Contents March 2009 Newsletter
1. Recruitment crisis: an update: Clare Oakley,
Chair, Psychiatric Trainees’ Committee
2. RCPsych Awards extended
deadline: An urgent message from the President
3. Tribunal Service Mental Health
(TSMH): your views needed
4. Service Users’ Recovery
and Carers Network
5. Doctors on the
couch…
6. New figures show 3,900
offenders with mental disorders are being held in secure
hospitals
7. Commissioning
healthcare in prisons
8. National dementia strategy
launched
9. From Brussels: Mental Health
Europe (MHE) calls on the French policy makers not to worsen the
situation of persons in mental health facilities
10. Future pharmaceutical
innovation requires patients to be placed right at the
centre
11. 2009 Graham Bull
Prize
12. Time to Change campaign
launched
13. Women's mental health
worsening, says report from The NHS Information Centre
14. Consultations
(a) Department of Health - Phil
Hope launches consultation on sharing of information
(b) All prescriptions are free in
Wales. Scotland and Northern Ireland to abolish charges soon
15. “Heaven on earth” by Deepa
Mehta
16. Poetry Event: The Divided
Self - 7.00 pm on Monday 16th March 2009
17. GMC Council sets out
priorities for 2009
18. What’s
New?
- Annual Meeting 2009
- RCPsych Special Committee on Human Rights and
the University of Bedfordshire: Human Rights in Mental Health Care:
Principles into Practice
- Mental Health Act 2007: Six months on: issues and
challenges
- New on CPD Online
- Your local Division
1. Recruitment
crisis: an update: Clare Oakley, Chair, Psychiatric Trainees’
Committee
The Dean, Professor Rob Howard, and I outlined
our plans to improve recruitment into psychiatry in the November 2008 newsletter. This is to update you
about the strategies the Psychiatric Trainees’ Committee (PTC) has
been implementing with the Dean’s support 
and
enthusiasm.
Since the Student
Associate grade was launched in December 2008 more than 300
medical students and foundation doctors have joined the College but
we are keen to welcome more. Please encourage your students
and foundation trainees locally to sign up – it is free of charge
and offers a range of benefits. We will shortly be selecting
a second Student Associate to join us on the PTC.
We are forging links with medical schools and
facilitating the development of student psychiatry societies
locally. In the last few months 10 medical schools have begun
setting up their own psychiatry societies; all are enthusiastically
supported by local trainees. These societies will provide
local mentors, signpost research, elective and audit opportunities,
offer careers advice and organise evening meetings or lectures.
There is a new student
section of the College website that contains personal
perspectives of trainees and consultants, information about prizes
and bursaries offered by the College and a range of useful
information about choosing psychiatry as a career. We are
continuing to develop these web-pages and are currently adding film
and book reviews submitted by medical students. We are keen
to receive additional material for the website from a variety of
sources and I encourage you to send contributions to ptc@rcpsych.ac.uk.
Continued progress with this initiative relies
on the enthusiasm of every psychiatrist to engage positively with
medical students on their placements in psychiatry. My
own experience of being inspired by the psychiatrists I met during
my student placement makes me believe we all have a fantastic
opportunity to pass on our enthusiasm about psychiatry to the
students we teach. We are keen for senior psychiatrists to get
involved in the developing student societies locally. Please
contact me if you can offer your help or have any other ideas or
suggestions: ptc@rcpsych.ac.uk
2. RCPsych Awards extended deadline: An urgent message
from the President
In response to requests from members,
the deadline for the RCPsych Awards
entries has been extended to Monday, 2nd March
2009.
The aim of the RCPsych Awards is to promote
and reward examples of the outstanding services which psychiatrists
and other professionals provide nationwide.
With this aim in mind, I would urge you to
nominate yourself or colleagues and organisations within your
Division, for these Awards.
The Awards categories are:
- Psychiatric Team of the Year
- Psychiatrist of the Year
- Mental Health Services Provider of the
Year
- Core Psychiatric Trainee of the Year (CT1 -
CT3)
- Advanced Psychiatric Trainee of the Year (ST4
– ST6 and SpR)
- Medical Manager/Leader of the Year
- Psychiatric Academic of the Year
- Public Educator of the Year
Winning an RCPsych Award will:
- give national recognition to the contribution
made by individuals, teams and organisations
- raise staff and service morale
- reward excellence and innovation across
psychiatry in research, teaching and clinical services
- create public awareness of excellent mental
health services.
Visit http://www.rcpsych.ac.uk/member/currentissues/rcpsychawards.aspx
to download application forms, category criteria and rules of
entry.
If you would like to receive this information
in hard copy by post, please contact Nicola Boyce, Campaigns &
Communications Manager, by email at nboyce@rcpsych.ac.uk or
by calling 020 7235 2351 ext 131.
3. Tribunal Service Mental Health (TSMH): your views
needed
The TSMH (formerly the MHRT) has established a
forum to support better communication between stakeholders and
improve the service it provides. Members wishing to make comments
or express views, either as Responsible Clinicians giving evidence
or as Medical Members of the Tribunal should contact Dr Tony
Zigmond at aszigmond@rcpsych.ac.uk
4. Service Users’ Recovery and Carers
Network
Many service user and carer groups and
individuals want to contribute to the work of the College on
an ad hoc basis, without being part of a formal committee or
meeting. In 2008, in order to encourage these groups and
individuals to link into the College, it was agreed to set up a
Service Users’ Recovery and Carers’ Network.
Members of the network will:
- receive a quarterly e-newsletter.
- participate in consultations or surveys on
College policy and mental health information.
- receive regular updates on the work of the
College’s Service Users’ Recovery and Carers’ Forums.
- receive information about College campaigns
and activities.
Please disseminate this to anyone you feel
would be interested in joining the College Service Users’ Recovery
and Carers’ Network. Further details are available from: tkennedy@rcpsych.ac.uk
Application
Form
5. Doctors on the couch…
Trainee psychiatrist Dr Ollie White interviews
Professor Stuart Macpherson
Ollie White, a specialist registrar training
in child and adolescent and forensic psychiatry, quizzes
Professor Macpherson on how he chose surgery, the type of
training he had and his views on the future of PMETB and its merger
with the General Medical Council in April 2010.
Listen to Podcast.
6. New figures show 3,900 offenders with mental disorders
are being held in secure hospitals
There were 3,900 offenders diagnosed as
psychopathic or as having brain impairments or mental illnesses
detained in institutions in England and Wales in 2007. This is an
8% on the number in 2006 and the largest increase in a
decade. Three quarters were diagnosed with a mental illness and 13%
with a psychopathic disorder.
The
figures showed 14 offenders discharged by the Mental Health
Tribunal between 1999 and 2005 went on to commit 'grave' crimes. Of
the total of 1,277 patients let out in that period, around 7%
committed further crimes.
7. Commissioning healthcare
in prisons
The Healthcare Commission and Her Majesty's
Inspectorate of Prisons (HMIP) joined forces to call on the NHS to
provide better healthcare for adults in the prison system. The
watchdogs said the commissioning of healthcare services by
PCTs was variable and did not always meet the health needs of
individual prisoners.
The
report points to lack of planning and poor assessment of the
health needs of prisoners. This meant that PCTs were not always
able to provide the right services or ensure the right number or
mix of staff.
The watchdogs also said that many PCTs did not
commission court diversion schemes, which may help to divert
offenders with mental health problems out of the criminal justice
system and into appropriate health services.
8. National dementia strategy
launched
A senior doctor is due to oversee dementia
care in every hospital in England. Health Secretary Alan Johnson
and Care Services Minister Phil Hope have unveiled the long-awaited
National Dementia Strategy,
which aims to improve diagnosis and treatment while
saving almost 1 billion pounds.
The strategy also outlines plans to provide
more support to carers with the aim of preventing or delaying the
admission of sufferers to care homes.
But a review of the use of anti-psychotic
drugs – a controversial aspect of caring for people with dementia
in care homes - will not be published until the spring.
Every GP will be trained to spot the first
signs of dementia while ‘memory clinics’ will be set up in every
town to help sufferers to live their lives as normally as
possible.
“It is a day to celebrate for people with
dementia and their carers,” said Dr David Anderson, Chair Faculty
of Old Age Psychiatry. “We must be clear that the Dementia Strategy
is the beginning and not the end of the process. Unless it is
backed by resources and the commitment of all concerned it will be
just words on a page. We need the coordinated effort of everyone,
including the health and social services, the care sector,
government and the public, to make this work.”
9. From Brussels: Mental Health Europe (MHE) calls on
the French policy makers not to worsen the situation of persons in
mental health facilities
During his speech at the ERASME hospital of
Antony (France) in December, the French President Nicolas Sarkozy
announced the release of 70 million Euros to secure the
psychiatric facilities, to create 160 beds in care units for
problematic patients and to reinforce safety measures for secluded
patients by building walls and making use of electronic
bracelets.
Mental health service users represented by the
MHE member organisation, Advocacy France, have expressed their deep
concern about such a decision. They stressed that putting these
measures into force will increase the fear of ‘madness’ and the
tendency to further socially exclude people with mental health
problems.
Advocacy France believes that the French
President’s announcement of an increase in the number of isolation
rooms and compulsory treatment will not strengthen health care but
will reduce it instead. People with mental health problems should
not be deprived from their liberty without being first
offered the possibility of giving consent to treatment or
hospitalization.
Mental Health Europe shares the concerns of
Advocacy France as well as of other organisations, carers and users
representatives. Mental Health Europe has called on French
policy and decision makers not to give support to the security
strategy of President Sarkozy regarding persons with severe mental
health problems. http://www.mhe-sme.org/
10. Future pharmaceutical innovation requires
patients to be placed right at the centre
Unless points of contention between the
pharmaceutical industry and the medical profession are resolved
satisfactorily, future advances in the quality of patient care may
be put at risk. This is the conclusion reached by a multi-sector
working party convened by the Royal College of Physicians. The
group's report identifies a number of
critical threats to clinical research in the UK. These converge
around two key themes:
- Patient disillusionment with medicines policy
- A failure of trust between the NHS and the pharmaceutical
industry.
To address these challenges, the group has
formulated a series of steps they believe can help to restore trust
and promote the effective exchange of ideas between sectors. The
common theme cutting across the 42 recommendations is a drive to
redefine the terms of engagement between the NHS, academic
medicine, and the pharmaceutical industry, with the health and
well-being of the patient as the over-riding objective.
11. 2009 Graham Bull Prize
The Royal College of Physicians is pleased to
announce that the 2009 Graham Bull Prize in
Clinical Science is open. Clinicians and basic scientists from
a wide area of expertise such as molecular and cellular biology,
psychiatry or health sciences are invited to apply. The closing
date for applications is the 31st March 2009.
12. Time to Change campaign
launched
England’s biggest ever mental health
anti-stigma programme, Time to Change, began with
a national media campaign intended to reach 24 million people. The
three-year, £18m programme started with a television advert to be
shown during Coronation Street.
A month-long advertising blitz by Mind,
Rethink and Mental Health Media will continue in newspapers,
magazines and the London Underground, with marketing also delivered
on posters, beer mats, commercial radio and Facebook.
Media volunteers, including celebrities such
as Stephen Fry and Ruby Wax, will attempt to change public
attitudes by sharing their experiences of mental illness. They plan
to challenge misconceptions such as the idea that people with
mental illness never recover, and are violent and
unpredictable.
The long-term goal is to end mental health
discrimination, but initially progress will be measured against two
targets: to reduce discrimination by 5% by 2012, and to create a 5%
improvement in public attitudes towards mental health problems.
Researchers from the Institute of Psychiatry
at King’s College, London, will interview 1,000 volunteers with
mental health problems each year about their experiences in the
community, to assess whether these goals are being met.
13. Women's mental health worsening,
says report from The NHS Information Centre
Women’s mental health is worsening with more
of them suffering depression, anxiety or suicidal thoughts, says a
report from The NHS Information Centre (NHS IC).
The report showed:
- The proportion of women aged 16 to 64
suffering a common mental disorder (CMD) – typically, depression or
anxiety – increased from 19.1 per cent in 1993 to 21.5 per cent
(one in five of the adult female population) in 2007. The rate in
men did not change significantly.
- The largest increase in rate of CMD between
1993 and 2007 was observed in women aged 45-64, among whom the rate
rose by about a fifth.
- The proportion of women aged 16-74 reporting
suicidal thoughts in the previous year increased from 4.2 per cent
in 2000 to 5.5 per cent in 2007.
The Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey 2007
was carried out for The NHS IC by the National Centre for Social
Research (NatCen) in collaboration with the University of Leicester
and provides data on the prevalence of both treated and untreated
psychiatric disorder among those aged 16 and over in England. It
examines the prevalence of key conditions such as anxiety,
depression, eating disorders, post-traumatic stress disorder,
personality disorders, gambling and drug and alcohol misuse across
gender, age, ethnic group, marital status and adjusted household
income.
Across all conditions, the survey showed
nearly one in four people (23 per cent) in England experience at
least one psychiatric disorder and that those affected were more
likely to have a lower adjusted household income.
For the first time in the series, the 2007
survey covered people aged 75 and over and provides the first
national research on the prevalence of psychiatric disorder in
older people living in private households.
14. Consultations
(a)
Department of Health - Phil Hope launches consultation on sharing
of information
Care Services Minister, Phil Hope has launched
a nationwide consultation on how best to share information across
health and social care community support services. The consultation
aims to create a more efficient and transparent system of
information sharing and to avoid patients being asked the same
questions several times. Proposals will look at what information
should be shared and with whom.
The consultation, which is now open covers:
- how to do assessments and care planning;
- what information is shared;
- who that information might be shared with;
- proposals on the IT approach and solutions that would enable
this to happen nationally;
- issues around confidentiality and security arrangements.
The
consultation period runs until 17 April
2009.
(b) All
prescriptions are free in Wales. Scotland and Northern Ireland to
abolish charges soon
Professor Ian Gilmore is leading a
review of Prescription Charges with a view to extending free
prescriptions to more people with long term conditions.
The closing date for the web survey and for
written submissions is 27 February 2009.
15. “Heaven on earth” by
Deepa Mehta
Friday 6th March
2009
Supported by the Royal College of
Psychiatrists, this screening will be held at BAFTA, Piccadilly in
London as part of the Deepa Mehta weekend..
Heaven on Earth
staring Preity Zinta as the lead role of Chand, a young Indian
Punjabi woman who finds herself in an abusive arranged marriage
with an Indo-Canadian man, Rocky played by theatre actor Vansh
Bhardwaj.
Deepa Mehta is a Toronto-based director has
earned international attention with her films. She is considered by
many as one of the finest new directors on the horizon. With films
such as the trilogy that consists of Fire (1996), Earth (1998), and
Water (2005), she is quickly becoming the voice of a new India.
About the event: The event
will start with a pre-screening reception, followed by introduction
to the event, screening Q & A with Deepa Mehta and some cast
members. Thereafter the audience will be treated with a drinks
reception allowing for ample networking and conversation.
http://www.tonguesonfire.com/
16. Poetry Event: The Divided Self - 7.00 pm on Monday 16th
March 2009
The
Divided Self is a joint event between Poet in the City, the RCPsych
and other mental health organisations, featuring poetry written by
poets suffering from mental distress and about the nature of
the self. The line-up will feature the distinguished contemporary
poets Simon Barraclough, Suzanne Batty, David Harsent and Sarah
Wardle. They will look back to other poets who have written
powerfully about depression and their struggles with mental health
problems, and will read their own work, reflecting on the
fragility, resilience and complexity of the creative mind. It
will take place in Hall One at Kings Place, the new home of
Guardian News and Media, 90 York Way, London N1 9AG. Tickets
(£9.50) are available from www.kingsplace.co.uk/ or for
£11.50 from the box office on 0844 264 0321. For booking enquiries
please contact tickets@kingsplace.co.uk.
17. GMC Council sets out priorities for 2009
The GMC has published its Business Plan for
2009 as follows:
- Continue to set and uphold appropriate
professional standards for doctors. This includes developing more
interactive case studies on the well received GMP in Action website
and consulting on good practice guidance such as ‘End of Life’
guidance.
- Bring together all stages of medical
education and training.
- Introduce licenses as the first crucial step
towards revalidation which will provide enhanced assurance that
licensed doctors are fit to practise.
The Business Plan will inform the
longer-term strategic plan that the Council will consider in the
course of 2009.
18. What’s New?
College
events
1. Have you booked yet to
attend the Annual
Meeting in Liverpool in June 2009? .
2. RCPsych Special
Committee on Human Rights and the University of Bedfordshire:
Human
Rights in Mental Health Care: Principles into
Practice:
Friday 8th May
2009
The aim of the conference is to introduce the
principles of a human rights based approach to mental health care
and explore how practitioners can apply them in practice to improve
the care of people with mental health problems. Speakers will
introduce the concept of human rights as they apply in clinical
practice; look at European experience before focussing on the
national initiative of the Department of Health and British
Institute of Human Rights. The cost is £90.
For further information and a booking form
please contact Dr Sophie Davison, Consultant Forensic Psychiatrist,
Community Forensic Team, Lake House, Guildford Road, Chertsey,
Surrey. KT16 0QA Telephone: 01932 722443
E-mail: sophie.davison@sabp.nhs.uk.
3. Law Society and RCPsych: Mental Health Act 2007: Six
months on: issues and challenges: Thursday 30th April
2009. Email: MHC@lawsociety.org.uk or tel:
020 7316 5700; fax: 020 7316 5667.
Programme
and Application Form