President - Professor Dinesh Bhugra

President's update: March 2010

The College is currently involved in a major piece of work on ‘Service Redesign’. This is a joint venture between the College, the NHS Confederation and the London School of Economics, with input therefore from economists and employers. This project aims to make recommendations about the most suitable models of service delivery in mental health care, particularly in view of the economic downturn.

In early March, we organised a two-day seminar at the College, chaired by John Bowis OBE, Member of the European Parliament and a College Honorary Fellow. More than 16 psychiatrists, medical directors, service users and representatives from the voluntary sector, academia, primary care were invited to give written and oral evidence. This was followed by one-day seminar which looked at ‘Service Redesign: Options for Community Mental Health Services’.  A report, with recommendations on redesigning current models of community and in-patient mental health care across the UK, with a specific focus on improving quality, safety and cost-effectiveness will be launched at the International Congress in Edinburgh in June 2010.

College Officers and the Chief Executive were invited in March by the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS) in Bangalore to a two-day conference. As a prelude to International Women’s Day, I gave an illustrated talk on ‘The Mind of a Woman: Portrayal in Bollywood’ and was able to stress the importance of mental illness being portrayed accurately and responsibly in film.

The Chief Examiner, Professor Anthony Bateman accompanied us to Bangalore to explore the feasibility of running the MRCPsych examination in India. Professor Bateman and Dr Amit Malik amongst others talked about the postgraduate training changes being brought about in the UK, such as workplace-based assessments.  This meeting was also an excellent opportunity for the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the College and Dr S K Shankar, Vice-Chancellor of NIMHANS. This MOU sets out a general framework agreement on collaboration and exchange of research, experience and the organisation of joint activities.

Under the aegis of the European Psychiatric Association, I have been invited to chair the European Council for Psychiatric Associations. We are convening its first meeting at the College this April in order to share information on policy, training and good practice.

Earlier in the year, the College was invited to give written and oral evidence to the Medical Education England’s (MEE) review on the European Working Time Directive and its impact on the quality of training.  The MEE has been asked to undertake a formal evaluation of the Foundation Programme, chaired by Professor John Collins. I am on the Panel representing the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges. The College will be submitting written evidence to the review and I will be giving oral evidence as well on your behalf. The purpose of this work is to evaluate the Foundation Programme in order to form recommendations to the Secretary of State and the Department of Health on the future of the Foundation Programme. The Panel hopes to report back later this spring.

We are delighted that this year’s RCPsych Awards process has once again attracted many excellent entries for all nine prizes.  We are looking forward to celebrating psychiatry’s achievements this November at the Awards Ceremony.

The College is now preparing for the general election and a four-step manifesto has been sent out to all parliamentary candidates and members. The manifesto calls for a stop to harmful cuts to mental health services, the need to treble mental health research funding, more investment in early intervention, and to put mental health at the heart of public health. We hope that this will be a first step towards a good dialogue with a new government and will have some impact on their first 100 days in power – whoever gets in.

Finally, I very much hope that you will be attending this year’s International Congress in Edinburgh, 21 – 24 June, with its diverse and creative programme, and the first major College conference post-general election – this will make for interesting and possibly challenging times.