RCPCH Podcasts

Want to know more about the RCPCH's Assessment Review particularly what, why, when and how it's going to affect you? This podcast episode aims to do just that by bringing together some of the College faculty who have been involved through the planning, development and pilot stages. Dr Cathryn Chadwick, outgoing Vice President for Training and Assessment, Dr Josh Hodgson, Chair of the RCPCH Trainee...

Representing around 30% of the medical workforce in the NHS, SAS doctors are essential to delivering high-quality care. Yet their role is still evolving in terms of recognition and development. In this episode, Dr Jonathan Darling, who has recently completed tenure as RCPCH Vice President for Education and Professional Development, speaks with Dr Kumar Swamy,  neonatology specialist and RCPCH SAS...

How can we use digital technology to address children's physical and mental health needs and shift from reactive to anticipatory, personalised care? This episode is the first of a series on  r esearch and  c hild  h ealth and  discusses the role of technology in transforming child health . Prof essor   Paul Dimitri , Director of Research and Innovation at Sheffield Children's NHS Foundation Trust...

How does the College combine paediatric and policy expertise to influence legislation? Professor Andrew Rowland, Officer for Child Protection, talks about our work with colleagues from RCPCH and NSPCC. The UK Government introduced the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill in 2024. This proposed measures to improve information sharing between services, strengthen safeguarding, reform children's soc...

How can we overcome the transition from clinical practice to managerial roles? In this episode, Dr Jonathan Darling, RCPCH Vice President for Education and Professional Development, speaks with Dr Erum Jamall, a consultant paediatrician and currently the Divisional Medical Director for  Women's , Children and Core Services at Dartford and Gravesham NHS Trust . The two discuss leadership within NHS...

How can we be firm, fair, and tenacious in standing up for our teams and those we serve? In this episode, Dr Jonathan Darling, RCPCH Vice President for Education and Professional Development, speaks with Dr Kay Tyerman, a paediatric nephrologist. Kay's approach to leadership is rooted in advocacy and collaboration, qualities that are essential in shaping effective health systems. Kay and Jonathan...

We are working in a period of sustained challenge. Many colleagues across the health system are stretched, fatigued and, in some cases, bordering on burnout. In this episode, Will Clement, a leadership consultant, executive coach and facilitator who has worked across the NHS and with RCPCH, tell us how compassionate leadership offers more than kindness; it delivers measurable improvements in wellb...

All child health professionals, no matter their role, must have knowledge and skills in safeguarding. As a designated doctor in child protection, Vicki has particular leadership experience in this area and has recently led the redevelopment of intercollegiate competencies for safeguarding and children in care. Vicki speaks with host Dr Jonathan Darling about her career, which often took an unconve...

Failure, Steve tells us, is a good teacher, and when you get involved in leadership, expect to make mistakes (and learn from them). In this episode of our monthly series of leadership conversations, Dr Jonathan Darling, RCPCH VP for Education and Professional Development, speaks with Steve about how his academic and leadership roles evolved, starting with a thin CV and stepping up as opportunities...

This month, it's our usual podcast host Jonathan in the spotlight! He's interviewed by Arnab Seal, who featured in our previous episode.  How to pinpoint the start of Jonathan's leadership journey? Perhaps when he was a senior registrar and helped set up a junior doctors' committee to come up with realistic proposals to resolve some of the things that weren't working as well as they could - like r...

Arnab's story is ambitious and inspiring: he helped establish a new hospital and introduced a pioneering approach to healthcare in India. That's not something many of us can say we've done. What dreams do we hold, and how can we create space to pursue them? In the fifth episode of 'Leading the way', our monthly series of leadership conversations, Dr Jonathan Darling, RCPCH Vice President for Educa...

What's at the heart of leadership? For Dal, it's about being authentic - to be self-aware and grounded in our values. But it's also about learning to be vulnerable - to admit when we don't have the answers and to let go of our "armour". It's not easy, but it's powerful.  In the fourth episode of 'Leading the way', our monthly series of leadership conversations, Dr Jonathan Darling, RCPCH Vice Pres...

Josh's story began with a simple but powerful moment—he took an opportunity that came his way. In the third episode of 'Leading the way', our monthly series of leadership conversations, Dr Jonathan Darling, RCPCH Vice President for Education and Training, speaks with Dr Josh Hodgson, new Chair of the Trainee Committee about his journey into leadership. They consider how leadership so often starts...

Step out of your comfort zone, encourage others, simply show up with integrity... leadership doesn't always mean taking centre stage. In this second episode of 'Leading the way', our monthly series of leadership conversations, by Dr Jonathan Darling, RCPCH Vice President for Education and Training, speaks with Dr Emma Dyer as she completes her tenure as Trainee Committee Chair. Emma used to think...

Leadership isn't about titles - it's about action, passion and impact. And it's for everyone working in child health.  From clinical academia to national leadership in education and training... Dr Simon Broughton, General Paediatrician and RCPCH Officer for Recruitment, shares how mentorship, joy in work and early succession planning have shaped his career. This is our first episode in 'Leading th...

Dr Ronny Cheung, Officer for Health Services, joins Alison Firth, Head of Health Policy, and Bruce Warwick, Public Affairs Manager, for a lively discussion on how our landmark report – a blueprint for transforming child health services in England, published last autumn - has helped secure commitments to deliver care equitably for children at a national and local level. Together, they take a close...

In this final episode of our podcast series on the changing climate, this mountainous country is seeing extreme temperature fluctuations, landslides and air pollution, endangering communities and impacting healthcare. But, there are some lessons around adaptation, as our guests who work or have volunteered in Nepal explain. Dr Bernadette O'Hare hosts a fascinating and wide-ranging conversation wit...

Floods, heatwaves and wildfires have become increasingly common across Canada. And as retired paediatrician Dr Julian Pleydell-Pearce explains in this episode of our climate change series, this makes a profound impact on the lives of children and young people - and the way health services are delivered. In episode two of this three-part series, Professor Bernadette O'Hare speaks with guest Julian,...

Less predictable weather in the past several years in this east African country have made it increasingly difficult to grow crops, leading to food shortages and skyrocketing prices. There are broader consequences for children's health, too, as Eva Odongpiny, a pharmacist in Uganda, discusses with us. These include an increased vulnerability to diseases like HIV and cholera, air pollution and water...

Health inequalities are widening in paediatrics. Those that are more disadvantaged experience more safety issues whilst in health care.  If we can make our healthcare systems more equitable for the children and young people we can for, they will be safer in our care. In episode 5 of our series on paediatric patient safety, we speak with Dr Helen Stewart, Dr Cian Wade and Dr Mimi Malhotra to explor...

It is imperative that children and young people are central to the co-design and co-production of our patient safety improvement interventions. In this episode, we speak with Dr Jane Runnacles, consultant paediatrician at St. George's Hospital, and Dr Victoria Dublon, paediatric diabetes consultant at the Royal Free Hospital. Both are champions of improvement work that puts the young person and th...

It is not enough just to collect data on harm occurring to children in healthcare settings. We need the data to be robust, comparable across the NHS and for it to be transformed into effective, meaningful changes in outcome. In episode 3 of our series on paediatric patient safety, we speak with Dr Damian Roland, a paediatric emergency medicine clinician scientist and head of service for the Childr...

Psychological safety in healthcare settings is the condition in which you feel included, safe to learn, safe to contribute and safe to challenge the status quo - without fear of being embarrassed, marginalised or punished. And it's an essential foundation in building a safety culture. Individually, feeling psychologically safe improves performance and innovation, while feeling unsafe reduces produ...

Healthcare is inherently risky and so as child health professionals we need to make patient safety a priority in all our actions. We need to think about safety all the time.  In episode 1 of our series on paediatric patient safety, we speak with Dr Peter Lachman, who develops and delivers programmes for clinical leaders in quality improvement at the Royal College of Physicians in Dublin. As Peter...

Richard Burley, Executive Director of Digital talks with Professor Shah about how digital technology can support child health, and how paediatricians can embrace it - with a dose of healthy scepticism. Professor Sam Shah is Chief Medical Strategy Officer at men's health company, Numan, and Honorary Lecturer at University College London's Global Business School for Health. He spoke at RCPCH Confere...