Foreword from the President
As we mark 425 years since the founding of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow, there is a lot to celebrate: four centuries of innovation, standing up for medical professionals, and enhancing patient care.
I am incredibly proud of the pivotal role our College has had in improving the health of millions of people who have lived in Glasgow, across the UK and around the world. Our Fellows and Members, past and present, are responsible for some of the most profound developments in healthcare and their footprints can be seen all over the globe.
It is on this foundation that we set out our vision for the next three years: a strategy with our 15,000 Fellows and Members at its heart.
We aim to deliver an outstanding membership experience, with excellent education to support healthcare professionals throughout their careers, and in turn, to help them support their patients. We will also build on our founding roots as we continue to elevate standards through assessment, providing trusted, gold-standard qualifications.
At the same time, we will use our distinctive voice as the UK’s only multidisciplinary Royal College to engage and influence policy makers, while taking meaningful action to support healthcare professionals in the UK and overseas. We will deepen and strengthen our links with our local community, emphasising that our doors are open. This includes encouraging visitors to our incredible heritage collection which tells the story not only of the development of healthcare, but of our city.
All of this will be supported by a clear focus on operational excellence: sound financial planning, a clear focus on environmental sustainability, and a continued emphasis on equality, diversity and inclusivity.
As a community of healthcare professionals brought together by a shared purpose, there is much we can achieve by harnessing our collective strengths and building our partnerships with other innovative organisations around the world.
This shared expertise is needed now more than ever when health inequalities, global conflict and the ever-present threats of the climate crisis loom large.
We will need to be agile, to adapt to change, to listen and hear our members. Our regional and international advisors, Resident Doctors’ Committee, Dental Trainees’ Committees, volunteer examiners and educators, lay advisors, UK Policy Network, Sustainability Steering Group and College Council members are playing a critical role in keeping our office bearers sighted on opportunities and threats, and helping to inform our decision-making and readiness for the future.
For us, how we work is as important as what we do, and our strategy also sets out the values we aim to live by each day. These values – community, integrity, innovation, inspiration, inclusivity - were identified by our College community, including our staff. They embody the essence of the College motto, conjurat amice – meaning ‘together in friendship’ – an approach that is as relevant today as it was 425 years ago.
As President, I am committed to working with our staff, our Fellows and Members, and our partners, to drive our strategy – and deliver tangible, and meaningful, benefits to the global communities we serve.
Professor Hany Eteiba
President
Executive Summary
Since being granted our Royal Charter in 1599, the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow has been improving health and healthcare for people around the world.
Our purpose is built around delivering:
- Excellent education and outstanding member experience
- New standards through assessment and gold-standard qualifications
- Transformative impact on the health and wellbeing of the wider world
Our values support us in the delivery of our purpose, and articulate what we stand for, and the way we work. We live and work according to the values of:
- Community
- Integrity
- Innovation
- Inspiration
- Inclusivity
The College is not a building or a tradition, but a global community, and in all that we do, we are committed to putting our people first – Fellows and Members, those undertaking our education and assessment, staff and partners. We champion wellbeing and support one another to enable each of us to reach our potential and bring positive change to our communities.
We are proud to be the UK’s only multidisciplinary Royal College and take inspiration from new discoveries and innovation from our diverse specialties in the UK and internationally. We are also uniquely placed to bring people together to solve major health challenges, providing a place for discussion and debate.
We are stewards of a rich heritage, and we learn from the past to transform the future. Our heritage collections are part of the fabric of the city, and we use them to engage with our community, to tell our College story, and to celebrate the innovators who have driven positive change.
Our ambitions
Our ambitions for the next three years can be summed up through our five goals:
Goal one: An outstanding membership experience
Goal two: Excellence in education
Goal three: Elevating standards through assessment
Goal four: Global engagement and impact
Goal five: Operational excellence
Our vision
To build an influential global community that enables our members to develop the skills, knowledge and influence to improve healthcare standards worldwide.
Our mission
We want to enable our members to achieve their full potential as healthcare professionals and give them an influential voice in the world.
Goal 1: An outstanding membership experience
Our diverse and talented community of more than 15,000 Fellows and Members is at the heart of everything we do. We nurture a strong sense of belonging, creating a space where members can connect to share ideas and support each other.
From the communications members receive from us and the systems they interact with, to the welcome they receive in the building and online, we aim to provide excellent service across every area of the College. We are proud that, year on year, over 90% of our existing members renew their membership, and we will strive to maintain this.
We aim to understand the challenges and opportunities facing our members to ensure we offer relevant and meaningful support throughout every stage of their careers, to help us attract new members and grow.
We take inspiration from our multidisciplinary and international membership, recognising that the best solutions to major healthcare challenges are often found through shared ideas.
We also maintain strong links with other royal colleges, healthcare organisations globally, business and industry and civic society to ensure we can maximise the positive impact of our work.
We keep our members informed and connect them with others who can support and inspire them. We also reach out to listen and hear about changes in their world, through our well-established networks of UK and international advisors.
As a diverse community, we value inclusivity and celebrate the differing backgrounds and experiences of our members and staff.
We recognise that our College is not a building or a tradition, but a community, and we encourage our members to get involved and help shape our future.
Goal 2: Excellence in education
We understand the value of continuous learning to help healthcare professionals meet their potential, progress their careers, and support their patients. We provide education that is led by clinicians, for clinicians – using data and insight, including from employers, to inform our offering.
In addition to our leading-edge clinical education portfolio, we provide multidisciplinary core content to equip healthcare professionals with the skills, outlook and confidence they need to thrive in an ever-changing healthcare environment. This includes education that supports leadership skills in wellbeing, environmental sustainability and multidisciplinary team working.
We will evolve our approach to learning and teaching, upscaling our online and hybrid course options to meet the needs of our members.
We will also scale up our international conferences, attracting the very best minds and healthcare leaders to speak on new advances and developments to widen participants’ knowledge and experience.
For more than four centuries we have been a place for discussion and debate. Today, we continue that tradition, using our multidisciplinary perspective to share new ideas and bringing new voices to our membership.
Goal 3: Elevating standards through assessment
Elevating standards to improve patient outcomes has been at the heart of our work for more than 425 years. Today, we provide the gold-standard of assessment that matters.
Our exams are a symbol of trust and confidence, help drive high standards of patient care and safety, and open doors for healthcare professionals to progress in their careers.
We continually review our extensive range of postgraduate exams for medical, surgical and dental professionals and those working in ophthalmology, and our quality assurance ensures we uphold the highest standards of practice.
To ensure that more doctors, surgeons and dentists can access our exams, we will increase the number of exam centres we offer in the UK and internationally.
Goal 4: Global engagement and impact
The positive impact of the College community, its education and its assessment, reaches around the world, supporting healthier lives and better, more equitable access to healthcare provision.
As the UK’s only multidisciplinary Royal College, we have a distinctive position in healthcare – and an ability to bring people and organisations together from across specialties and perspectives. We understand the challenges our members are facing – including workforce gaps, wellbeing concerns and burnout – and we use our unique voice to stand up for medical professionals and influence change for our members and their patients.
Our trusted brand and reputation in the UK and internationally enable us to develop partnerships with other innovative organisations around the world. We will continue to build our relationships and support for the College and its members and influence and drive intercollegiate activity.
We are also stewards of a rich heritage, and we celebrate a remarkable history of innovation and impact. We use our past to learn for the future, supporting research into historical events, and sharing knowledge through exhibitions. By 2028, we will widen access to our collections, reaching out to our local community and underlining that our doors are open, while continuing to share our story digitally for those living further afield.
We have an international outlook and are passionate about global health. We value our deep and long-lasting relationships with other institutions in countries around the world. This includes working together to support the growth of healthcare in lower- and middle-income countries through the training and development of doctors.
Goal 5: Operational excellence
Our success over the coming years will be underpinned by a constant focus on operational excellence – and ensuring our people have the skills, systems and processes to excel.
In today’s challenging economic environment, we will keep a strong focus on our finances, recognising that financial strength is key to our future sustainability and growth. We will continue to be efficient and effective to pursue this goal, managing our investments, our physical assets and our operating costs so that we can further invest in activities to support our College membership.
We will also continue to drive excellence through our award-winning hospitality and events venue, 1599 at the Royal College.
Recognising the impact of climate change on health – and the negative impacts of healthcare delivery on the environment - we will also maintain our focus on environmental sustainability. We are committed to achieving carbon net zero status by 2045 and to target a carbon reduction of 40% by 2030.
By 2028, we will demonstrate leadership in raising awareness of, and tackling issues related to, the climate emergency and health. We will support healthcare professionals to adapt to the changing patterns of morbidity and mortality associated with the climate emergency.
We will also support work to reduce the negative environmental impact of healthcare delivery, and champion work to improve the health of patients and populations to prevent ill health and disease.
This work, led by our Sustainability Steering Group and supported through our membership of the UK Health Alliance on Climate Change, will encompass our internal operations and educational programmes, support our Fellows and Members, and provide advocacy on environmental issues in healthcare.
We will continue to invest in our people - and their wellbeing – through our People Strategy, with equality, diversity and inclusion at the fore. This will include providing learning opportunities for staff on mental health awareness, dealing with stress, diversity, and unconscious and gender bias.
As an educational organisation, we understand that people thrive when they have opportunities for development, and we will continue to support their growth. This will include investing in leadership and development training for our first-line managers to increase confidence and effectiveness.
We are also planning for future business needs, recognising the growing – and transformational – impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and big data. The College has the potential to leverage AI and advanced technologies to enhance educational delivery, improve assessment accuracy including design and implementation, and personalise learning experiences for members. AI also has the potential to transform aspects of our operations and we will actively explore the opportunities.
Strategic context
The College operates in a rapidly moving world, with political, economic, social, technological, environmental and legal changes all likely to have a significant impact on the College in the coming years.
Solutions to global challenges require great ideas from multiple perspectives. As the UK’s only multidisciplinary Royal College, we are well-positioned to use our collective strengths to play our part in finding solutions to the major challenges of our age.
Our College community has identified a number of drivers of global change that are influencing our work in the UK and internationally, and will continue to do so in the coming years. These include:
Building a sustainable society
We recognise that the climate emergency is harming health and wellbeing, with extreme temperatures, droughts, flooding, air pollution, changing distributions of infectious diseases and population displacement all threatening access to healthcare around the world.
At the same time, healthcare delivery itself contributes to the climate emergency.
Through our Climate Emergency and Sustainability Strategy, we will demonstrate leadership in raising awareness of, and tackling issues related to, the climate emergency and health. This will include examining our own operations and processes to support our commitment of achieving carbon net zero status by 2045 and target a carbon reduction of 40% by 2030.
Addressing health inequalities
Unfair and avoidable differences in health across the population – and between different groups of people – continue to negatively impact society. These differences include how long people are likely to live, the health conditions they experience and the care that is available to them.
Health inequalities are an extension of broader societal inequalities. We will play our part in building a fairer society, shining a spotlight on health inequalities and bringing healthcare professionals together to share effective interventions – and inform policy.
Advances in technology
New technologies – including the rise of AI – are expected to disrupt every area of society, from the way we communicate, to the way we assess healthcare conditions. This will have major implications not only for health, but for education and training, and College operations.
Over the period of this strategic plan, we will strengthen our capabilities and seize opportunities to enhance our learning provision, while ensuring we support our Fellows and Members with the changes ahead.