College News
1. RCPsych Awards 2009: a celebration
of psychiatry: Professor Dinesh Bhugra
2. RCPsych statement on the H1N1
(swine) flu vaccination programme for healthcare workers
3. Interested in being a College
podcaster?
4. Tens of thousands of over-65s
at risk in mental health services
5. The Trafalgar
Square Fourth plinth: Dr Mark Harrison
6. World Mental Health Day: 10
October 2009 – what did the College do?
7. New International Advisory
Committee (IAC)
Consultations
8. Assisted suicide
9. DoH - Facing up to the future of
social care
10. Have your say on the NHS Quality
and Productivity Challenge
Party Political conferences
11. Report from the Party Conferences:
Dr Ian Hall and Neil Balmer
12. Party Conferences: on the
fringe
New reports
13. GMC guidance on
confidentiality
14. Care Quality Commission: 2009
survey of mental health acute inpatient services
15. Care Quality Commission (CQC)
publishes NHS performance ratings
In the news
16. Medics flout community care
law: BBC Radio 4 File on 4
17. Fewer young addicts seeking
drug treatment
18. Campaigners call for more
investment in mental health research
19. Carers not getting funds set
aside
20. Detaining asylum seeker
children ‘abuse’
New policy and practice
21. Department for Work and
Pensions - Welfare reform delivers more help for jobseekers but
greater responsibility to take up support
22. New study to examine benefits
of personal health budgets
23. DoH announces new wave of
talking therapy sites
24. Improved safeguarding
arrangements go live
25. Fast review move on Foundation
Trusts’ private income cap
College News
1. RCPsych Awards 2009: a celebration of psychiatry:
Professor Dinesh Bhugra
I was delighted to co-host with the journalist and broadcaster,
Libby Purves, the College's first ever RCPsych Awards ceremony at the Royal Society
of Medicine in London on Tuesday 6 October. Attended
by more than 300 members and other mental health professionals, we
were able to acknowledge and reward the best academics, the most
talented trainees, the hardest-working psychiatrists, the most
innovative teams and services and the most influential public
educator of 2009.
2. RCPsych statement on
the H1N1 (swine) flu vaccination programme for healthcare
workers
The Royal College of
Psychiatrists supports the Department of Health’s announcement that
frontline health and social care workers should be prioritised to
receive the H1N1 flu vaccination. All the latest clinical
information and guidance can be found on the Department of
Health website.
3. Interested in being a
College podcaster?
We are looking for members
of the College (including trainees) who would be willing to commit
one session every few months to interview authors from the
British Journal of Psychiatry or the Psychiatric
Bulletin for the College’s monthly CPD Online and public
education podcasts. For more information, please email
Deborah
Hart with your details and your areas of interest.
4. Tens of thousands of
over-65s at risk in mental health services
Tens of thousands of people
over the age of 65 are denied access to specialist mental
health services because of ‘arbitrary’ age limits says a new
College position statement, launched at the House of Commons, which
exposes the ways in which older people are missing out on vital
support and risking serious deterioration in their mental
health.
Dr Dave Anderson, chair of
the College’s Faculty of Old Age Psychiatry, said: “If we are to
meet the pressing challenge of an ageing population we must remove
the barrier that is age discrimination. There is no justifiable
reason why an older person with the same need as a younger person
is denied equitable mental health care, yet that is the current
position.” Read the full report, Age
Discrimination in mental health services: making equality a
reality, and accompanying evidence document,
The need to
tackle age discrimination in mental health.
5. The Trafalgar
Square Fourth plinth: Dr Mark Harrison
Deciding on what to do for the hour was one of the most
difficult things I have had to consider. It makes you strangely
egotistical, and I had seriously considered simply publicly naming
all the people who had annoyed me through the course of my life.
However, it seemed like too good an opportunity to waste, and as a
psychiatrist I felt it was right to use my time to do something
linked to mental illness and the stigma that is unnecessarily
associated with it.
After a lot of
discussion among friends and colleagues, we settled on the idea
that you see up on the plinth - that of disappearing into a
human-sized box. Making this work had some practical problems, and
not surprisingly most people give you funny looks when you ask if
they have a spare box big enough to put a person in. 1 in 4 of us
will have a mental illness at some point; continuing the
theme, I was 1 man in
4 boxes on 1 of the 4 plinths.
As for my reasons for doing this, first, I'm a fairly private
person and I like the idea of being hidden in what is perhaps the
most publicly exposed hour of my life. I also liked the idea that a
person will not be visible during much of the hour on the
plinth.
6. World Mental Health Day: 10 October 2009 – what
did the College do?
The College has produced the
first
‘Get Well Soon’ cards specially designed to send to
people who are unwell with mental ill health. Research has shown
that people admitted to psychiatric in-patient units receive
far fewer
cards and
messages of support than people admitted to hospital with a
physical health problem. The cards are a simple way to send a
message of support to friends or relatives – and could even help
boost their recovery from mental illness.
- New report shows
half of adults in debt may have a mental health
problem
New research states that one
in two British adults in debt may also have a mental health
problem. The
literature review which has been endorsed by
Stephen Fry and Alastair Campbell has been published by the Royal
College of Psychiatrists and Rethink, funded by the Money Advice
Trust and the Finance & Leasing Association.
College President, Professor
Dinesh Bhugra, said: “The economic downturn will impact on the UK's
mental health. All political action at this time is important.
Research and clinical experience tells us that the more debts
people have, the more likely they are to have a mental health
problem. Health and social care professionals are well placed to
help their patients during these difficult times.”
- Listening to voices: New training DVD helps mental
health workers learn from patients and carers
Listening to Voices features service users
and carers talking about their experiences of using mental
health services. It travels 
through the patients’ and carers’ journey – from first
contact with psychiatric services to recovery and coping – with
examples of people’s personal experiences at each stage. The 40
minute film can be paused at different points to allow for group
discussion. It is accompanied by detailed training notes to explore
and expand on key principles.
- The Northern Ireland Division: special secondary school
event
The Division launched
The Young Mind to a backfrop of African
drumming and Bollywood dancing at its annual Worl Mental Health Day
event for schools. Dr Stuart Flanagan, resident GP on Radio 1's
Surgery show, did a series of media interviews about young people's
mental health and promoted the book. He also hosted the event where
more than 200 secondary school students came to talk about mental
health. The College trainees performed a play that they take into
schools, there was performance poetry, and the kids tried out
drumming and dancing as fun ways of promoting positive mental
wellbeing.
7. New International
Advisory Committee (IAC)
The first meeting of the
International Advisory Committee took place on
30 September 2009. The IAC, chaired by the President and replacing
the Board of International Affairs, is the new committee that will
be responsible for the College’s international initiatives and
activities. The aim is to mainstream the College’s numerous
international activities. The meeting set out its international
priorities which include support for International Members through
the International Divisions, training and examination initiatives,
the volunteers programme and liaison with international
organisations. The IAC also confirmed its continuing commitment to
supporting the work of the Iraq Sub-Committee.
Consultations
8. Assisted
suicide
Keir Starmer, Director of Public
Prosecutions, outlines details of a consultation being run by the
Crown
Prosecution Service (CPS) on assisted suicide.
“I have now published my interim policy on the offence of assisted
suicide and launched a public consultation exercise in order to
seek the views of everyone who wants to comment. I thought you
would like to have a copy of the policy, together with a document
that sets out the ways in which I am asking people to send in their
views. You may wish to forward this policy to anyone who you think
might be interested to send in their comments. During and after the
public consultation period, which is to run between 23 September
and 16 December 2009, my team shall be considering all the
responses that we receive. After that, I will consider whether, and
if so, how to amend the policy. I intend to publish a summary of
responses and the final policy on this very sensitive area of the
law by 10 March 2010.”
9. DoH - Facing up to the future of
social care
The Department of Health has
launched a 'Big Care Debate' entitled 'Face of
Care' which will allow people to go online and 'age' a
photo of themselves to generate an image of how they may look when
older. It is hoped this will encourage people to take a frank look
at what lies in store when they reach old age. Secretary of State
for Health, Andy Burnham, commented 'The challenge for Government
is to build a care and support system that delivers fairer, more
affordable and more joined up support for older people. At the
moment, there’s a big gap between people’s aspirations and what is
affordable under the current care and support system. That’s why
we’re changing care and support and we want to get people’s views
on how the system needs to change.'
10. Have your say on the NHS
Quality and Productivity Challenge
In his Annual Report, David Nicholson NHS
Chief Executive,
described the challenge of delivering high quality
healthcare when finances get tighter. All NHS boards
have been engaging with staff to develop early responses to this
challenge and enlist their help in making changes. David
Nicholson is clear that this is a challenge for the whole NHS and
the real changes will be designed and delivered by NHS staff so he
has opened an e-mail box to receive direct feedback on what
important issues staff would like to see taken forward at a
national level. He’s looking for ideas specifically on what he can
do to enable staff to make a difference regionally.
- What actions need to be taken and would these
be more effective if taken at a national level?
- What work needs to be
prioritised?
- What are the obstacles and
where do you need support?
These views will inform the Operating
Framework when it is published. You can send views to QIPPChallenge@dh.gsi.gov.uk
by 31 October 2009.
Party Political
conferences
11. Report from the
Party Conferences: Dr Ian Hall and Neil Balmer
The College attended the
three main political party conferences. As the last conferences
before a general election, each party focused on priorities for
their election manifestos and what they would do in Government. We
met with politicians from national and local government, including
Ministers, Shadow Ministers, back-bench MPs, and prospective
candidates and discussed a range of themes relating to the Fair Deal priorities. Our
activity at the conferences ranged from one-to-one meetings,
interventions in round-table meetings and fringe events, and
informal discussions.
A key priority was to
inform parliamentarians about the Government’s New Horizons mental
health policy, which we used as a basis for explaining where we
believed future government policy should focus. This involved
highlighting the importance of public mental health and early
intervention, emphasizing that political parties must retain a
clear focus on mental health services, particularly in the current
economic downturn. We also had specific meetings on a variety of
issues such as age discrimination, autism, and homelessness and
mental health.
We co-sponsored
round-table meetings with the Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health on
mental health in the criminal justice system, where College experts
were able to discuss these issues with relevant parliamentarians.
Party conferences are a useful opportunity to meet with other
organisations to highlight our work and discuss potential areas of
collaborative working. This included meeting with the Chief
Executive of the Care Quality Commission and representatives from
all the main mental health organisations.
12. Party Conferences:
on the fringe
New reports
13. GMC guidance on
confidentiality
The General Medical Council
has published new confidentiality
guidance with up-to-the-minute advice on electronic
health records, sharing information with patients' families and
disclosures for research and other secondary uses; plus
supplementary guides on reporting gunshot and knife wounds,
responding to criticism in the press and reporting concerns to the
DVLA.
14. Care Quality Commission: 2009 survey of mental health
acute inpatient services
15. Care
Quality Commission (CQC) publishes NHS performance
ratings
The CQC has published
performance ratings for all
392 NHS trusts in England. CQC said the NHS is
performing well against a rigorous assessment on quality, with more
trusts rated “excellent” or “good”. It also commended the
significant improvement in ratings for financial management.
Mental health trusts: In 2008/09, 30% scored
“excellent”, 46% “good”, 16% “fair” and 9% “weak”. In 2007/08, the
ratings were 64%, 25%, 7% and 4% respectively. Trusts are now
assessed against eight new indicators. Trusts struggled to meet a
new indicator relating to quality of basic data which is essential
to monitor quality of care.
In the news
16. Medics flout
community care law: BBC Radio 4 File on 4
The government seriously
underestimated the number of psychiatric patients who would need to
be forced to take medication, the BBC has learned. It predicted 300
community treatment orders in the first year, but 10 times as many
applications have been made.
Psychiatrists told
BBC File on
4 this had left them having to "bend the rules" when
unable to get signatures of two doctors that are needed on orders.
A minister responded that CTOs were making a difference to people's
lives. According to the Care Quality Commission, in the first 10
months since CTOs came into force 3777 applications have been
made, .
17. Fewer young addicts seeking drug
treatment
The number of young adults seeking
treatment for heroin and crack addiction has fallen significantly,
but cocaine use appears to be on the increase according to figures
released from the NHS National Treatment Agency for
Substance Misuse (NTA). Record numbers of adults are
being treated for drug addiction, with a total of 207,580 adults in
treatment in 2008/09.
Dr Emily Finch, a psychiatrist from the
South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust with a long history
of treating drug users commented: "We are attracting people to
treatment earlier in their careers. People aren't using for 10 to
20 years any more, they are using for three to four years. It's
good that treatment is attractive and available enough that people
do that. Reduction in use with young people would indicate to me
that we are getting on top of this problem."
18. Campaigners call for more investment in mental health
research
A declaration, supported by the
College, calling for a radical increase in mental health
research investment was delivered to Downing Street. The
petition,
which is part of the Research Mental Health campaign calls upon the
Government, the NHS, funding bodies, research institutions, the
pharmaceutical industry and the third sector to commit to making
mental health research a joint priority.
19. Carers not getting funds set aside
Most government cash set aside to help
carers has not reached the frontline. Data from two charities, the
Princess Royal Trust for Carers and Crossroads
Care, has revealed that 80% of the funding pledged by
the Government last year has not been allocated or has been spent
elsewhere.
The Government gives money to PCTs but
often does not ring-fence it, meaning PCTs sometimes spend it on
other things. Care services minister Phil Hope has suggested MPs
should help ensure PCTs are spending the money as intended.
20. Detaining asylum seeker children
‘abuse’
Detaining the children of asylum seekers
can cause them depression and anxiety, according to a study,
published in
Child Abuse and Neglect which looked at a
small group of children held at Yarl's Wood IRC in Bedfordshire.
They found evidence that holding youngsters with their parents in
immigration removal centres (IRCs) caused mental and physical
health problems and was "not in their best interests". They called
for an urgent review of government policy to stop more children
suffering "severe" levels of stress from being locked up.
New policy and
practice
21. Department for Work and
Pensions - Welfare reform delivers more help for jobseekers but
greater responsibility to take up support
The Department for Work and
Pensions has reported that work trials and work experience will be
made mandatory for the long-term jobless, as part of a major
expansion of employment support and welfare reform to get people
back to work. The Government is rolling out the next phase of
welfare reform designed to help more than three
quarters of a million people back into work by the end of next
year.
The Flexible New Deal involves private, public and third
sector partners, and the first new starters under the £1bn Future
Jobs Fund, alongside a major expansion of the successful Local
Employment Partnerships (LEPs). The Flexible New Deal also includes
at least four weeks mandatory activity such as training or work
experience.
22. New study to examine benefits of personal
health budgets
Health Minister Phil Hope
announced the selection of twenty sites across England to
participate in a study to identify
the benefits of Personal Budgets for health and the
patient groups who will benefit most from them. Phil Hope said:
“The introduction of personal health budgets will support the
cultural change needed to create a more personalised NHS.
They have the potential to improve the quality of patient
experience and the effectiveness of care by giving individuals as
much control over their healthcare as is appropriate for them.The
full evaluation will last three years, with newsletters, research
summaries and interim reports made available online."
23. DoH announces new wave of talking therapy
sites
Care Services Minister Phil
Hope has announced that more than 100,000 people will benefit from
a new wave of
talking therapy services, which are being made
available across the country. 52 new sites will help people with
depression and anxiety disorders access NICE-approved treatments,
including cognitive behavioural therapies, counselling and guided
self-help.
24. Improved safeguarding arrangements go live
Children and vulnerable adults will be better protected with the
start of the new
Vetting and Barring Scheme (VBS). The new scheme will
be delivered by the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) and the
Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA). Its tighter regulations
are at the heart of the Government's strategy for increasing the
protection of vulnerable members of society. New entrants and
volunteers working with vulnerable groups will need to start to
apply to become ISA registered from July 2010. The Vetting and
Barring Scheme covers England, Wales and Northern Ireland. A
separate, but aligned, scheme will be implemented in Scotland in
2010.
25. Fast review move on Foundation Trusts’ private
income cap
Health Minister Mike O'Brien has
announced that the Government is to fast track a review of the cap
on private income that NHS Foundation Trusts are allowed to earn.
The process will begin within a month, with new proposals presented
to ministers in Spring.
Under current arrangements, the
high-performing Trusts are limited to earning money from private
patients at the same level they were in 2002-3, before the first
bodies were awarded foundation status."The Government is committed
to a full review of the patient cap .... We do want to ensure that
the way in which any private money coming in to the health service
is directed in the best interests of the patients and the NHS as a
whole." A legal challenge to the cap is currently before the
courts.
26. What’s new online?