30 April 2020
Our incoming President, Dr Sanjeev Patel, has officially begun his term and will be appointed as a Chair of the Board of Trustees at our AGM in July. He’s been a contributing figure within BSR for many years and was most recently Chair of the Education Committee. Here we talk to him about his career, his plans for the society and how the Covid-19 pandemic has changed priorities.
Tell us about your career?
I qualified from the University of Southampton in 1984. After house jobs I spent two years in Auckland, New Zealand, where I met my wife. I then trained in general medicine in Portsmouth and Nottingham, where I also worked for my MD thesis. I first did rheumatology at St George’s and St Helier Hospitals in London. I was appointed as a consultant rheumatologist at St Helier Hospital in 1996 and was there until 2017 when I moved to King’s College Hospital. I’ve always had a wide clinical interest and until I moved to King’s I was doing acute intake medicine as well as general rheumatology and metabolic bone disease clinics. My main clinical focus now is inflammatory arthritis and complex rheumatology, particularly when I am covering rheumatology inpatient care.
I’ve served on local, regional and national committees and working groups, responsible for undergraduate education, rheumatology postgraduate training and clinical governance particularly medicines management. I’m currently Vice Chair of a NICE Health Technology Appraisal Committee.
What led you to rheumatology?
As a rheumatologist you must think about the patient as a whole and you get to use a wide mix of clinical skills. There’s also the long-term link to patients through continuous care which I enjoy; some patients I’ve been seeing for 15 years. The younger ones I’ve seen develop and get jobs and go on to start families, which is incredibly rewarding. When I started in rheumatology, methotrexate was starting to become established but was only helping a relatively small number of people. Seeing the inception of biologics, them being introduced into the NHS and now part of routine care, has been an incredible experience. As well as improving outcomes for our patients, more effective therapies have raised the profile of the speciality.
Who's influenced you the most?
There are so many people who have influenced my personal development and career. Key points were when I was in my second year of research in metabolic bone disease in Nottingham and Professor Michael Doherty and Dr Adrian Jones, who was a registrar with me at the time, were both instrumental in helping me move into rheumatology. When I moved to London, Dr Brian Bourke and Dr Oliver Duke were incredibly supportive and great colleagues to work with.
How has being a BSR member helped you in your career?
I joined BSR in 1993 and one of the key benefits for me has been a sense of belonging. Being part of a buzzing community and a society that advocates for its members to improve the care of our patients has been very important to me. BSR gives the specialty a voice in the NHS, the Royal Colleges and at government level. It’s also all about collaboration through education and training, clinical guidelines, and research. One of the unique aspects of BSR is that it stands for everyone involved with the care of patients with rheumatological diseases.
Why did you decide to run for President?
Being Chair of the Education Committee at BSR from 2013-2016 really showed me the great work going on to train and develop members. I wanted to bring my skills and experience to support BSR even further. My predecessors have left the society in an excellent position, and I feel I can contribute to that.
What are your priorities for BSR?
I had a wide variety of plans but obviously the situation with COVID-19 has changed things. For the next few months, the repercussions for rheumatology because of the pandemic will be my focus.
The immediate future will focus on helping members with the uncertainties of how the pandemic affects our clinical work as the peak and plateau of the pandemic will differ across the UK. While we are currently in the crisis management stage, we need to look at future recovery and consolidation, so we need to think about how we restart some usual working and build on some of the learning and changes that have been forced on us, such as remote consultations. How BSR shapes this will be a major focus for me.
There are three areas which I think are important for BSR:
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We need to maintain relevance to members and work on how we deliver education and personal development if we can’t meet face-to-face. So, we’ll be moving to deliver our work in an increasingly digital way, such as improving our eLearning, webinars, and online lectures.
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Under the leadership of our previous President, Elizabeth Price, and the Chair of our Clinical Affairs Committee, Lizzy MacPhie, amongst others, we’ve produced clinical guidance to members in a very short time period. We need to keep updating and producing guidance as issues arise and ensure they are relevant to all members and the devolved nations.
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Lastly, we need to continue engaging with decision-makers and funders. We need to ensure that rheumatology maintains its profile. We’ve got good relationships with NHS national bodies and the Royal Colleges, and these are going to be critical to allow us to navigate the challenges.
How is the COVID-19 pandemic affecting the rheumatology community?
The repercussions are massive and will be felt for a long time. Similar to most rheumatology departments, at King’s we’ve had to shift our focus to only having rheumatology emergency clinics and move staff and resources to COVID-19 inpatient wards.
Going forward, some of the important things for the rheumatology community are going to be around remote consultations, more collaboration with primary care to ensure that when we are able to re-start more usual outpatient activity only appropriate patients are seen, and also working differently with our patients to help them manage their disease. We also must ensure that education and training for our trainees is maintained at the same standard as before the pandemic.
You’ve taken this role at an unprecedented time – how do you feel?
It's a unique situation but I’m confident that we can all adapt to working in a different way and I’m really impressed by what I’ve seen. There’s an energy in the profession to collaborate, be flexible and get things done.
I’ve been left a good legacy by my predecessors. The senior management team within BSR are the best and I have a strong Board of Trustees, so I’m confident we can take on this challenge. I’m up for it and the rheumatology community is too. We’ve got a good structure within BSR and the right people to help take us forward.
What are your future hopes for BSR?
I think coming out of the pandemic we’ll have even more collective enthusiasm to maintain our position as a key rheumatology society, responding to the needs of our members and continuing to host an annual conference that is one of the best in the world.
In the autumn, we’ll be reaching out to members and engaging with everyone to ensure we maintain relevance. We have such a rich offering to members and my role in the next year or two, alongside other people in the society, will be to help shape that for the future.