The review was written during a time of great geopolitical uncertainty, economic challenge and the continued long tail effect of COVID-19 on NHS core services. The ongoing social impacts threaten to worsen current health inequalities and access to health. This remains a key focus for us as an organisation, with the RCP continuing to use its influence to achieve our vision of ‘a world in which everyone has the best possible health and healthcare’.

We are pleased to report a stable financial position in 2022, with income rising to almost pre-pandemic levels. We have focused on harnessing the opportunities offered by The Spine (our RCP home in Liverpool), while mitigating increasing cost pressures. Both our people and our buildings continue to be recognised through national awards, with our membership magazine Commentary winning a key Memcom award, our conferences, meetings and events teams winning multiple national awards, and The Spine achieving a BREEAM Excellent rating, a measure of environmental performance.

In a year of significant change, we continued to modernise the way we deliver our strategic priorities and the governance structures that support us. We are pleased with our continued progress on becoming more inclusive, with targeted implementation of the Summerskill recommendations. Continuing pressure on healthcare delivery poses challenges that have not been seen in our lifetime. The response of our members and fellows, our physician associates and wider physician community is inspiring.

We would like to express a profound appreciation of all that our officers, councillors, volunteers, staff and membership have achieved in 2022, alongside a renewed commitment to develop and extend the RCP’s influence and impact on health and healthcare.

Our achievements

We began 2022 with the launch of our new strategy focused on the three key strategic priorities of educating, improving and influencing. We built on the RCP’s position as a thought leader, collaborator, critical friend and enabler, as we worked throughout the year to support the NHS, improve patient care, and remain relevant to our membership and the wider healthcare community. Our members and fellows continue to be at the heart of our activities and lead national conversations on vital health and care issues. This review looks at our key activities and achievements in 2022 under our strategic priorities:

• educating physicians and supporting them to fulfil their potential
• improving health and care and leading the prevention of ill health across communities
• influencing the way that healthcare is designed and delivered.

We also outline the key achievements under our enablers – five principles that underpin our priorities: close engagement with our membership, patient and carer involvement, a focus on diversity and inclusion, good governance and working in a sustainable way.

You can also download our annual report for 2022 below, which gives more detail about our work and includes our financial statements.