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College news
Presidential
Update: end of an era
"It’s hard to believe that, three years ago, I
attended the International Congress as your President-Elect. Now
it’s almost time for me to stand down, so it seems like a good
opportunity to reflect on the priorities I set for myself back in
2008." Find out about what the President has to say about
his term in office.
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Vacancies:
Examinations Paper Writing Panels
The College wishes to
appoint new
consultant members to join each of the four examination paper
writing panels (Paper 1, Paper 2, Critical Review and Clinical
Topics panels of Paper 3) of the three written papers of the
MRCPsych. The panels are responsible for producing questions for
the examinations question bank, reviewing draft papers before
submission to the Examinations Sub-Committee and discussing the
post-examination statistics. An application form and associated
documents can be obtained from Dawn Marshall-Fannon.
Closing date: 19 August 2011.
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New Special
Interest Group: Volunteering and International Psychiatry
We are happy to launch a new Special Interest Group and would
like to invite people to join. This group will get involved in
mental health in the international arena, promoting volunteer work
overseas for psychiatrists, fundraising, newsletter and E-groups,
teaching, distance support through internet, advocacy of the
volunteer role, support for International Psychiatry, and
research and audit. The group is open to members, non members and
other disciplines. It will be secular and non-discriminatory, and
is open to all diaspora communities and others, but will not have a
distinct ethnic orientation. Language of group is English. We aim
to have our meetings throughout UK. Contact: Deji Oyebode and
Peter Hughes.
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Stopping
Antidepressants’ survey: can your patients help?
The Public Education
Editorial Board is running a confidential online
survey to look at people’s experience of stopping
antidepressants. We are keen to hear from as many people as
possible and aim to use the data collected, to help create a new
“Stopping Antidepressants” information leaflet. If you have any
patients who have recently stopped an antidepressant, please ask
them to consider completing our 10 minute survey. Their experiences
could really help others who are thinking about stopping their
medication, and are seeking advice, guidance or support.
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New online
resource to help people return to work after mental illness
The Royal College of
Psychiatrists has launched a new online resource offering
information and guidance about returning to work after a period of
mental ill-health. The Work and Mental
Health website is divided into four main parts aimed at
workers, carers, employers and clinicians. The resource was
developed in partnership with the Department for Work and Pensions.
Dr Jed Boardman, Chair of the Steering Group, will be at the
International Congress in Brighton on 29 June to talk about this
new website, so please visit the College stand.
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Psychiatrists’
Support Service: what’s new?
The Psychiatrists’ Support Service
has provided support to over 350 members. The service has
developed a series of information guides which are applicable
across all specialities within psychiatry. You can
contact them by email or
tel: 0207 245 0412.
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College in the news
NHS Future Forum report and
government response
Responding to the report by the NHS Future
Forum published on 14 June,
Dr Laurence Mynors-Wallis, Registrar, said: "It is particularly
positive that the Forum has taken on board the views of many
clinicians from different specialties that there must be a
multi-professional arrangement with regards to commissioning. It is
critical that equal attention is given to the involvement of mental
as well as physical health professionals, as central to the
government’s own mental health strategy.” The
Government responded on 15 June and announced that it accepts
the core recommendations of the NHS Future Forum report and will
make changes to its plans for modernisation of health and social
care. Read
our response.
Prescribing antipsychotics in
dementia
More than 50 health and social care organisations, including the
College, signed a letter calling for fresh action to cut the
prescription of antipsychotic drugs in people with dementia. The
Dementia Action Alliance want all prescriptions for antipsychotics
to be reviewed by the end of March 2012. To help patients and
carers, the Alliance has
published a booklet giving information and advice about how to make
sure antipsychotics are not prescribed inappropriately.
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International Congress: Portfolio
Online Tutorials: come and see us
Representatives from the Portfolio Online Team
will be present at the International Congress, Brighton, 28 June to
1 July 2011. The team will be offering hands-on, one-to-one
tutorials on the system itself, allowing new users to try out how
the system works and existing users to discuss its current
functionality. Appointments can be booked in advance by emailing or in person during
the Congress.
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News on College members
New Chair at Mental Health
Foundation: Professor Dinesh Bhugra
The Mental Health Foundation has welcomed the
new Chair, Professor Dinesh Bhugra, to lead its board of trustees.
He will take up the position in July. Chief Executive, Dr Andrew
McCulloch said “I am thrilled with the appointment of Dinesh, who
will bring a fresh perspective and considerable leadership skills
at a time of challenge for the sector and significant change in
mental health and social care across the UK. His experience across
a broad range of issues related to mental illness, mental health
and mental well-being will help enhance the already strong
reputation of the Foundation for delivering evidence based,
practical solutions that make a real difference to mental health
services.”
Chair of the National Information
Governance Board for Health and Social Care Publications
Dame Fiona Caldicott, ex-President of the RCPsych, has been
appointed as the next Chair of the National
Information Governance Board for Health and Social Care with
effect from 1 June 2011. This is an independent statutory body
established to promote, improve and monitor information governance
in health and adult social care.
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New College publications
Guidance on use of audio-visual
recording in child psychiatric practice
This report
outlines the procedures involved in audio-visual recording
including ensuring confidentiality and obtaining formal
consent.
International Perspectives on
Mental Health - edited by Hamid Ghodse
A
unique collection of authoritative briefings from over 90
countries around the world which give critical examination and
evaluation of service development, in addition to a wealth of
useful information.
Generalised Anxiety Disorder in
Adults: The NICE Guideline on Management in Primary, Secondary and
Community Care
An indispensable tool to enable healthcare professionals to
identify generalised anxiety disorder in adults, and provide the
most effective treatments in a stepped-care framework.
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Kings Fund conference: Mental
Health Commission
The Kings Fund on Mental
Health Commissioning takes place on 7 July 2011. It is chaired
by the RCPsych co-chair of the Joint Commissioning Panel, Dr Neil
Deuchar. The conference will also feature members of the JCP-MH
presenting their work, including Kieron Murphy, Director Joint
Commissioning Panel for Mental Health and Immediate past Director
National Commissioning Programme for Mental Health. There is 25%
booking discount (Quote MHC25%), excluding online credit card
bookings.
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Vacancies
Scientific Advisory Committee on
the Medical Implications of Less Lethal Weapons
The Cabinet Office is looking for a
Chair and Members for this Advisory Committee, sponsored by the
Ministry of Defence. The role of this Committee is to provide
Government with: advice on the biophysical, biomechanical,
pathological and clinical aspects of generic classes of less-lethal
weapon systems; independent statements on the medical implications
of use of specific less-lethal weapon systems given published
operational guidance to users; advice on the risk of injury from
particular less-lethal weapon systems. This advice will be used to
inform decisions relating to the balance of risk of harm to the
public against the need for an effective operational capability.
These positions are open to UK nationals only, and prospective
candidates should be prepared to undergo security
vetting.
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Other news
New
reports
- Nuffield Trust: US-based commissioning: lessons to be
learned
- Two new reports from National Development Team for
inclusion
- The Research Support Services framework
- Applying the NHS Performance Framework to mental health trusts
in 2011/12
- Health services in Secure Children's Homes and Secure Training
Centres
- Payment by Results for mental health services
- Survey finds that public are more positive on some mental
health issues
- Department of Work and Pensions: Employment support for
disabled people
Nearly £30million to help most vulnerable
victims of crime
Justice Secretary Kenneth Clarke announced
that
vulnerable victims of crime will be helped by £29.4 million
over the next three years. The money will be used to support the
most seriously affected, vulnerable and persistently targeted
victims and witnesses. An important part of this will be to ensure
those traumatised by rape and sexual violence receive the
specialist support they need. Up to £10.5 million of this package
will go directly to rape crisis centres.
Health in the
media: DH
Campaigns to be funded
Ministers announced a
freeze last year on the £540m annual advertising budget for the
Department of Health, except on what was regarded on "essential" campaigns.
The government will now spend
£44m on four campaigns in
England. £15m is being released to fund the Smokefree
website, £14m for Change4Life, £11m for advertising issues
affecting older people, and £4m for targeting improvements to the
lives of young people. The money will be spent during 2011-12.
New websites
- It's time to follow the
Mental Elf!
A team from Oxford University have launched a new mental health website that
helps health and social care professionals keep up to date with all
of the latest research and guidance.
- WordsMatter: website to
praise and criticise media reporting
WordsMatter aims to establish
a systematic process for encouraging people to praise good, and
criticise poor, reporting on mental health issues. It alerts
subscribers to selected items, allowing them the opportunity to
contact the media concerned through the website. Anyone can sign up
and receive alerts when articles are added; subscribers can send
emails to the journalist directly from the website itself, allowing
an email to be sent anonymously if wished.
Mind Media
Awards 2011 are open for entries
Have you watched a television programme,
caught something on the radio or seen something online or in a
newspaper that you felt could make a positive difference to the
perception and understanding of mental health? Tell Mind
about it and they will approach the team or individual responsible
on your behalf and ask them to enter this year’s Awards. To be
eligible for the Awards, broadcast and
online entries must have been transmitted on television or radio or
accessible online in the UK, between 7 June 2010 and 7 June 2011.
Deadline: end of June 2011.
World Psychiatric
Association: 15th World Congress
The 15th World Congress of
Psychiatry will be held in Buenos Aires, Argentina September
18-22, 2011. More than 6,000 paid registrations have been already
received. More than 10,000 participants are expected. An extremely
attractive programme of tours for participants and accompanying
persons has been organized. Professor Mario Maj, President, World
Psychiatric Association hopes you will join them at this memorable
event.
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