May 2007

In 2004, the Association of University Teachers in Psychiatry commissioned a small project to establish the current learning and teaching of psychiatry in UK medical schools.  The first stage consisted of a questionnaire, distributed to educational leads for psychiatry in all UK medical schools and semi-structured telephone interviews with some of these psychiatric educational leads and other key individuals.  We also gained service user perspectives on the psychiatric curriculum through a number of focus groups.

In 2005, we presented our findings at a meeting attended by the Dean and in the context of this and other work in the College, he established the Undergraduate Scoping Group.  This group includes several psychiatric leads from across the UK, as well as student representatives, educational representatives and a GMC representative.  The planned outcomes of the group are:

• core curriculum guidance and ideas on how to deliver the curriculum;
• best practice document about financial clarity and Trust management of education;
• best practice guide for clinical teachers;
• students’ guide to psychiatry education to cover what students can contribute to their placement and what they find can help their teachers to provide engaging, effective and educational placements

The plan is for the wider group to form sub-groups to address each of the points above.  We are working closely with the Images of Psychiatry sub-group on medical students.  We hope to deliver the outcomes by the end of 2007.  As part of the process we are consulting widely to identify good practice.

If anyone has issues on this subject they would like to raise such as examples of good practice, please contact me: Dr Nisha Dogra at nd13@le.ac.uk

Chair of the Undergraduate Psychiatric Education Scoping Group.

2. Workplace-based assessment in psychiatry

The unprecedented changes in the education and assessment of doctors in training in the United Kingdom initiated by Modernising Medical Careers (MMC) and supported by the Postgraduate Medical Education and Training Board (PMETB) have entailed a major change in the culture of medical training. In future, the key outcome of training will be the doctor’s performance of specific competencies. For psychiatrists, the required competencies are described in the Competency Based Curriculum for Specialist Training in Psychiatry (the Curriculum), which was approved by PMETB in February 2006.

Workplace Based Assessment (WPBA) taps into the best potential way of collecting data on trainees’ performance with personal witnessing of a trainee’s work over a period of time and in a variety of settings. They can provide evidence that a trainee has demonstrated the competencies described in the Curriculum. An advantage of this form of assessment is the emphasis it places on the educational value of real clinical experience.

Over the past eighteen months, the College has been working to adapt existing WPBA methods and to develop new ones to support the Curriculum. There has also been extensive piloting of the methods and, more recently, a training programme has been rolled out to support WPBA assessors.

The College website provides information and supporting material about the Curriculum and the WPBA tools that are being used as part of the assessment system. There is more information in Workplace-Based Assessments in Psychiatry, edited by Dinesh Bhugra, Amit Malik and Nick Brown, which was recently published by RCPsych Publications.

3. Special Committee on Human Rights (SCHR)

The Special Committee on Human Rights (SCHR) was established to provide advice to the College President on matters relating to human rights and mental health.  While the term ‘human rights’ derives from national and international legal concepts, the committee has extended its understanding of the term to include the rights and freedoms central to the enjoyment of life as applied to those suffering from, or at risk of developing, a mental disorder.

There are eight members of the committee selected for their knowledge and expertise through a process of open advertisement and competitive interviews.  Since its first meeting in September 2006 the committee is seeking to broaden its remit to include a proactive work plan as well as an educational focus.  We outline the direction in which the committee wishes to proceed:

The SCHR plans to establish links with the faculties and the divisions.  It wishes to understand how College members might be supported in maintaining adequate human rights standards for their patients especially in difficult circumstances, such as inadequately resourced services.  It is concerned about the human rights of psychiatrists who draw attention to the shortcomings of mental health services delivered to their patients and risk putting their professional livelihood in jeopardy.  The committee will monitor how much attention is given to human rights in College policies on training and education to assess any deficits in human rights training for psychiatrists which could be remedied through training initiatives.

The SCHR aims to establish direct links to external bodies including the Joint (Parliamentary) Committee on Human Rights (JCHR) and the Commission for Equality and Human Rights.  The College has previously expressed concern about the psychiatric morbidity among terrorist law detainees and the committee helped to formulate a College submission to the current inquiry by the JCHR on the subject.  The committee plans to liaise with the Council of Europe’s Committee for the Prevention of Torture, which has developed minimum standards for various settings including psychiatric in-patient units.

Drs Tim Exworthy and Jim MacKeith

Joint Chairs Special Committee on Human Rights

cgillies-wright@rcpsych.ac.uk

4.Breaking Down the Barriers: the clinical case for change

A new report from Professor Louis Appleby, the National Clinical Director for Mental Health which explains why improvements in community care must continue and sets out a new phase of reform in mental health services.

http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publicationsandstatistics/Publications/PublicationsPolicyAndGuidance/DH_074579

5. Mental Health Ten Years On: progress on mental health care reform

A new report from Professor Louis Appleby, the National Clinical Director for Mental Health which explains the 10-year programme of reform of mental health care launched in 1999.

http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publicationsandstatistics/Publications/PublicationsPolicyAndGuidance/DH_074241