February 2011

College news
Consultations
Other news
Online

 

Presidential election

 

 

 

 

College elections
College news

 

 

College Elections

Presidential election: only a few days to go…

All College members will have received election papers by post. Members can use the traditional postal vote or, for the first time, an online vote. In the papers are clear instructions about how to vote online. Each member has two unique numbers and a website link to the Electoral Reform Services website and the College’s online voting paper and supporting statements. There are security precautions to avoid the use of both methods. If you have not received your ballot paper, please contact Paul O’Connor. The closing date for voting is 12 noon on 24 January 2011 – please use your vote today!

 

Notice to Members and Fellows: Council

Fellows and Members of the College are reminded of their rights in connection with the forthcoming elections for the vacancies on Council for two elected Members and two elected Fellows. The term of office is five years. Nomination forms are available from Sue Duncan. The nominating meeting of the Council will be held on 4 February, 2011 and the last date for receiving nominations under Regulation XVII will be 4 March 2011.

 

Notice to Members and Fellows: Other Honorary Officers

Fellows and Members of the College are reminded of their rights in connection with the forthcoming elections for the offices of Dean, Registrar and Treasurer. All Honorary Officers, with the exception of the Treasurer, are eligible for re-election. Professor George Ikkos is in his fifth year of office as Treasurer and is, therefore, not eligible for re-election. Nomination forms are available from Sue Duncan. The nominating meeting of the Council will be held on 4 February 2011 and the last date for receiving nominations under Regulation XII will be 4 March 2011.

 


Coalition Government’s health and social care reforms

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

POMH-UK audit: Prescribing antipsychotics for people with dementia (Topic 11a)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Christmas debate - Are the media to blame for eating disorders?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dr Laxmi Kathuria

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Broken whole: A California Tale Of Craziness, Creativity And Chaos
  • Call for Entries – RCPsych Awards 2011
    Entries are invited for the RCPsych Awards 2011. Closing date for entries is 21 February 2011. Further information about application forms, category criteria and rules of entry, can be found here.

 

  • Parliamentary and Policy update
    Health and Social Care Bill

    Wednesday 19 January 2011: The coalition government published its Health and Social Care Bill which outlines plans to restructure the NHS in England and give GPs increased responsibility for local healthcare budgets. Dr Laurence Mynors-Wallis, Registrar, said: “While the College welcomes many aspects of the Bill, it is concerned – along with many others – about the pace of change. We are particularly concerned that in some areas the new structures will not have the skills or expertise to support mental health commissioning. We therefore believe, along with other medical royal colleges, that commissioning must involve a close working relationship between GPs and specialists. The College would be dismayed if psychiatrists were not closely involved with local consortia of GPs in the development of mental health services."

 

 

  • Update on the Coalition Government’s health and social care reforms

    In December, the Government published Liberating the NHS: Legislative Framework and Next Steps and Transparency in outcomes - a framework for the NHS: Government response to the consultation. Together, these documents present the Government’s responses to the feedback received to Equity and Excellence: Liberating the NHS and the four allied consultation documents. The Policy Unit has produced two documents to give members information about how the College’s views sit with the Government’s responses.


    • Overview of Government proposals in Transparency in Outcomes – a framework for the NHS: Government response to the consultation, with particular reference to RCPsych response to the consultation Transparency in Outcomes: a framework for the NHS.

    • Overview of Government proposals in Liberating the NHS: Legislative framework and next steps, with particular reference to RCPsych responses to Liberating the NHS consultation documents.


    The Unit has also produced a one-page diagram of the architecture of the Government’s Health and Social Care reforms (White Papers/Strategies/Bills/Consultations etc).

 

  • Update on the Mental Health Strategy

    The College anticipates that the Mental Health Strategy (No health without mental health: a cross-Government mental health outcomes strategy for people of all ages) will be published towards the end of January 2011. Through its membership of the Future Visions Coalition, the College has been fully engaged with, and has succeeded in influencing, the strategy throughout the various stages of its development. A link to the strategy will be posted here when it is published. 

 

  • World Psychiatric Association (WPA): vacancies

    The WPA is seeking nominations for the following posts: President-Elect, Secretary for Education, Secretary for Publications, Secretary for Sections. If you are interested in submitting a nomination and would like our support, contact Elen Cook. Nominations should be accompanied by a brief CV and a statement. Closing date: 17 February 2011 for consideration by the International Advisory Committee at their meeting on 18 February.

 

  • News on College members

    Congratulations to Professor Sir Robin MacGregor Murray. Professor of Psychiatry, Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London, who was awarded a Knights Bachelor for services to Medicine in the New Year’s Honours.

 

  • POMH-UK audit: Prescribing antipsychotics for people with dementia (Topic 11a)

    Member Trusts of the Prescribing Observatory for Mental Health (POMH-UK) have identified the use of antipsychotics for people with dementia as a priority topic for a quality improvement programme for 2011. POMH-UK will be working in collaboration with the National Dementia Strategy to develop this QIP. It will include a baseline clinical audit (data to be collected March 2011) and re-audit 18 months later. For both audits, the data will be reported back to each participating Trust, analysed at national level, and benchmarked at Trust and clinical team level for local review and consideration. Participation is free for all specialist mental health Trusts which have current POMH-UK membership. Find out more on how to join POMH-UK.

 

  • New: Quality Network for Community CAMHS 

    The College’s QINMAC project has re-launched as the Quality Network for Community CAMHS, and published a revised set of service standards incorporating updated best practice guidelines for Tier 2 and 3 CAMH services, learning disability CAMHS, and, for the first time, crisis and intensive intervention services. The members’ network is about to begin its sixth year of working with CAMH services throughout the UK to improve cross-sector partnership and the quality of mental healthcare for children and young people. All types of community-based teams are eligible to join in order to benefit from reflective self review, a supportive peer review visit and a nationally benchmarked progress report. If you are interested in joining the network or finding out more, go to the website or contact Rachel Barrett.

 

  • Are the media to blame for eating disorders? 

    Dr Jim Bolton, member of Public Education Committee

    This year’s Christmas debate for young people discussed the motion ‘This house believes that the media are to blame for eating disorders’. Do skinny models and muscular hunks in the media distort our view of what a normal body shape is? Or do the media simply reflect what we think the ideal body looks like? Are the media to blame for eating disorders, or should we look elsewhere for the causes?

 

  • Psychiatry and the media: Dr Laxmi Kathuria reports…  

    Dr Laxmi Kathuria, ST3 Psychiatry in Glasgow, writes about her experience of working on a new Channel 4 series Beauty and the Beast which is to be aired early this year. She hopes that this advice will be helpful to other members who may get involved in working on a television programme.

 

  • Benefit of membership: Electronic Table of Contents

    The College library can email members the electronic table of contents (ETOCs) of new journals when they arrive. Alerts are sent directly to your email address, allowing you to scan for articles that might be of interest. You can contact the library to request a copy of the article. Please contact the Library for the list of journals available. This service is available free to you as part of your College membership.

 

  • Do you enjoy reading? 

    The College is frequently asked to review recently published books. Many of these requests are turned down due to lack of space in our journals. We have developed a website book review section and are able to publish many more reviews, particularly of books aimed at the public. If you would be interested in reviewing the occasional book then please let us know. It would be helpful if you could also indicate of the sorts of books that are of most interest to you.

     

 


Liberating the NHS: Developing the Healthcare Workforce

 

 

 

 

 

Personal Health Budgets in Mental Health Survey

Consultations

 

  • The future of the healthcare workforce: Workforce, education and training consultation 

    The Health Secretary Andrew Lansley has launched a new strategy to simplify the healthcare education and training system. The consultation Liberating the NHS: Developing the Healthcare Workforce sets out proposals for a new workforce, education and training structure driven by patient need and led by local healthcare providers. It is intended that the new system will fit with the White Paper reforms so that employers have greater autonomy and accountability for developing the workforce, together with greater professional ownership for the quality of the education. We would welcome your comments to inform the College response. Please email these to Robert Jackson by 18 February 2011.

     

  • Personal Health Budgets in Mental Health Survey

    Andy Clark RCPsych Lead for Workforce

    Personal Health Budgets may revolutionise how health care is commissioned and delivered by devolving much greater power and influence to the decision making of the individual patient. What are your views on this? The Royal College of Psychiatrists is collaborating on this survey which is being undertaken amongst psychiatrists and other professionals working with mental health service users. The survey should take no more than 10 minutes to complete. Your answers to the questions will be totally confidential. All members are encouraged to participate in the survey even if they have not yet had direct experience of personal health budgets.

 

  • Ethical practice in donation after circulatory death

    The UK Donation Ethics Committee has launched an “ethical framework for donation after circulatory death” for consultation. 37 recommendations address the ethical issues that arise at all stages of the organ donation process.

 

 

 


 

Care of people with dementia in general hospitals

 

 

 

 

 

 

Office of National Statistics: Health Survey for England - 2009: Health and Lifestyle

 

 

 

 

 

 

Delivering Male: first men’s mental health guidelines

 

Other news

 

 

Care of people with dementia in general hospitals 

A letter was recently sent by the National Clinical Directors for Dementia and Older People, Professor Alistair Burns and Professor David Oliver, alerting members to the initial findings of the College’s audit of Dementia Care in General Hospitals.

 

New autism guidance for health and social care 

The Government´s new autism statutory guidance for health and social care, Implementing Fulfilling and Rewarding Lives, has been published together with a summary of the responses received to the consultation.

 

King's Fund findings - How do quality accounts measure up?

Quality accounts are a mechanism through which health care organisations can demonstrate their focus on improving the quality of their service. The government has recently undertaken an evaluation of the 2009/10 quality accounts and set out their expectations for 2010/11. The King’s Fund undertook an independent analysis of a sample of quality accounts produced by a range of providers – acute trusts, mental health trusts, independent providers.  The report includes recommendations for future guidance on quality accounts; on data quality; on clinical audits and confidential enquiries; and on external scrutiny.

 

Office of National Statistics: Health Survey for England - 2009: Health and Lifestyle

The Health Survey for England is a series of annual surveys designed to measure health and health-related behaviours in adults and children living in private households in England. This survey focused on long term health conditions and self-assessed general health.

 

YoungMinds: half of young people are verbally abused when they distressed

Young people in the UK are highly likely to be called names such as freak and schizo when they are distressed, contributing to bad attitudes towards those with poor mental health. The study of 2,629 people, aged between nine and 25, found 52% had witnessed friends and classmates labelled weirdo, freak, schizo, crazy and psycho when they were going through a tough time.

 

Offenders with drinking problems ‘need more help’

A report by the Centre for Mental Health found that offenders with drinking problems do not get enough support to turn their lives around. Alcohol misuse is a bigger cause of crime and ill health than drug abuse, but intervention schemes are under-resourced and health andjustice services should pool their resources in the future.

 

Delivering Male: first men’s mental health guidelines 

Two charities, Mind and the Men’s Health Forum, have launched the first ever set of guidelines addressing the mental health needs of men and boys, which aim to improve mental health care and services for men and boys in England. ‘Delivering Male’ are in depth guidelines developed following extensive consultation and offer good practice advice on areas such as developing appropriate services, dealing with stigma and supporting male inpatients.

 

Europe's health check shows inequalities 

Although Europeans have become healthier and their life expectancy has improved in recent decades, major differences persist in the provision of care services and the presence of risk factors for health across the continent. 'Health at a Glance: Europe 2010' report was published by the European Commission and the OECD and shows that the overall health picture has improved dramatically in European countries in recent decades, thanks to better standards of living, improved lifestyles, better education and greater access to quality health services. However large gaps persist in certain situations such as regarding life expectancy at birth.

 

 

 


 

Enduring Love

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© 2011 Royal College of Psychiatrists