Estimated read time: 3 mins
Welcome to this latest edition of Casebook.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is rightly being seen as one of the fastest evolving areas within medicine. New examples are emerging all the time of how it might transform the way doctors deliver patient care and how research into treatments will change. Such is the pace of change, it might be a fool’s errand to try and predict its impact on medicine over the next ten years. But there are significant questions we could and should be asking now – including the medicolegal risks we could face as clinicians in cases where we disagree with the outputs of AI. I am glad we can provide a preview into some research the MPS Foundation has funded into this area.
Another area of change for doctors in the UK comes in the form of the updated version of the GMC’s core guidance, Good Medical Practice. The document aims to reflect what society can expect of a good doctor, and one of the lesser talked about changes is the new professional requirement that each of us now have to consider the environmental impacts and sustainability in the decisions we make as doctors. On face value, this could be seen as a potentially positive way to drive change. But any requirement introduced by the GMC brings risks, and my colleague Dr Sarah Townley explores these for you in this edition.
A longer-term and slowly evolving change comes with the extent to which the medical profession – and society as a whole – is prepared to have an open discussion about mental wellbeing. Given the strong connection between mental wellbeing and risk, Medical Protection aims to be a firm advocate for enabling members to look after themselves and to protect you from the challenges that can make this difficult. In this edition, we provide an update on some of the campaigning we have been doing in this area, as well as some research we are funding to help identify and manage work-related risks to mental health and wellbeing specifically for clinicians working in private practice.
I am also pleased to see a range of organisations now giving welcome attention to the important role of SAS doctors. I have personally been spending a lot of time seeking to understand the challenges SAS doctors might face and also how we as a defence organisation can make improvements to how we support these members. My colleague, Dr Karen Ellison, provides her own perspective in his edition of working as a SAS doctor.
Finally, I am very pleased to be able to introduce you to the new Chair of Medical Protection Society, Dr Graham Stokes. We have a clinician-led Council than governs the organisation and Graham is the first ever dentist to act as Chair. He brings many qualities to the role and in this edition he sets out some of his thoughts on taking up the position.
Click here to find out who's been involved in creating this issue
© 2024 The Medical Protection Society Limited. The Medical Protection Society Limited (MPS) is a company limited by guarantee registered in England with company number 00036142 at Level 19, The Shard, 32 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9SG. MPS is not an insurance company. All the benefits of membership of MPS are discretionary as set out in the Memorandum and Articles of Association. MPS® and Medical Protection® are registered trademarks.