Dr Mark Vignesha Roberts
Thank you for taking the time to read my manifesto for the BGS President-Elect elections for 2022.
I’ve been a Consultant Physician for over 10 years, working initially in England and then Northern Ireland, and have been a Trustee on the BGS Board since 2017 whilst serving as the Chair of the Northern Ireland council.
During that time I’ve worked in both the acute sector in urban teaching hospitals as well as more recently leading a pre-hospital network in a rural setting that aims to address the subacute needs of an increasingly frail, multimorbid cohort of older people living in the community. This includes alternative models for delivering timely investigations and treatment, polypharmacy improvements and anticipatory care planning.
In my career so far I have also held leadership positions including in Clinical Informatics, Quality Improvement (I was NI’s Clinical Director for this between 2017-2021), Training Programme Director for our Deanery (2014-2017) and more recently as a Senior Medical Officer in our Department of Health. These leadership roles, coupled with my varied clinical career, have given me a broad knowledge and experience base, and a good understanding of the many components and approaches that contribute to safe and effective, respectful care.
Like you, I know the challenges facing our multidisciplinary specialty, and in essence, I think of the BGS both as a membership organisation – bringing value to you, and by extension your patients - as well as a vital advocate for improvements in the care of older people at a systems and national level.
Our most urgent challenges are of course anchored by the ageing and increasingly complex older cohort of society. This in turn has turbo-charged a proliferation of clinical services needing our input such as acute hospital care, rehabilitation, virtual wards, hospital at home services, specialist clinics, stroke care, dementia care and perioperative medicine to name a few. At times the design and implementation of these has not taken into account the very real challenges in training, recruitment and retention of our multidisciplinary workforce, many of whom are BGS members.
As a result I think there can be no shying away from the fact that it is going to be a challenging 2020s for our members, and healthcare for older people in general, for a whole host of reasons. Which is why as a membership organisation we must keep improving on the offer to you – clinical decision support, opportunities to network and influence, staying abreast with up-to-date scientific knowledge, being able to call on effective policy influencing for your region, as well as practical tools and insights on how to strengthen your patient voice in a changing and expanding landscape, even if it’s a whisper.
If elected President, a significant focus for me would be a greater focus on building and developing effective teams. How do we operate as good leaders and followers for changing contexts and challenges? How do we best influence others caring for older people to focus on, and demonstrate evidence of, the best possible care despite a working environment with all sorts of constraints? How do we more effectively campaign for the multidisciplinary team model to be expanded, at pace? How do we grow and sustain proud and productive teams that also know how to have fun? As I say in my accompanying video, healthcare is a serious business, but that doesn’t mean we have to be serious all the time.
Our BGS is blessed with width and depth, not just from having a diverse multidisciplinary membership, but because of the perspectives and expertise you all bring. I believe I have the communication, leadership and influencing skills necessary for the BGS President role to serve you in the best possible way.
I hope you will vote for me, and I would like to thank you for taking the time to read this message.