In this month’s
issue
College News
1.
Fund-raising trek to Kerala, 26 January–5 February 2009: Professor
Sheila Hollins
2. The
Volunteer Sub-committee: what we do
3.
College supports new play at Royal Court Theatre: Tusk
Tusk
4.
College prizes and bursaries 2009
5.
Forthcoming lectures at the College
6. New books
from RCPsych Publications
7. National
Quality Board grows in strength: lay and expert members
appointed
Other News
8.
National Mental Health Development Unit – a new approach to
supporting policy implementation for a new
era
9.
GMC opens up new route to Specialist Register for ‘existing
specialists’
10. Mental
Health Action Week 12-18 April 2009
11. Healthcare
Commission praises ‘exemplary’ services for military
personnel
12. European
Psychiatric Association Congress 2010
13. GMC to consult
on revised end of life guidance
14. New GMC guidance for
medical students: On your best behaviour
15. First ‘talking
therapies’ toolkit for drugs workers
16. What's
New?
College
news
1. Fund-raising trek to Kerala,
26 January–5 February 2009: Professor Sheila Hollins
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In February,
14 psychiatrists and friends completed a demanding sponsored trek
in aid of the College’s International Volunteer Programme. We
raised over £30,000, which should send several psychiatrists to
help at the request of our overseas members in countries like
Malawi, Ghana, Iraq, and Sri Lanka. As importantly, most of us
persuaded other people to sponsor us to undertake this challenge,
and we were able to raise awareness about the lack of provision for
people with mental disorders in developing countries. During my
Presidency, I was repeatedly made aware of the difficulties faced
by members who were working as lone psychiatrists with little
support. In Africa there is one psychiatrist per million of the
population. |
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Our group successfully climbed the Western
Ghat Mountains in India. It was more challenging than we thought
because of the range of temperatures
(70C-400C). We climbed to the 2nd
highest peak of the Ghats, Korangani (8500ft). Some days we covered
22km, starting at 5am to avoid the midday heat. The name Ghat means
‘step’ as the mountains go up in stages. They start with the jungle
(the inspiration for The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling.)
The next stage up is the rainforest; a great shelter for wildlife
in the past but now 90 percent deforestation has made way for tea
plantations, eucalyptus and rhododendrons. The higher grasslands
are a biodiversity hotspot and there are probably many unknown
species there. Some have described a big grey cat that “comes and
goes like the mist”.
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We walked with backpacks and slept in tents,
using torches for light. Some of our group fell along the way –
both literally and metaphorically – struck down by the effects of
heat, stomach upsets, chest infections, ankle sprain, and lack of
sleep. But despite this, we all completed the trek.
The colours, moving mists, peace and majesty
of the mountains inspired us. The purple, blue and grey of the
peaks, with the soft brown and orange of the shola and the red
sunsets were magnificent.
|
But most inspiring were the indigenous people
in the Ghats whom we met passing over from Kerala to Tamil Nadu.
People with skinny legs and missing teeth (due to accidents, a lack
of dentists and perhaps chewing betel nuts), some carrying large
bundles on their heads and backs, miles from any dwelling. Women
cooking over open fires or on their doorsteps at 6am. Little
girls in bright red dresses with long coiled plaits tied in big
bows.
This is the first time the College has organised such a fundraising
event and we will keep our Just Giving websites open until
April for donors who wanted to see a completed trek.
The DVD of the trek will be shown at the
Annual
Meeting in Liverpool, 2-5 June 2009.
2. The Volunteer
Sub-committee: what we do
The
Volunteer Sub-committee was established to take an overall
responsibility for running the volunteer programme and to be
responsible for all decisions pertaining to placements, host
centres, and volunteers within the programme.
The remit of the Volunteer Sub-committee
is to promote UK volunteers spending time overseas in low and
middle income countries. Emphasis is on training and
education. The activities must be sustainable and useful. The
volunteers can be trainees but must be ST5 or above; it
is also open to retired members.
The Sub-committee is able to match
potential projects overseas to volunteers even for a short
period. The College uses a matching and
facilitating process. There are some modest bursaries
available to volunteers.
At present the committee has facilitated over
20 placements in countries such as Ghana and Sri Lanka and is
actively working with other organisations such as VSO and
Challenges Worldwide.
The Volunteers Sub-committee has a very
minimal budget and hopes to expand its role if more resources can
be made available. To support the volunteer scheme, people
took part in a fundraising trek to the Kerala, raising £30,000 (see
above).
Find out more about our
volunteer programme.
3. College supports new
play at Royal Court Theatre: Tusk Tusk
The College is delighted to once again be
supporting a new play at the Royal
Court Theatre, in London’s Sloane Square, SW1
Tusk Tusk is the second play by Polly Stenham,
writer of the critically acclaimed That Face. Tusk
Tusk focuses on three young children adjusting to life in a
new home – but without their mother who has gone missing again. The
play lays bare the impact that mental illness can have on families,
right down to the very youngest members.
The College has 20 complimentary tickets for
College members to attend performances on various dates between 15
April and 2 May. If you would like a ticket, email Liz Fox with your 
preferred
date. Please note that tickets will be allocated on a
first-come-first-served basis, and are limited to a maximum of 2
tickets per member.
Ticket subsidies are also available to College
members wishing to bring young carers to the performances. Please
contact Liz Fox.
4. College prizes and
bursaries 2009
We would like to bring your attention to the
new Prizes
and Bursaries leaflet for 2009 which is now on the College
website.
Have you thought about applying for the
numerous Faculty, Sections and Divisional Prizes? And what about
the prestigious College Prizes including the Morris Markowe Public Education Prize? The
deadline for submissions is 1 May 2009.
5. Forthcoming lectures at
the College
Continuing our very popular series of
lectures, three new events have now been organised:
- "Is everyone mad?" The presentation of mental
disturbance in the novels of Dostoyevsky
Lecture by Dr Allan Beveridge6.30
pm on Wednesday, 6th May 2009
- Talk by Lisa Appignanesi about her book “Mad,
Bad and Sad: A History of Women and the Mind Doctors from 1800 to
the Present” 6.30 pm on Tuesday, 16th June 2009
- Lecture by Professor Femi Oyebode about his
book “Mindreadings: Literature and Psychiatry” 6.30 pm
on Tuesday, 14th July 2009
Further details on these events and the
speakers will be available on the College website shortly. To
reserve a ticket for any of these events, please email nboyce@rcpsych.ac.uk clearly
stating in the subject bar of your email which evening you would
like to book tickets for.
6. New books from RCPsych
Publications
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder: The NICE Guideline on
Diagnosis and Management of ADHD in Children, Young People and
Adults
This guideline sets out clear, evidence-based
recommendations for healthcare and educational staff on how to
diagnose and manage people with ADHD to improve their treatment,
care and long-term outcome. Buy
online.
Developing Mental Health
Services for Children and Adolescents with Learning Disabilities: A
Toolkit for Clinicians - edited by Sarah
Bernard and Jeremy Turk
There is an increasing obligation on CAMHS to
meet the needs of young people with learning disabilities.
This is a practical guide for clinicians, service managers and
commissioners to develop the necessary skills and knowledge in this
expanding area of clinical practice. Buy
online.
Mindreadings: Psychiatry and Literature - edited by
Femi Oyebode
Literature can be a medium
for examining human emotions and behaviour. Thus, literary
texts can be valuable tools to improve our understanding of
patients and their conditions. This book explores
relationships between the written word and some central aspects of
psychiatric practice. Buy
online.
7. National Quality Board grows in strength: lay and
expert members appointed
Dr Paul Lelliott, Director, Royal College of
Psychiatrists' Research and Training Unit & Chairman,
Healthcare Quality Improvement Partnership, was recently appointed
to the new National Quality Board.
The new
National Quality Board will focus on the role of quality in the
NHS in driving improvements for patients. Establishing the National
Quality Board was a key commitment in High Quality Care for All,
Lord Darzi's review of the NHS. The Board will provide strategic
oversight and leadership on quality across the NHS.
The new appointments include leaders from the
charity and third sectors, academia, social care and the Royal
Colleges. They bring a wealth of experience as patients, carers,
clinicians and academics.
Other News
8. National Mental Health Development Unit – a
new approach to supporting policy implementation for a new
era
The Department of Health, with input from
Strategic Health Authorities (SHAs), the NHS Confederation, the
Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (ADASS) and the
National institute for Mental Health in England (NIMHE), has
conducted a review of future arrangements to support the delivery
of mental health policy. As the National Service Framework
for Mental Health comes to an end in 2009 and with other emerging
policy priorities identified via the New Horizons programme, the
review looked at how support should be delivered over the next
three years in the context of the NHS Next Stage Review and Putting
People First.
Therefore, a new unit is being established to
provide national support to implementing mental health
policy. Operating as the National Mental
Health Development Unit (NMHDU), it will support both DH and
the SHAs by advising on national and international best practice to
improve mental health services and mental health. It will do this
by commissioning or providing:
- specialist expertise in priority areas of
policy and delivery
- effective knowledge transfer on research,
evidence and good practice
- support to translate national policies into
practical deliverables which achieve the right outcomes
- coordination of national activity to help
regional and local implementation.
New Horizons will shape the future mental
health policy agenda. The work of the NMHDU will be developed
through a process of co-production between DH and SHAs, and active
partnerships with other national stakeholders, including the NHS
Confederation, ADASS and the major mental health organisations in
the third sector.
The NMHDU will report to an Oversight Board
co-chaired by Kathryn Tyson, Director, DH Mental Health Division
and Professor Louis Appleby, National Director for Mental
Health.
9. GMC opens up new route
to Specialist Register for ‘existing specialists’
The GMC is urging all doctors in the
NHS or Armed Forces who were appointed to a consultant post before
1 January 1997 and who are not yet on the Specialist Register, to
take advantage of a new route. It is thought that as many as 1000
to 1500 doctors, appointed to consultant posts prior to 1 January
1997, are still not on the Specialist Register.
10. Mental Health Action
Week 12-18 April 2009
This year, the Mental
Health Foundation is launching a national campaign to raise
awareness about the impact fear and anxiety can have on our
lives.
11. Healthcare Commission
praises ‘exemplary’ services for military personnel
The Healthcare Commission has published the
first ever independent review of the Defence
Medical Services (DMS), which is responsible for providing
healthcare to defence personnel and their families in the UK and
overseas.
12. European Psychiatric
Association Congress 2010
The 18th EPA
Congress, under the motto “Improve the Quality of Psychiatric
Research & Treatment in Europe” ,will take place in Munich,
Germany, February 27 - March 2, 2010.
13. GMC to consult on
revised end of life guidance
The GMC has launch a consultation on revised
guidance which will provide advice for doctors on good practice in the care of patients
at the end of their life. The consultation will launch in the
week beginning 23 March.
14. New GMC guidance
for medical students: On your best behaviour
New GMC guidance outlines the professional
behaviour and values expected of UK medical students:
Medical Students: professional values and
fitness to practise.
As well as advising students on professional
conduct, it also advises medical schools on how to develop
consistent procedures for dealing with students when their fitness
to practise is called into question.
15. First ‘talking
therapies’ toolkit for drugs workers
A new guide aims to help drugs workers make
better use of ‘talking therapies’ to support drug misusers
overcoming dependency. It is the latest in a series of
initiatives being developed by the National Treatment Agency (NTA)
to improve the quality of drug treatment in England by ensuring
that drugs workers and clinicians have access to a range of tools
to tackle addiction. The guide has been developed in conjunction
with the British Psychological Society (BPS).
A full copy of the toolkit: ‘Psychosocial
interventions in drug misuse: a framework and toolkit for
implementing NICE-recommended treatment interventions’ is
available on the NTA website.
16. What's new?