Dr Paul Blenkiron is a NHS consultant in adult and community psychiatry at Bootham Park Hospital in York, Public Education Officer for the College’s Northern and Yorkshire Division, and Honorary Senior Clinical Lecturer, Hull-York Medical School and Leeds University.

Paul has a special interest in CBT, and practises as an accredited member of the British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies.  His longstanding enthusiasm for evidence-based psychiatry has included acting as an expert consultee on NICE guidelines for depression and computerised CBT. He is a clinical advisor on the psychological panel of the Health Technology Assessment Programme, and has authored over 70 clinical and research publications in the areas of self harm, CBT, depression, clinical guidelines and service user views. His most recent research examined factors that determine General Practitioners’ concordance with the NICE guidelines for depression.

In his role as NICE Fellow, Paul will be working with the Department of Health Sciences at York University and with the College to evaluate the impact of NICE guidelines on frontline mental health services. This project will focus upon gateways and barriers to implementing effective interventions – including attitudinal, educational and organisational factors. He will also promote high quality teaching, support NICE-concordant projects in the Yorkshire region, and work with his peers in the role of CPD coordinator. As a College media spokesperson, Paul will publicise cost-effective treatments in mental healthcare, and highlight the work of NICE as being much more than a body that approves new drugs.

Dr Angela Hassiotis is a Reader at UCL (Mental Health Sciences) and Honorary Consultant Psychiatrist (Learning Disabilities) in Camden and Islington Foundation Trust.

During her appointment, Angela will work with colleagues in the Foundation Trust and Local Authority to contribute to improvements in the care of people with mental illness and those with learning disabilities, by using evaluation tools developed by NICE to examine care pathways and to audit compliance with guidelines. She will work with faculty executive members to identify ways in which she can support the uptake of learning disabilities related topics for guideline development. 

Angela will use her national and international contacts to investigate ways in which care standards can be adapted in order to create pathways for the assessment and management of mental illness in learning disabilities in low income countries".

Dr Paul Wilkinson is University Lecturer and Honorary Consultant in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, University of Cambridge, Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust.

He is currently involved in the leadership and evaluation of a number of local and national projects which are trying to improve the delivery of evidence-based treatments to children and young people with emotional and behavioural disorders. He believes that the more widespread use of evidence-based practice will lead to improved outcomes for patients and improved cost-effectiveness of limited resources.Paul will spend his time working on three projects. 

• Firstly, he will be part of the leadership team developing evidence-based local care pathways that are well-integrated with partner agencies (including local authority, education and voluntary sector).
• Secondly, he will lead the development of interpersonal psychotherapy (IPT) locally. IPT is recommended as a first-line treatment for adolescent depression by NICE, but is rarely available due to a lack of therapists and supervisors. He will complete supervisor training and develop a network of supervisors.
• Thirdly, Paul will contribute to the national leadership of the improvement in the delivery of evidence-based therapies for children and adolescents with emotional and behavioural disorders. This will be through continuing to give lectures to a wide variety of audiences and through his work on the national group developing Improved Access to Psychological Therapies for Children and Young People.