A College of Paediatrics and Child Health.

A College of Paediatrics and Child Health 'With your letter of 16th June 1994, you submitted a Petition for the grant of a Royal Charter incorporating a College of Paediatrics and Child Health. I am now writing to say that the Privy Council having considered the Petition are minded, without prejudice, to recommend to Her Majesty that a Charter be granted'. (Extract from a letter from NH Nicholls, Clerk of the Privy Council, to the British Paediatric Association (BPA), 4 January 1996.) The January letter from the Government Office of the Privy Council in London brought to an end a 50 year long debate about the future of the BPA. It will not only be paediatricians in other countries, but also many younger British paediatricians, who wonder about the substance of the debate, and who are unclear about the implications of the BPA transforming into a College of Paediatrics and Child Health. Medical royal colleges have a unique position in the British Isles, and the older ones have a most proud history. The Royal Colleges of Physicians of London and of Edin-burgh were founded in the 16th century and provided training for physicians. Even in the days when surgery at last became respectable and the Royal College of Surgeons of England was founded (in the last century), the colleges still had a key role in the provision and approval of medical training. In this century their role in the provision of medical training has diminished, partly linked to the decision, after the second world war, for all medical schools to be attached to universities. However the colleges continue to have an important role in the development of their specialties , and in the approval of training programmes. Their tasks include maintaining professional and ethical standards and in defining the entry and exit criteria for training in their specialty. They participate in research, and publish reports and recommendations on scientific health matters pertaining to their specialty. Although they represent their UK specialty on European and international committees, they are independent of the state, and they are not part of the NHS. However, both the state and the NHS rely upon the continued activities of the medical royal colleges. Traditionally the colleges have not been involved with 'trades union' activities on behalf of doctors. The terms and conditions of service of all doctors, whether they be general practitioners or hospital specialists, have …