It has been a great honour to represent doctors during my time in the role.

The profession has given so much to our patients and communities during years of unprecedented and extraordinary difficulty.

It has also been a tremendous privilege to introduce the content of the The Doctor each month. It launched during my tenure as council chair and, since the very first issue, we have been at the forefront of the debate on many issues around health and care.

We have won awards for our in-depth investigative and analytical journalism and we have amplified the voices of doctors working across the country. The NHS desperately needs more doctors.

And general practice, like so many parts of the service, is under increasing strain. In this context it is remarkable that doctors desperate to work here and contribute to society are finding punitive and complicated immigration rules and bureaucracy standing in their way.

In June's issue of The Doctor magazine we speak to Adewale Saka, a GP trainee from Shropshire, who may be sent home to Nigeria with his six-month-old son if he cannot secure a Tier 2 visa.

Separately, we also hear from Muhib Shinwari, a doctor in Afghanistan, who discusses the country’s collapsing healthcare system, losing his job for speaking out against the Taliban and his desperation to leave.

We speak to doctors promoting low-waste working practices and ask how the NHS can lead by example on cutting the use of plastic. It comes after the World Health Organization recently declared COVID-related plastic waste a threat to human health.

The June issue of the magazine also includes the experiences of doctors at a hospital trust in Norfolk who reflect on service improvement and rebuilding culture in an organisation which was in special measures for years.

And we also report on the story of a whistleblower who was subjected to ‘a pattern of disgraceful behaviour’ at work but has now won an employment tribunal case with the support of the BMA.