To contact the RCPsych e-newsletter editor, Dr Ros Ramsay,
contact me via email: dhart@rcpsych.ac.uk
1. Letter from
the President
July and August have been busier than usual
because of the major upheavals connected with training. I hope most
of you will have had some respite in the midst of all the changes.
On 21st July I gave evidence to the Tooke Inquiry into
Modernising Medical Careers (MMC) with Dr Nick Brown’s help and our
written submissions are on the website.
Do read them and as always constructive comments are welcome. Sir
John Tooke will be publishing his interim report in September and
there will then be a period of consultation. We have also been
asked to share our evidence with the new MMC Programme Board,
chaired by Professor Martin Marshall, and to submit evidence to the
Health Select Committee which is also holding an Inquiry into
MMC.
Meanwhile the Dean has set up a small working
group to decide on and advise on the best selection process for
specialty training for 2008. The Academy are leaning heavily
towards a generic entrance examination from next year but the
College is determined to have full pilot work done before
proceeding in that direction.
Finally feedback on how the trainees are
faring is needed. Please send any comments to khillman@rcpsych.ac.uk .
Best wishes,
Professor Sheila Hollins
President
2. NICE:
Judicial Review on Alzheimer’s drugs
Judicial Review of the decision to deny access to
Alzheimer’s drugs on the NHS
Comment from the Alzheimer’s Society in response to the
findings by Justice Linda Dobbs.
10 August 2007
“Today we have won the very important point
that NICE guidance is unlawful because it discriminated against
significant groups of people.
However, the result is deeply disappointing
for everyone in the early stages of Alzheimer’s and their carers.
Without further change to the guidance, people in the early stages
of the disease will still be refused drugs because NICE considers
that these people are not worth £2.50 a day. This is insulting and
devastating news. People will be forced to deteriorate before they
get the treatment they need. Is this the sort of society we want to
live in?
NICE failed to listen to the views of
thousands of carers who told them drug treatments make a huge
difference to their lives. It is deeply disturbing that a public
body, required to use rigorous standards of evidence based decision
making, can simply guess at vital data. This is simply
unacceptable.
When NICE speaks it has huge implications for
people's lives. Its decision on Alzheimer's affects hundreds of
thousands of people. NICE must get it right. To retain its
authority as a public body it must command the confidence of the
public. The result of this case must call into question whether
NICE has lost that confidence. It is up to Government to consider
the changes needed to stop this from happening again. We hope the
health select committee inquiry will address the gaping holes in
the NICE process.
Alzheimer's is a cruel disease. It gradually
robs people of their lives. The Alzheimer's Society is proud to
have championed the rights of people living with dementia and of
our role in the significant changes made today. The campaign goes
on.”
Statement from Dr David Anderson, Chair, Faculty of Old
Age Psychiatry
“The decision by the High Court is bitterly disappointing. I am
astonished that the NICE process has been found to be rational and
without perversity in this case. I am pleased that the Court
recognised that tests used to assess Alzheimer’s disease under the
Guidance are inaccurate.
The NICE recommendation to deny people with early disease access
to effective treatment flies in the face of the report from the
National Audit Office last month. A report which so clearly
emphasises the importance of early diagnosis and treatment yet
shows that the UK performance is pitiful compared to most of
Europe.
It seems we will blindly continue to lag behind every country in
North Western Europe in making these treatments available to
patients. I really fear the government will live to regret this
decision.
3. RCPsych Survey Alert: Commercial sponsorship and
psychiatry: October 2007 Launch Date
The issue of commercial sponsorship will be
the focus of the next College online survey. Launching in October,
the survey will invite College members to share their views on
commercial sponsorship and psychiatric practice.
The views of College members on this
high-profile issue are critical. The College will incorporate
members' views into an ongoing review of the College's position on
commercial sponsorship. Members' views and opinions will directly
shape and inform this review.
We hope that you will be able to become
involved in this initiative when it launches in October. Our last
online survey (on risk assessment) saw almost 2000 members give
their views on how the College should respond, and we hope that
this survey attracts similar levels of support. As with this
previous survey, all respondents can elect to receive a copy of the
final survey results (to see how their views compare with
colleagues), and can choose to be kept updated on the College's
review process.
We hope you can support this important
initiative and look forward to hearing your views in October.
For further information, please contact:
cfitch@cru.rcpsych.ac.uk
4. Find out what is new on CPD Online
 |
Bereavement:What
kind of risks does bereavement pose to mental health? Who might be
most at risk? What are the treatment options?
|
 |
Epilepsy in ID: True or false? In people with intellectual
disability it is advisable to start antiepileptic medications at a
lower dose than recommended in the BNF.
|
CPD Online offers discounts to College members
and APT subscribers. Click here to find
out how to subscribe.
5. Psychiatrists’ Support Service
The Psychiatrists’ Support Service was
launched at the Annual Meeting in Edinburgh in June. The
response from the Members who visited the stand was very positive
and encouraging.
The service has been providing support to its
members prior to its launch and has had a significant amount of
contacts from psychiatrists regarding a wide range of issues since
its launch.
Further information regarding the service can
be located via the member’s only website pages. The service
has produced a resource booklet listing other useful services and
organisations that are currently providing support to
doctors. If you would like a copy please contact Diana Chan,
Psychiatrists’ Support Service Manager on 0207 245 0412 or email:
dchan@rcpsych.ac.uk
We are keen to hear from the membership
regarding their views of the service, so please use the contact
details above if you would like to give us feedback.
6. Valedictory message from Professor Richard Williams,
Director of Conferences
It hardly seems a moment ago that I was
beginning my appointment as the College's Director of Conferences.
But, that was in 2001! Since then, I have had a hand in eight
annual meetings and around 200 other events that have been run
directly by the staff of our own Conference Office. I have chaired
the Programmes and Meetings, a standing committee of Council, and
now the Central Executive Committee, on 22 occasions. During that
time, we have reviewed extensively the Annual Meetings and
progressively implemented the recommended changes. That
transformation was complete in 2006. Your feedback says that you
like the refreshed and more focused content, activities and
structure of recent events.
But nothing stands still and nor should it.
The world of medical education and the demands on doctors are
changing very rapidly and, perhaps, the College should review its
meetings again? Whatever, now, is the time for second curve
thinking and so it's a very appropriate time for me to hand over. I
have worked with seven Annual Meeting Organisers and I thank them
and their teams and the College conference staff wholeheartedly for
their enormously committed hard work and for their seemingly
endless creativity.
It is a pleasure to welcome my successor, Dr
Helen Miller. As I passed the baton to her, I guess I felt the
mantle of responsibility pass from my shoulders, and I appeared
outwardly to delegates at the Annual Meeting as a man with a
lighter step. Inside, I do feel decidedly ambivalent.
The task of being responsible for policy for
our conferences and its implementation is not easy but it has
always been challenging and, often, fun. It has taken me around all
of the Faculties and I have attended sessions about an enormous
diversity of subjects and met a large number of our colleagues.
I have also been shown a good time by many
colleagues and, particularly memorably for me, by some service
users. Many of them are now firm friends. I am grateful to them all
for the warmth of their welcome to an interloping and inquisitive
'guest' who they could hardly refuse.
I have gained from all of these people a very
clear picture of their enormous skill, professionalism and concern
for patients. I shall miss all of those occasions and my
involvement in person and behind the scenes at those vitally
important events at which officers and staff meet College members.
I take away many, many fond memories.
But, I shall not miss the annual round of
worries about people turning up, and conferences being successful
and breaking even, or ruminating about who I can persuade to steer
the next Annual Meeting and how I can get them to agree. I shall
positively relish not having to correct minutes and repeatedly
explaining to members on limited training budgets that our meetings
really are good value for money. They are!
7. Adopt a book: an opportunity to contribute towards
the history of psychiatry and the College
The Adopt-a-Book scheme of the Royal College
of Psychiatrists was launched at the Annual Conference in Edinburgh
in June.
The aim of the scheme is to raise funds for
the conservation and repair of the College’s antiquarian book
collection. The collection consists of rare books dating as
far back as the 15th century. It is an important
source of information on the history of psychiatry, mental illness
and learning disability. There are also books in the
collection by authors such as Daniel Hack Tuke, Forbes Winslow,
Henry Maudsley, John Connolly, Sigmund Freud, and others.
We are directing the appeal for donations at
members and fellows of the College, and anyone who is interested in
restoring and conserving the collection to a condition suitable for
its use by researchers and historians, and in its preservation as
part of our national heritage.
To obtain a list of books to be adopted and a
donation form, please go to the adopt a
book page or contact the RCPsych archivist at 17 Belgrave
Square, London SW1X 8PG, tel 020 7235 2351, email archives@rcpsych.ac.uk