The Key Note Lecture for the 2023 International Congress of the Royal College of Psychiatrists is to be given by Sir Robin Murray. The Congress programme gives this outline of the lecture:
The following session, chaired by Professor Gemma Lewis, is also part of the educational congress:
The choice of language used to introduce both these educational sessions is noted. I am with those who argue that military metaphors have no place in healthcare. Institutional defensiveness is understandable, but as Baroness Cumberlege established, can result in significant harm. It is disappointing to find that this forthcoming International Congress has found no room to consider the Cumberlege recommendations [indeed, as far as I am aware, the Royal College of Psychiatrists has given no public response to any of the Cumberlege patient safety recommendations].
I have much admiration for Sir Robin Murray [as a trainee psychiatrist I attended a number of lectures by him]. I am now fully retired from medicine, so my perspective is becoming more distant. Perhaps Sir Robin Murray may explore the following view in his keynote address:
