February 2010

College news
Consultations
Other news
Online

 

Examination paper writing panels

College news

 

 

Examination Paper Writing Panels – Senior Trainee vacancies. The College wishes to appoint two Senior Trainees (SpR in at least 2nd year of training or ST5-6) to join each of the four Examination Paper Writing Panels. The new MRCPsych Examinations consists of three written papers (Paper 1, 2 & 3) a well as the Clinical Assessment of Skills and Competencies (CASC) examination. There are two separate panels for Paper 3 responsible for the Critical Review and Clinical Topics components respectively. The panels produce questions for the examinations question bank, from which questions are selected for the examination papers. The panels also meet after the examination to review statistics.

 

Please read the guidance notes, and download the application and reference forms. Closing date for applications: 28 February 2010, with interviews in March 2010.


The Information Standard

 

 

 

Professor Richard Williams TD

 

 

 

Members’ tie and scarf competition

 

  • New Year's Honours
    Congratulations to Professor Richard Williams TD, consultant child and adolescent psychiatry, Aneuron Bevan Health Board, who was awarded an OBE for services to medicine. A full list of the honours is available online.

 

  • Great news – new member benefit! Online access to EBMH journal now free to College members
    Evidence-Based Mental Health is a digest of the most important clinical research of relevance to mental health professionals. Reading EBMH is the equivalent of reading around 25,000 articles from over 50 journals each year. The College has now arranged for members to be able to access this important resource online free of charge via the Members Area of the College website. The journal, co-published by the College with the BMA and the British Psychological Society, surveys a wide range of international medical journals applying strict criteria for the quality, validity and clinical relevance of research. Practising clinicians present the key details of the best studies in a succinct, informative abstract with an expert commentary on its clinical application. Fantastic price for print: members will be able to subscribe to the print edition for the vastly reduced price of just £10. This offer will be available shortly; register here if you would like to be sent details at no obligation.
  • College welcomes call to end disqualification of MPs on grounds of mental illness

    The College has welcomed the Final Report of the Speaker's Conference on Parliamentary Representation which firmly supports the need to repeal section 141 of the Mental Health Act. Currently section 141 means MPs automatically lose their seat in Parliament if detained under the Act for a period of six months or more.

  • Call for Entries – RCPsych Awards 2010
    Your opportunity to nominate outstanding teams and individuals who are making a real difference to mental health services. Deadline for entries: 22 February 2010.
  • RCPsych grand designs

    Members are invited to submit paintings and photography for an exhibition at the College Annual Meeting 2010.

 

  • College mentioned in Commons debate on Age Discrimination in the NHS.

    Paul Burstow MP recently instigated a debate on age discrimination in the NHS in the House of Commons. All of the MPs who spoke in the debate mentioned the College’s work and key concerns. The debate ended with the Minister saying: “I will be doing a lot of work over the next few years, chairing a new ministerial advisory group on mental health inequalities to lead this agenda. We will work with the Royal College of Psychiatrists and other professional bodies to help providers re-design these services and tackle some of the cultural issues that mean that older people sometimes lose out.”

 


Consultation on prison transfers

Consultations

 

  • Opportunity to contribute to Government review of prison transfers

    Historically, transferring prisoners to hospital for the treatment of an acute mental illness has been problematic, and prisoners have had to endure lengthy delays. As a result of Lord Bradley's independent review, the Government is exploring opportunities for improving the process of prison transfers. The Department of Health is considering the introduction of a minimum target for the NHS of 14 days to transfer a prisoner with acute, severe mental illness to an appropriate healthcare setting. The College has been invited to contribute to this review and encourages members with experience of prison transfers to contribute through the College’s online consultation. This consultation seeks to draw on the experiences and expertise of psychiatrists in identifying the barriers and possible solutions to timely prison transfers. This consultation will run until 19 February 2010.

 

 


 

Hippocrates Prize for Poetry and Medicine

 

 

 

 

Mindfulness-based-therapy

 

 

 

 

Too Much of the Hard Stuff: What Alcohol Costs the NHS

 

Other news

 

Hippocrates Prize for Poetry and Medicine: new annual competition with a £15,000 award fund for a poem on a medical subject

All winning and commended poems will be published in a book of 46 poems. The highest ranked 300 entries will also be published electronically. Deadline for submissions: 31 January 2010.The 2010 awards will be announced at an international symposium on poetry and medicine to be held on 10 April 2010.

 

Judicial Appointments Commission recruiting medical members

The Judicial Appointments Commission is recruiting 20 new specialist medical members for the Mental Health Tribunal, which is part of the Health, Education and Social Care Chamber. The closing date for applications is 27 January 2010.

 

New health manifesto: recommendations for children and young people

The Royal Society for Public Health and the UK Faculty of Public Health have published a manifesto for legislation that would ban smoking in cars with children, phase out trans fats and put in place a minimum price for alcohol.

 

The Nation’s Dignity Ambassador: personal account of Sir Michael’s first year

Sir Michael Parkinson has written a personal account of his year as the nation's Dignity Ambassador. He talks about how and why he got involved in the Dignity in Care Campaign, the places he visited, people he met along the way and experiences of the services available. Sir Michael praises the people who inspired him and calls for out-of-date stereotypes of older people to be banished and for dignity to be at the heart of care.

 

Interim report: Improving Dementia Services in England

The National Audit Office has published a new interim report entitled, Improving Dementia Services in England. According to the report, the Department of Health has developed an ambitious and comprehensive strategy for dementia.

 

Work for mental health and inclusion

Employment is key to improving mental health and aiding recovery for people with the most severe mental health conditions. Work, Recovery and Inclusion sets out a strategy to deliver a radical increase in the number of people in contact with mental health services going back to work. 

 

Better protection for vulnerable adults

The Department of Health has announced the foundation of a Safeguarding Adults Board, which aims to ensure that the most vulnerable people in society will be better protected by local agencies such as councils, the police and the NHS.

 

Government’s response to CAMHS review

Keeping Children and Young People in Mind explains how the Government is responding to the review’s recommendations. It includes a description of what effective local services look like and details of a package of support to help local areas to deliver this..

 

Delivering same-sex accommodation progress report

This report outlines progress of the drive launched by the Department of Health in January 2009 to build on the work already underway across the NHS to provide same-sex accommodation for patients.

 

New report recommends ‘Mindfulness’

Mindfulness-based-therapy should be routinely available on the NHS to treat recurring bouts of depression, according to the Mental Health Foundation. The report argues that if more GPs could offer the therapy to their patients it would slash the financial burden of depression, which costs the UK economy £7.5 billion a year.

 

Project to reduce suicides on railways

The Samaritans and railway operator, Network Rail, have launched a £5 million project that aims to reduce the number of suicides on the railways. This new five-year partnership aims to cut rail suicides by 20% and will involve training for rail staff in dealing with potential suicides and the aftermath of a suicide.

 

Heavy drinking placing an ‘unsustainable burden’ on NHS

The report, Too Much of the Hard Stuff: What Alcohol Costs The NHS, calls for improvements to systems to identify, assess and treat patients with alcohol problems, as well as a wider change in society's attitudes towards drink.

 

NHS Clinical Leaders Network recruiting Associate members

The NHS Clinical Leaders Network (CLN) is currently recruiting Associate members and would like you to get involved.

 

Do you receive the World Psychiatric Association News?

This is now available online: Read December 2009 WPA News.

 

 


 

Adolescent forensic psychiatry

Online

 

 

 

 

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