Since our last edition of Commentary, the RCP has been working to represent our members and support the work of physicians. Learn more about what we’ve been up to and how you can get involved.
RCP governance matters
Read the latest updates on RCP governance matters and find your opportunities to get involved.
The RCP Council met in open session in July.
You can read a full summary of the open section of the meeting on the RCP news page.
As part of the RCP’s commitment to transparency, summaries of all open session Council discussions are published online following each meeting.
- RCP publishes summary of May 2026 Council meeting.
- RCP publishes summary of March 2026 Council meeting
- RCP publishes summary of January 2026 Council meeting.
- RCP publishes summary of November 2025 Council meeting.
- RCP publishes summary of September 2025 Council meeting.
About RCP Council
RCP Council meets six times a year to debate, develop and approve policy on professional and clinical matters.
- Learn more about the governance of the RCP.
- Read about the role and responsibilities of Council.
- Read about our impact in the media.
- Read our recent news stories and blogs.
Council meeting minutes (open section) are published in the member-only section of the RCP website once they are approved at the following meeting. The closed section of the meeting is reserved for fellowship and business-sensitive information.
For more information, please contact Council@rcp.ac.uk.
The 2026 AGM will take place at 5–7pm on Tuesday 22 September 2026 (at RCP Regent’s Park and online).
- Subscribing fellows are invited to join us in person for the 2026 (AGM. The AGM will be preceded by the Linacre lecture and followed by a dinner.
- Advanced registration is required for fellows wishing to attend in person, and fellows also have the option to book for dinner. All bookings must be completed by Sunday 13 September 2026.
- All subscribing fellows are automatically registered for online attendance at the AGM.
- The Linacre lecture is free, and online access is open to all. If you have colleagues, family or friends interested in attending, please direct them here to book their place.
- The Good Governance Institute (GGi) governance review, alongside an update on the progress already made and the next steps in delivering its recommendations, is available to members and fellows on the website. The review was received in December 2025 and has since been considered in detail by both the Board of Trustees and Council. View the full report behind the login.
- A key outcome of that work is the decision to establish a new Governance Renewal Group to maintain momentum behind the college’s wider programme of governance and organisational renewal.
Read more on the RCP news page.
Our officer, committee and other clinical volunteer roles are an ideal opportunity to support the RCP, guide our decision-making and ensure the voice of the membership is included across all activity.
Read about the latest opportunities.
Recent RCP work
Read more about our work, from publications, award winners and responses to healthcare reports, on our News and opinion page – and see some of the recent highlights below.
The RCP has announced that membership will be free for foundation doctors, removing fees for doctors at the earliest stage of their physician careers.
The move reinforces the RCP's commitment to supporting doctors from the start of their professional journey and ensuring that financial barriers do not limit access to the benefits, opportunities and support that membership provides.
Foundation doctors who join the RCP will be able to access a wide range of resources, including educational content, career development opportunities, events, networking and engagement with the college's work to improve patient care and physician wellbeing. The change also means that existing foundation doctor members will no longer be charged membership fees.
The RCP has been shortlisted for a 2026 Memcom Excellence Award in the Best Lobbying Campaign category for its next generation campaign, recognising the college’s work to amplify the voices of resident doctors and secure action on the future of UK medical training.
Launched in October 2024, the next generation campaign was developed in response to concerns raised by RCP members about the state of medical training, including rising competition ratios for specialty training posts and growing challenges faced by resident doctors.
Through a coordinated programme of member engagement, policy development, communications and influencing activity, the campaign called for a national review of medical training and action to address workforce pressures.
Read more about the award and the campaign.
The RCP has appointed two new censors, Dr Catherine Bryant and Dr Aruna Maharaj, and welcomed Dr Dan Furmedge as senior censor and vice president for education and training (VPET).
Honorary consultant in geriatric and general medicine Dr Catherine Bryant and consultant in acute internal medicine Dr Aruna Maharaj have been appointed as new RCP censors. They took up the posts on 1 August 2026 and will serve for 3 years.
Read more about our new censors and the Commentary interview with Dan.
Over the past 2 months, the RCP has published multiple responses to bills and consultations. The RCP news pages contain full details of the following stories:
- RCP urges new prime minister and secretary of state for health and social care to tackle health inequalities and invest in the NHS workforce and welcomes UK government’s commitment to social care reform.
- RCP welcomes new training posts and rotational pilots but says medical training reform must go further.
- Ending overseas doctor placements would be a loss for global health, says RCP.
- RCP responds to GMC national training survey and to fitness to practise data annual report.
- RCP expresses concern over MHRA decision not to regulate all automated voice technologies as medical devices.
- RCP warns NHS must prepare for hotter summers as new data reveals scale of corridor care.
- RCP Cymru Wales warns NHS must prepare for climate change impacts.
New data from the RCP reveals a widening gap between the amount of NHS Advice and Guidance work that physicians are being asked to deliver and the time allocated for it in their job plans, with many reporting that they complete this work in the evenings and on weekends.
With patients living longer and increasingly surviving cardiovascular events, the prevalence of cardiovascular disease continues to rise. The latest issue of the RCP's journal ClinMed features a CME section on cardiology, edited by Dr Tevfik Ismail.
Doctors from across the RCP came together on 10 July for Committees Day – a day dedicated to collaboration, leadership development and ensuring that member voices continue to shape the college’s future.
Bringing together representatives from the Resident Doctor Committee (RDC), Student and Foundation Doctor Network (SFDN), New Consultants Committee and Specialist, Associate Specialist and Specialty (SAS) Doctor Network, the all-day event reflected the RCP’s commitment to listening to members and turning their insights into meaningful action.
Award winners
Did you know we distribute around £350,000 in RCP funding and awards to our members and fellows every year?
Thanks to historic donations, we are able to recognise and invest in the expertise, innovation and leadership of our members, celebrate their impact and achievements, and support our global community to make real change and shape the future of medicine.
Our latest award winners are Dr Sacha Moore (Lewis Thomas Gibbon Jenkins of Briton Ferry fellowship) and Dr Lennard Lee (Graham Bull prize in clinical science and Goulstonian lectureship and the Dwyer-Hart RCP medical research grant).
Dr David Lindsay, 2025 Linacre lecture winner, will deliver his lecture Schrödinger’s CAT Remembered at the 2026 Annual General Meeting on 22 September.
Find out more about RCP funding and awards.
Image (left to right): Dr Sacha Moore, Dr Lennard Lee and Dr David Lindsay
Coming up
There is plenty more to look forward to during the rest of 2026, including a variety of events for resident doctors and new consultants. Read on to find out more.
RCP events and upcoming opportunities
Be part of the RCP's largest specialty conference on Monday 23 – Tuesday 24 November.
Join us in London or online for 2 inspiring days of expert insight, cutting-edge research and the latest clinical updates across 15+ specialties.
Discover expert-led sessions, interactive workshops and valuable networking opportunities designed to support your professional development. Plus, every ticket includes on-demand access, so you can catch up on sessions whenever it suits you.
Submit research in clinical practice, education, quality improvement, sustainability and more for the chance to win up to £500, Medicine 2027 tickets and a certificate.
Book your place today and submit your abstract by 30 August 2026.
Read more about the competition in the previous edition of Commentary.
Receive up to £10,000 to support a 12-month medical or health services research project and take the next step towards a career in clinical academia.
The scholarship aims to:
- support resident doctors to undertake meaningful, mentored research
- encourage future clinical academics
- promote diversity and accessibility in academic medicine
- help to deliver tangible research outcomes.
Who can apply?
- UK resident doctors in foundation training, integrated medical training or specialty training.
- Applicants without a PhD.
- Those with a host institution and RCP membership.
The award includes:
- up to £10,000 for your research project
- up to £1,000 for conference travel and accommodation
- recognition across RCP channels.
Find out more and apply before 16 October 2026.
Clinical Medicine is among the top 15% of general medical publications worldwide. By publishing open access with Clinical Medicine, you can:
- expand your reach
- amplify your visibility
- connect with collaborators across the globe
- contribute to high-quality educational resources supporting clinical practice.
As an RCP member you can publish in the journal for free. That’s a saving of up to £1,850 per article (depending on exchange rate).
Join our many members who have published original research for free, including RCP fellow Professor Trisha Greenhalgh, who told us how the fee waiver has benefited her:
‘Clinical Medicine processed our paper promptly and we were delighted to discover that we were exempt from the publication fee because we were members and fellows of the RCP. This was a significant benefit at a time when our grant had run dry. The paper has been highly accessed and widely cited.’
Deceased fellows
Munk’s Roll is the RCP’s collection of biographies of deceased fellows, published online as Inspiring Physicians. To write an obituary or notify the RCP of the death of a fellow, email munksroll@rcp.ac.uk.
Over the period of 18 June 2026 – 18 August 2026, the RCP was informed of the deaths of the following fellows:
- Ann Barrett
- Tom Vyner
- Nicholas John White
- Thomas Leslie Dunn
- Michael Simpson Dunnill
