Future healthcare must benefit all

I am delighted to be taking over as editor-in-chief from Kevin Fox and joining a dynamic editorial team on the FHJ. Thank you, Kevin, for all your work for the journal, particularly for steering the ship through the turbulent waters of the pandemic and for helping me so skilfully with the editorial transition. I hope that I can continue the good work of the team and grow the journal's relevance and reputation.

I feel that there are very few more pressing contemporary issues than our future health and the healthcare system that delivers it. I also believe that solutions lie in listening to what patients and carers need and then designing multidisciplinary approaches to meet them. Then follows the challenge of ensuring that best practice can be applied successfully across the whole of the healthcare system so all can benefit from innovation.

The FHJ is well placed to be the hub of research and discussion in this area and I hope that you will continue to support us by contributing submissions, engaging with us on social media, reading and downloading papers, and especially by broadcasting the message to your colleagues and friends of our relevance to improving individual health and systemic healthcare.

I want to thank a number of people who have brought this current special edition to life. Kevin, together with Linda Milnes from our editorial board, has co-edited the issue in collaboration with Professor Liz Sampson from the Royal College of Psychiatrists, and we are also indebted to Professor Khalida Ismail, also of the RCPsych, for her help shaping the issue. Our sincere thanks to you all for your hard work and vision. Linda completes her term on the editorial board with this issue and we are very grateful to her for her wisdom and support over the years, as we are to Louella Vaughan, who steps down after 6 years of hugely valued input, not least as a guest editor of two special issues on rural health and on values.

I was struck how well the issue highlights the universality of mental health problems, from the least to the most affluent and from youth to old age. The article on how these challenges affect homeless people shines such an important spotlight on this group, so often neglected by healthcare systems.¹ Do also take a look also at the articles on mental health problems in the elderly² and in those with cancer, facing physical and existential problems.³

Elsewhere in the issue, we have our usual mix of original research, case studies, review and opinion pieces to enjoy. Complementing our main theme, a group of medical students share their new approach to supporting mental health among their peers,⁴ while a research article highlights some lessons to be learned from the setting up of the London Nightingale hospital during the pandemic.⁵

Our next issue in November will be focused on integrated care. We are delighted that Professor Kamila Hawthorne MBE, chair of Council at the Royal College of General Practitioners, is joining forces with Dr Imran Rafi from our editorial board to put together an issue looking at the current challenges in primary care and innovative solutions of relevance to all working across primary and secondary care. To complement their commissioned content, we are keen to publish original research in the area, along with case studies that showcase innovative practice. If you have work underway in the area, please consider submitting your article to us for fast-track review.

Look out for new regular content sections featuring horizon scanning of future practice in individual specialties and a debate section addressing a controversial topic within the issue theme. We welcome your feedback on any aspect of the journal; do get in touch via FHJ{at}rcp.ac.uk.

Enjoy reading.