RESIDENTial 2026: A Recap

Another year, another residential, and somehow this year managed to be even bigger than before, with record attendance once again proving that if you offer GPs education, reflection, community and the possibility of public humiliation during sports day, people will come.

This year’s RESIDENTial 2026 (yes, the capitalisation is deliberate) brought together trainers and residents for two days of learning, laughter, reflection, movement, emotional vulnerability, mud, medals and a surprisingly large amount of discussion about stress physiology.

More importantly, it reminded us once again why these residentials matter so much. In a world of increasing pressure, fragmentation and endless Teams meetings, there remains something uniquely valuable about taking time away together as a training community.

Please enjoy this perfectly normal and technically flawless recap video from RESIDENTial 2026.

Managing Conflict (and apparently surviving plane crashes)

Day one began with Dr Lindsay Dubock from The Training Network leading sessions on managing conflict and challenging interactions. The sessions were engaging, thoughtful and highly interactive, focusing on how we respond to conflict in our personal, professional and public lives.

We explored the emotional responses that often underpin conflict and our deeply human tendency to want to be right, prove we are right and occasionally win at all costs. Instead, the sessions encouraged us to pause, ground ourselves and recognise that the person sitting opposite us is sharing their truth, even if it differs from our own interpretation of events.

There was a strong emphasis on empathy, acknowledgement and understanding how our responses can either escalate situations or help defuse them. Importantly, we reflected on how a sincere acknowledgement or apology can often achieve far more than doubling down on facts and figures.

The session concluded with a practical survival exercise in which groups had to decide which items to salvage from a hypothetical plane crash in order to survive in a remote environment. There was lively debate, excellent teamwork and a deeply concerning number of participants who felt the gun was an absolutely essential survival tool.

Debate continues regarding whether the ‘experts’ actually chose wisely.

Yoga and Windsor Great Park

After lunch came what many agreed was a somewhat ambitiously timed yoga session. The room was brimming with enthusiastic participants while others suddenly discovered urgent alternative commitments elsewhere in the grounds of Cumberland Lodge.

There were also reports of some extremely interesting noises emerging from Flitcroft Room.

Following a much-needed coffee break, Bhav led his final walk-and-talk around Windsor Great Park, taking us from Cumberland Lodge towards the Cow Pond, Savill Garden and Smith’s Lawn, home of the Guards Polo Club. Along the way, Bhav shared stories and fascinating details about the local history, including the former airfield that once occupied the grounds where immaculate lawns now sit. It felt fitting that one of Bhav’s final residential contributions involved quietly educating us while walking through one of his favourite places.

The evening itself was a celebration of Bhav’s remarkable contribution to the scheme and included, not necessarily in this order, bhangra dancing, prosecco, karaoke, tributes and more than a few emotional moments. It is fortunate for us all that Bhav’s TPD skills are significantly better than his karaoke abilities, which probably explains why he lasted so long in the role.

There genuinely was not a dry eye in the house (or maybe that was just me).

(You can read more about Bhav’s retirement celebration in our separate tribute post – here)

Art in Health (and why ballet might be medicine)

Day two began with Dr Tony Woods from King’s College London delivering a literal state-of-the-art session exploring the relationship between art and health.

The session examined the growing evidence base surrounding the positive impact of the arts on physical and mental health, including how engagement with artistic activities can help regulate stress and cortisol levels while improving wellbeing more broadly. There were fascinating examples discussed, including patients with Parkinson’s disease taking up ballet, where the benefits clearly extended far beyond the physical.

The session also prompted important conversations around prevention, community wellbeing and how healthcare systems increasingly need to think beyond reacting to disease and instead focus on helping people remain well in the first place.

What was particularly refreshing was that the session managed to balance scientific evidence with humanity, creativity and reflection — something increasingly important within modern healthcare.

The World Premiere of NADTalk

The final educational session of the residential was, of course, the keynote session. This may or may not be entirely self-declared.

The world premiere of NADTalk was met with scenes rarely witnessed in medical education circles and focused on the topic: Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers. Based partly on the work of Robert Sapolsky and his excellent book of the same name, the session explored the physiology of stress, how the animal kingdom responds to stress differently to humans and why prolonged activation of our stress response can have such profound consequences for our physical and mental wellbeing.

The session also explored how stress can gradually erode our insight, contributing to anxiety, exhaustion and burnout long before we necessarily recognise it ourselves. Importantly, the session was not simply theoretical. It reflected honestly and vulnerably on personal experiences of stress and anxiety over recent years and the ongoing process of developing insight, reflection and healthier ways of responding.

Discussion focused not only on how stress affects clinicians, but also on how we can better support patients in understanding the pathophysiology of stress and recognising stress management as a core part of healthcare rather than simply an optional “wellbeing extra”.

There was also important reflection on how discussions around resilience can sometimes oversimplify highly nuanced situations and inadvertently place blame on individuals during periods of overwhelming stress.

Following an impromptu lunch break, the session concluded by exploring practical tools to help regain control during periods of chronic stress and how we might all become slightly more like zebras. Naturally, the entire talk concluded with a photograph of a beautiful cat. A staple feature of all serious educational sessions hosted by NADTalk.

Celebrating Excellence

The educational sessions were followed by presentation of The Julian Bradley Award of Excellence, which this year was awarded to Abi Raja.

Abi somehow feels like she has been part of the scheme for the past decade (slight exaggeration), and it is genuinely difficult to imagine the programme without her presence. Feedback from trainers past and present consistently highlighted her exceptional clinical acumen, leadership qualities and ability to motivate and support teams around her.

Perhaps most importantly, repeated reflections focused on her genuine empathy and emotionally invested approach towards patient care. Sheetal, her current trainer, shared examples of how Abi consistently approaches patient care holistically and with deep compassion, embodying the very qualities this award exists to celebrate.

Outside of clinical work, Abi has also played a major role in helping newer trainees settle into the scheme through teaching sessions, games and icebreakers, helping create the supportive culture that makes West Mid what it is.

We wish Abi all the very best for her upcoming SCA exam and we have absolutely no doubt that she has an exceptionally bright future ahead of her. Another well-deserved round of applause please…

Mud, Medals and Sporting Greatness

Finally, we arrived at what many would argue was the true reason everyone attended the residential in the first place: The ST3 Sports Day.

For the second year running, Nad and Florence E were crowned champions, further cementing their sporting legacy within the scheme. This year included additional team members, although results continue to suggest that the real talent lies with the two returning champions themselves. We fully expect fierce competition for places on their team next year.

The solid gold medals were truly a thing of beauty, and rumours persist that some winners have continued wearing them ever since — including during patient consultations.

The ST3s organised a fantastic session and clearly put enormous effort into planning the activities. Impressively, neither rain nor mud managed to dampen enthusiasm, although there remains some suspicion that the organisers derived significant enjoyment from watching increasingly senior educators sliding helplessly around muddy fields during the tug-of-war.

The teamwork, organisation and spirit shown by the ST3 group throughout the session reflected exactly why they have been such a valued cohort within the scheme. They will be hugely missed. Fortunately, one of the best things about West Mid is that leaving training never really means leaving our community. We hope to continue seeing many of you long after CCT day arrives.

That said, it is not quite over yet. There are still teaching sessions to come, an ST3 social on the horizon and undoubtedly several more opportunities for organised chaos before the year concludes.

Until Next Time…

As always, thank you to all of the residents, trainers, speakers and organisers who made this year’s RESIDENTial such a success. These events only work because people arrive willing to engage fully, support one another and contribute to the atmosphere that makes the West Mid training community so special. Across the two days there was laughter, reflection, honesty, vulnerability, encouragement, mud, dancing and more than a little chaos — but underneath it all was a very real sense of community and belonging.

At a time when general practice and the wider NHS can often feel pressured and fragmented, spaces like this matter more than ever. They remind us that training is not simply about passing exams or completing portfolios, but about learning together, supporting one another and building relationships that often last far beyond CCT.

This year’s residential asked us to reflect on conflict, stress, empathy, creativity, teamwork and wellbeing. Perhaps most importantly, it reminded us that while stress may always be part of modern life and medicine, we do not have to face it alone.

So as we return to clinics, tutorials, home visits, ePortfolio entries and the inevitable mountain of admin, perhaps we can all take something away from these two days: to be a little kinder to ourselves and each other, to tame the lions where we can, and, whenever possible, to be a little more like the zebras.

Until next time.