Welcome to Young Civitas For Medics

 
"Clinical leadership is fundamental to continuously improving the quality of NHS care and the state of population health more broadly. To engage with this task, doctors need to understand the organisational, social and historical context in which they work. I am delighted to see enterprising medical students recognise the value of such understanding themselves, and set up this society to further it."
Professor Sir Liam Donaldson, former Chief Medical Officer

As medical students we are unaware of what our futures will be like. We have very little understanding about how we will work, what we will be doing, what our working lives will involve.

In particular, all of us will be working for the NHS and yet we have little knowledge about how the health system works. We have an idea, but is that enough to enable us to deliver the highest quality health care to our patients?

  • Want to know how the NHS has evolved?
  • Want to understand how it works and the powers behind the policy?
  • Want to learn how we can improve the way we practice medicine?

We do. A group of medical students have formed Young Civitas for Medics, an independent society supported by the social policy think tank, Civitas, which aims to engage medical students in debates about the future of health care, develop critical thinking skills and better prepare you for a lifetime in medicine. Nikki Chow, one of the student members of our steering group, explains.

Join us (it's FREE!) to come along to discussions led by high-profile figures in health care; to debate our future and have a say.

On the top menu you can find more information about us and about the NHS; along with details of how to join and attend our forthcoming events.

News

Doing More for Less: Lessons for the NHS from Industry

Ivan Bradbury and Prof. Martin Elliot recently spoke at the Royal College of Physicians to YCFM members. Audio recording of the event is now available by clicking on the link above.

Sharing Ideas on Risk, Human Factors, Teamwork and Leadership

Risky-Buisiness is a website that may be of interest to members existing to share ideas relating to patient safety between healthcare and other high risk industries. It is a joint-venture between Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Trust,Children's Hospital of Boston, Cincinnati Children's Medical Center, National Patient Safety Agency (United Kingdom), The Clinical Human Factors Group, The NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement and The British Medical Journal. Ideas to improve teamwork and leadership are shared between leaders in many aspects of life including sport, business, politics, the arts, exploration, space and medicine.

The venture began when a cardiac surgical and intensive care team looked at Formula 1 to improve their processes and successfully improve patient safety. Prof. Martin Elliot from GOSH spoke at the recent YCFM meeting "Doing More for Less: Lessons for the NHS from Industry". His talk can be listened to by visiting the event's page here.