Hospital; and Carole Gavin, the RCEM CPD lead and consultant at Salford Royal Infirmary.

Hassan commented: “I greatly look forward to working with Dr Henderson ahead of the handover in October.

“It has been my absolute privilege to be the president of the RCEM and to lead such an incredible speciality in what have been exciting but testing times.”

Henderson also thanked Hassan for his “excellent work” as RCEM president, including his work agreeing an emergency medicine workforce strategy which “will really make a difference to our speciality.”