Skip to main content

Main menu

  • Home
  • Our journals
    • Clinical Medicine
    • Future Healthcare Journal
  • Subject collections
  • About the RCP
  • Contact us

Future Healthcare Journal

  • FHJ Home
  • Content
    • Current
    • Ahead of print
    • Archive
  • Author guidance
    • Instructions for authors
    • Submit online
  • About FHJ
    • Scope
    • Editorial board
    • Policies
    • Information for reviewers
    • Advertising

User menu

  • Log in

Search

  • Advanced search
RCP Journals
Home
  • Log in
  • Home
  • Our journals
    • Clinical Medicine
    • Future Healthcare Journal
  • Subject collections
  • About the RCP
  • Contact us
Advanced

Future Healthcare Journal

futurehosp Logo
  • FHJ Home
  • Content
    • Current
    • Ahead of print
    • Archive
  • Author guidance
    • Instructions for authors
    • Submit online
  • About FHJ
    • Scope
    • Editorial board
    • Policies
    • Information for reviewers
    • Advertising

Change, change, change

Kevin Fox
Download PDF
DOI: https://doi.org/10.7861/futurehosp.6-2-85
Future Healthc J June 2019
Kevin Fox
Roles: Editor-in-chief (interim)
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • Article
  • Info & Metrics
Loading

Welcome to this edition of the Future Healthcare Journal (FHJ), my first as interim editor-in-chief. I must start by expressing my thanks and appreciation to Wing Commander Ed Nicol from whom I take the baton. Through his efforts, the journal has progressed, expanded and enhanced its content and readership. The phrase ‘a tough act to follow' was never so apt.

As I move through my career I am realising that if we are to have a health service fit for purpose, an active informed debate about the future of our healthcare services is essential. My perspective on the challenges faced has been greatly enhanced by an unusual work pattern. I divide my time between serving the rural population on Orkney as a general physician, and my role in the cardiology team at Imperial College, London. Our aim is to make the FHJ the leading journal for peer-reviewed evidence regarding health service development combined with providing a forum for authoritative, even controversial, debate regarding future healthcare.

The editorial board itself is also going through a process of renewal. I am delighted to welcome Dr Miriam Fine-Goulden, a paediatric intensivist with health service organisational experience. If we want to understand our future patient population, ask a paediatrician! Professor Rodger Charlton joins us to strengthen our links to primary care, where most healthcare is delivered, and substantial change is going to be happening in the next years. His thought provoking presentation on digital consultations and the Babylon service is well worth reading and can be found via a link from our Twitter account (@FutureHealthJ). Suzie Bailey is joining the team with extensive experience in management, organisation and leadership of the health service and now working for The King's Fund, an organisation that I've long admired for influencing thinking around healthcare and services. Neil Howie joins the board with his background as a physician associate, a healthcare professional group whose role in the workforce is surely going to expand. We also welcome Graham Foulkes and Julia Ellis who, as patient representatives, will bring valuable insights to our articles and perspective on our future strategy. Welcomes also link with farewells and I would like to thank Bob Klaber, David Morgan-Jones and Victoria Simpkin for the insights and contributions they brought to the board as they step down.

I am grateful to have the continuing support of Professor Tom Downes as deputy editor-in-chief, and to Tom and Na'eem Ahmed for being the masterminds of this edition. Tom's editorial introduces a selection of themed papers entirely in concert with our mission. In addition to the themed articles we are fortunate and delighted to have an editorial from Tony Blair through his Institute for Global Change. His article makes a powerful case for embracing technological change to advance healthcare and finishes with a call to action for governments. In other articles, Fletcher et al describe a model for tertiary neurology support to district hospitals and their designs are relevant across many disciplines.1 Carpenter et al take a look at afternoon ward rounds and doubt their efficacy.2 Many of us spend more time on ward rounds than undertaking our subspecialty work, and yet we have a dearth of evidence to guide how best to utilise this time.

Future editions will be exploring advances in education, the impact of digital technology and include regular updates from the Royal College of Physicians Quality Improvement team. We welcome your comments as letters and tweets and equally your submissions of papers across the broad range of issues impacting on our future healthcare.

We also have positive developments in publication. FHJ current and past issues are now fully visible and searchable on PubMed Central which is excellent news for authors and readers. Our forthcoming publication platform means we will be offering online publication ahead of print and ever faster review turnaround times. The philosophy of our reviews is not to criticise, but to help enhance submissions that we feel are of interest to our broad readership.

I hope you enjoy this edition of the FHJ. I hope it informs, stimulates and even provokes, as we share our passion to ensure effective healthcare for our population.

  • © Royal College of Physicians 2019. All rights reserved.

References

  1. ↵
    1. Fletcher N
    , Wilson M, Nicolson A, Riley J. The Walton Centre ­neurology network – an equitable, sustainable and deliverable model for a large scale neurology service. Future Healthcare Journal 2019;6:123–8.
    OpenUrl
  2. ↵
    1. Carpenter A
    , Vora S, Kestenbaum S, et al. Afternoon ward rounds: bad for patients, bad for doctors? Future Healthcare Journal 2019;6:118–22.
    OpenUrl
Back to top
Previous articleNext article

Article Tools

Download PDF
Article Alerts
Sign In to Email Alerts with your Email Address
Citation Tools
Change, change, change
Kevin Fox
Future Healthc J Jun 2019, 6 (2) 85; DOI: 10.7861/futurehosp.6-2-85

Citation Manager Formats

  • BibTeX
  • Bookends
  • EasyBib
  • EndNote (tagged)
  • EndNote 8 (xml)
  • Medlars
  • Mendeley
  • Papers
  • RefWorks Tagged
  • Ref Manager
  • RIS
  • Zotero
Share
Change, change, change
Kevin Fox
Future Healthc J Jun 2019, 6 (2) 85; DOI: 10.7861/futurehosp.6-2-85
del.icio.us logo Digg logo Reddit logo Twitter logo CiteULike logo Facebook logo Google logo Mendeley logo
  • Tweet Widget
  • Facebook Like
  • Google Plus One

Jump to section

  • Article
    • References
  • Info & Metrics

Related Articles

  • No related articles found.
  • PubMed
  • Google Scholar

Cited By...

  • No citing articles found.
  • Google Scholar

More in this TOC Section

  • Tackling health inequalities and promoting prevention: If not now, then when?
  • Quality and inequality
  • The digital transformation – all good?
Show more Editorial

Similar Articles

Navigate this Journal

  • Journal Home
  • Current Issue
  • Ahead of Print
  • Archive

Related Links

  • ClinMed - Home
  • FHJ - Home

Other Services

  • Advertising
futurehosp Footer Logo
  • Home
  • Journals
  • Contact us
  • Advertise
HighWire Press, Inc.

Follow Us:

  • Follow HighWire Origins on Twitter
  • Visit HighWire Origins on Facebook

Copyright © 2021 by the Royal College of Physicians