Description
This volume of the journal contains some splendid articles, which I hope you will find as useful to your CME needs as I have to mine. Mitchells article on the use of smartphones and the web has helped broaden my use of gadgetry. I asked an FY1 friend of mine why it was that I rarely see my trainees using such media? Her answer was interesting infection control! Unless trainees carry some form of bag, they simply do not have enough pockets to carry everything with them that might be useful and so their phones get sacrificed. She also ref lected that the only people she saw using phones and apps were the consultants (she did not state whether these were young turks or old farts) which is an interesting ref lection on how the policies of bare below the elbows and no white coats can inadvertently inf luence the application of technology to medical practice and CME!
So, whilst Im on the subject of government policy, this years initiative for geriatricians, in England, must be to see how they can work with GP consortia to influence the commissioning of older peoples services and help these consortia to appreciate the importance of older people as consumers of secondary care. The Department of Health is developing a commissioning pack for dementia services which will be launched later this year watch out for this and make sure you use it alongside other components of the National Dementia Strategy to ensure your hospitals, outpatient and intermediate care services are dementia friendly.
Finally, do share your expertise with your BGS colleagues by writing for the CME Journal. As always, I welcome feed-back from you as to whether the journal is helping you to fulfil your CME needs and with any suggestions for improvements.
Duncan R Forsyth

