Roles within the College
The Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) is a network
of doctors working in general practice who have the common aim of
promoting excellence in family medicine. It is also the only
academic organisation in the UK for GPs. Since its birth in 1952
the College has worked vigorously to establish general practice as
a discipline in its own right and promote the importance of family
medicine.
"To encourage, foster and maintain the highest possible
standards in general medical practice"
College Officers work towards the above aim, representing the
views of general practitioners on key Government and Department of
Health committees and working groups, and commenting on proposals
issued by other bodies and organisations as they affect general
practice amongst other tasks.
Dr Graham Archard is Vice-Chair of Council &
Chair of Clinical Network
How long have you been in General
Practice?
20 years
What made you decide to become a
GP?
I was keen to be a member of a community and to
make a contribution to that community. I think I am a good listener
and thus able to work with people in need. I never considered
myself an academic and so thought that general practice might be a
less academic option. What a mistake that was! An orthopod only
needs to know about one or two joints in their specialty – I need
to know an awful lot more!
Were you trained in any other
specialties? Please give details.
I reached
registrar level in Ophthalmology.
What are your current roles? Please
list.
- Half time GP
- Vice Chair RCGP
- I do a lot of work for prosecuting council
for the GMC
- I am on numerous NICE committees
- I am a local medical politician on the LMC,
advising government organisations
- I do a lot of media work – mostly papers and
national radio – but have done some TV as well
- I have been a PCT chair and clinical
governance lead to name but a few.
That is the thing about GP – there is so much
you can do and so many directions you can follow.
How many hours would you say are in
your average working week?
A lot – because of the
numerous jobs I do. My full time partners probably do about 40-44
hours a week – I do considerably more – probably 70 hours a week or
so - but probably out of choice. We have seven week’s holiday a
year.
How do you spend those
hours?
|
Activity
|
Time expressed in hours
|
|
Seeing patients in surgery
|
25
|
|
Seeing patient in home visits
|
5
|
|
Team meetings
|
2
|
|
Doing paperwork
|
7
|
|
Teaching / Training
|
5
|
|
Continuing Professional Development
|
7
|
|
RCGP Activities (please specify)
|
25
|
|
Medico-Journalism
|
5
|
|
Writing for publications
|
2
|
|
Public Speaking
|
3
|
|
Telephone consultation
|
4
|
|
Other 2 Politics
|
10
|
What is your involvement with the
College (if any)?
- Vice Chair
- Chair of Clinical Networks
- Member of Awards and Fellowship
committees
- Member of Finance committee
- Numerous working parties and general
representation of the College in many areas – e.g. GPwSI,
clinical and so on.
- Also active locally in faculty (Was hon
secretary for 6 years).
What has been your career high point
so far? / What do you enjoy most about general
practice?
Being Vice Chair of Council, getting my FBA
and working with such outstanding people.
What do you enjoy
least?
When things go wrong or patients do not
appreciate what you are trying to do.
What three words would you use to
describe General Practice?
Exciting, challenging,
rewarding
What do you know about general
practice now that you wish you had known when you
started?
The breadth of what you can do – and start what you want to do
early. I wish I had done what I am doing now earlier – I could have
done so much more!
If you were making your career choice
now, what would you choose?
I really do not know –
but I have a sneaky suspicion I would end up a GP!
Prison doctor | Police Surgeon | Football stadium
doctor | GP
trainer | Media doctor | GP with a special
interest | Armed Forces GP