Last week, alongside the RCP president and chief executive, I released a joint statement addressing Black Lives Matter, racism and, health - and why we must do more.

Since then, I have been contacted by many of you sharing a wide range of experiences and ideas, that has opened the doors for further conversations. For this, I thank you. It's important that we hear and learn from people from all across our membership.

A few days after the statement, I was fortunate to meet (virtually of course) with a small group of people to talk about their experiences, from the national examinations and student placements to social media and wider FPA work as a whole.

From this conversation, it is clear there is a lot more we need to do. There are some actions we can do in the short term, including providing more transparency on our website regarding our FPA board and our internal processes. These will be going up shortly. 

I want to broaden the conversation out further so we can listen to you, our members, and to make it easier to approach us with your concerns and feel included. I want it to be clear that I am always here to listen. We are now in the planning stages of organising a wider virtual forum, so that more voices can be heard, and so that we can start to tackle some of the very important issues that have been raised in the past few weeks. We will keep you posted, and let you know when the final details are ready to be shared.

Social media has helped to ignite discussion, spark change, and get people motivated and involved. While these platforms have their well known pitfalls, my commitment to you is to be kind, to listen and to be open to the views and experiences of others. As a profession, we are a team, and we need to come together to make things better for everyone.

I'm sure it will be another busy week for all of you, so until next time, stay safe.

Kind regards,

Kate Straughton
FPA President