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 Welcome
to the 16th edition of the General and Community Faculty
Newsletter. Click on a heading to go directly to that item,
or scroll down the page. There are links within items to
other pages on this site, or to send an email, and at the end of
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contents area.
Please note: the long articles are individual documents which
will open in Word.
Contents:
Articles
Conferences
Information and adverts
Contact information
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Editorial
Welcome back to Root & Branch Issue 16
for a second helping from the new editorial
team:
- Claire Flannigan
- Rashid Zaman
- Hazel Johnson, Neil Masson
- Cyrus Abbasian
- Pandit Pallavi.
We received a comment after R&B 16 in
July that we had published a mini journal and not a newsletter.
Yes, OK, fair comment – we hold our hands up to that, and should
explain that it was largely because there was a backlog to
publish.
This time we requested submissions for
shorter articles and you have responded, so we really want your
comments and views on a) what we’ve produced this time and b) what
you want from future newsletters. We will be aiming for a quarterly
publication so the opportunity to see your name in print is going
to come along quite frequently.
We hope you will enjoy reading this
newsletter, covering many varied issues, which we think you will
not only find interesting but would lead you to debate amongst
colleagues, as well as provide us with your comments. Please
email us.
Do come to the Faculty
conference in London on 14 & 15 October and talk to us
about what you want from your Faculty.
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Chair’s Message
Dr Michele Hampson
Equity and Excellence: liberating the
NHS
The Government’s health strategy, set out in
the white paper, “Equity and Excellence: Liberating the NHS” ” is
to be commended for its focus on outcomes as opposed to targets and
process measures. Patients’ choice is another positive development,
“no decision about me without me”. Whilst in principle moving power
from Whitehall to professionals is to be applauded, it is uncertain
whether independent commissioning boards and replacing PCTs with GP
consortia is the right way forward; only time will tell. So yet
again we have a national NHS experiment; not a pilot study in
sight.
Outcome measures: how well are we
doing, how and at what expense?
The College in its report on the economic
downturn identified the need to gather evidence about service
redesign. The Faculty Executive contributed by holding a seminar to
gather information on the models being implemented. It was clear
that there was little research evidence to guide the process. The
key recommendation was to agree outcome measures that would enable
services in the future to be more reliably compared and the
Executive has produced a draft paper that will be on the Faculty
page of the College website by 20th September, prior to
discussion at the October College Council meeting.
The NHS Outcomes Framework “Transparency and
Outcomes” consultation document, focuses on effectiveness, safety
and patient experience. We are keen to ensure that any measure is
relevant, simple to use, validated and reliable. Outcomes include
symptom change but also level of function and in the case of those
with enduring mental illness personal goals. Ideally there
would be rapid access to information at an individual patient level
to inform their care, but certainly it should be regularly
available at the team level. This will be challenging for many of
our IT services. “No data about us without us having it” should be
our refrain”! Alongside this teams need information about their
productivity and service capacity, interventions and safety issues.
Carer, staff and referrers views are also important. Using the same
measures will enable consultant teams to know what they are
achieving with a given resource and will facilitate benchmarking
with similar services. The Government intention is that this
information will be in the public domain. We need therefore to
ensure that the data is accurate and the best way is to use it and
remove the obvious errors.
Services at risk: what is the
evidence?
There is a real risk in this economic climate
that some will seek to reduce QIPP, (quality innovation,
productivity and promotion) to P- productivity, potentially
raising risks to patient safety and experience. EIP
consultants are reporting threats to their service and a position
statement, bringing together the latest evidence on the impact of
EIP services and the structure needed to achieve this is being
written by Professor Peter Jones our EI Network Chair. It will be
circulated to the EI Network and be available on the Faculty
web-page. This arose from members advising us of a local
problem. It is very helpful to be alerted to members
concerns. The best way to contact us is via the regional
representative as they feed in to both the Division and Faculty.
Their details are on the faculty web-page. You can also
contact me directly.
Faculty Conference – book by 6 October
for cheaper rate.
It is in these testing times that I hope you
will find the College to be even more important and you are the
Faculty! So come along to the Faculty Conference to join in. We are
cost effective, high quality – as you said so last year! We
aim to give you opportunities to network with colleagues in similar
specialities and you have the chance of an informal discussion with
the Executive over a glass of wine.
Elections to the
Executive
Then the next step is to apply to join the
Executive; we are looking to appoint a new Chair, Finance Officer
and half the Executive members for next summer. We will send
nomination papers our shortly to ensure good succession planning
for the officers.
Join us!
We have just held our second trainees
conference, on consultants as leaders. This event is proving
popular with growing attendance. Our annual conference last
year had a great buzz to it so Lets make this year’s annual
residential conference even better than the last. So trainers bring
your trainees and trainees your consultants and see you there!
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Call for submissions for the next
issue of Root & Branch
Submissions are invited for the next
publication of Root & Branch, the entirely electronic
Newsletter of the G&C Faculty. Articles may cover any aspect of
G&C psychiatry and may be targeted at all levels of membership
of the Faculty. The newsletter is published on the open section of
the website (not members only) so may be read by anyone with access
to the internet.
Submission Guidance
Article length - 400 to 1200 words. Longer
articles may be considered. Authors should include a list of bullet
points for inclusion in a 'summary box'. Contributors should
provide website addresses (within the article or as a list) so that
readers can further research the subject area. Reviews should be of
same length and include a picture of the reviewed book, item,
website, blog or article. Letters may be up to 250 words. We are
also able to publish brief notices relating to events appropriate
to our readership. Please submit your articles by email.
Submission deadline: 30 November
2010
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Networks and
Trainees
Prison Psychiatry Network -
Nick Kosky
It has been a busy first year for the
Community Diversion and Prison Psychiatry Network. About 40
psychiatrists from the general community, forensic and CAMHS
faculties have established their presence on the message
board. Members have, so far, become engaged in the NPSA
Safer Service in Prisons Programme; met with Louis Appleby,
the new National Director for Criminal Justice and Health, and
begun to develop a repository of useful documents. There have
been a couple of consultations that we have contributed to and some
clinical conundrums that have been addressed.
Some preliminary work on standards for prison
psychiatry has been put on hold, as this is duplicating the work of
the Sainsbury Centre, but may be revisited in the next few
months.
If you are interested in the work of this
group, or want to take part or simply want to “lurk” on the message
board, then let Candace know and we will
sign you up!
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CRHT Network - Mary Jane Tacchi
What is it? An email forum for consultants
working in CRHT (mainly but everyone welcome!) also where anything
related to CRHTs is discussed. We also have a regular seminar
slot at the G&C Annual Residential Meeting in October where we
meet up.
The Network is a fantastic way of asking
questions, seeking opinions, getting support, and suggesting ideas
to a group of like minded consultants. In the last six months the
discussions have been varied and wide ranging as usual from ethical
issues to practical solutions. We have discussed physical
examination as part of home based treatment, expansion of services
to become ageless, documentation and the need for outcome
measures.
On 14 October 2010 at the
G&C Annual Residential Meeting in London we will be looking
at prescribing in CRHTs and where CRHTs have come from and where
they are going. Myself and Mark Taylor will look at the
future direction of the network.
Not a member? Sound
interesting?
Don’t delay! Sign up! Your CRHT Network needs
you! Send your email address to Candace at and say want
to join the CRHT Network. It’s as easy as that! Come to
the conference
in October and meet us in person.
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Higher Trainees - Rakesh Magon
URGENT - Nominations for Higher
Trainees' Representative-
My term as a higher trainee representative
will come to end on 14th October and I am writing to invite
nominations for this vacancy. As a Higher Trainees' Representative
you will provide a link between trainees and the
College. Our College is actively promoting involvement of
trainees and we need to capitalise on this, develop strategies to
make best use of available resources for training and ensure that
trainees are appropriately supported to meet their educational
objectives. As a Higher Trainees' representative you will be
responsible for planning and organising annual
higher trainees' conference and attend faculty executive
meetings 3-4 times a year. The post provides excellent
experience and valuable insights in to working with the faculty and
college.
All nominations should be
sent to Candace
Gillies-Wright byThursday 30 September. We also need
a few words about the candidate and why they would like to be a
Higher Trainees' Representative for the G&C faculty. If
election is necessary we will conduct an online election. I will
handover my responsibilities to our new representative at the
Annual G&C Faculty Conference on 14th October, 2010.
Please do not hesitate to contact me if you need any
further information regarding the post.
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Occupational Psychiatry Club (OCP) -
Maurice Lipsedge, Lisa McClelland, Max Henderson
We are a group of professionals from many
different disciplines (medicine, nursing, psychology, management,
human resources, law and others) who share a special interest in
mental ill health and work. We meet monthly in London (usually for
1 ½ hour) to debate relevant occupational topics, various aspects
of mental illness and psychological factors at work. Our meetings
are very informal and we encourage lively debate.
We are a small group and whilst attendance at
meetings is growing, it is variable between 10 -20 people. We are
trying to establish a Royal College of Psychiatrists Special
Interest Group (SIG) for the developing specialty of Occupational
Psychiatry. The College requires 120 signatures from their
membership, quite a challenge for a small group such as ours. The
Occupational Psychiatry Club is and will continue, if it becomes a
SIG, as an open broad group of different professionals who share a
common interest.
Over that last twelve months, we have enjoyed
presentations from a range of specialists Occupational Health leads
such as Dr David Roomes Occupational Medical Director Health,
Safety & Performance Glaxo Smithkline, Occupational
psychologist Dr Bill Mitchell EDF, independent HR specialist Andrew
Pullman from people risk solutions. A psychiatrist’s perspective
from Dr Stephen Burton consultant psychiatrist and psychotherapist
who addressed “Psychodynamics of the Workplace” and Nick Dunn’s
paper “How to change a psychologically noxious workplace”. The
challenges faced by specific workforces and their creative
solutions were highlighted by Dr Eileen Cahill-Canning, Chief
Medical Officer, Metropolitan Police Service and debates have been
enlivened by the presence of and contributions from our military
colleagues. In the future, we hope to hold a meeting focusing
specifically on the military and civilian emergency forces.
Topics discussed have also included management
of mental illness and “stress” in the work place, Helga Breen at
Lawrence Graham LLP brining a lawyer’s perspective in her
presentation about stress in the workplace. The legislative and
professional regulatory framework in which we operate was discussed
in Michael Keegan’s (General Medical Council Standards &
Ethics) presentation of the updated version of the GMC publication
Confidentiality. Dr Lenny Fagin brought us full circle in his
thoughtful discussion about regulation, support and the legal
consequences of misdemeanours for students in their future
careers.
We are looking forward to an exciting autumn
programme in which we will welcome our first overseas visiting
presenter. The founder members of the OCP and continuing core team
of Maurice Lipsedge, Lisa McClelland and Max Henderson organise the
presentations taking account of suggestions from the membership. We
hope to continue to stimulate lively debate addressing all relevant
current areas of interest to professionals working in the field of
occupational health in the broadest sense.
We are eager to establish a special interest
group and urge any College members who may be interested to email
lisa.mcclelland@nhs.net or
lisa.feng@btinternet.com.
Dates and venues for next
meetings
This term’s meetings will be at our usual
venue LPP,8 Devonshire Place, London W1G 6HP. Nearest tube Baker
Street/Regents Park:
- 29 September 2010 Gillian Howard LLB
- 27 October 2010 Jed Boardman FRCPsych
- 24 November Michael Calnan Professor of
Medical Sociology School of Social Policy, Sociology and Social
Research
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Conferences
Second annual Higher Trainees' Meeting:
National Railway Museum, York
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Information and adverts
NICE Fellowships and
Scholarships: Notice to all Faculty members:
The NICE Fellows and Scholars Programme
recognises the achievement and promise of NHS health professionals,
contributes to their professional development, and fosters a
growing network of health professionals linked to NICE who will
help to improve the quality of care in their local areas.
The scheme is open to health professionals
working in the NHS. Fellowships last for three years, and are
designed to encourage senior health professionals to be actively
involved with NICE. Scholarships last for one year, and are
designed to support professional development and, where
appropriate, to contribute towards a formal qualification or
training programme. Visit the
website for more information.
If you are interested in applying you will
need College support. Please send your application form and
cv to the Chief Executive’s PA by the end
of September, making it clear what you are applying for. The
College committee will decide which applications will be supported,
and you will be notified as soon as possible whether your
nomination has gone forward.
NHS Evidence
NHS Evidence - mental health newsletter
published online every month – a great source of up to date
information –
sign up to receive it.
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Contact information
Faculty of General and Community
Psychiatry,
c/o Candace Gillies-Wright,
Royal College of Psychiatrists,
17 Belgrave Square,
London SWIX 8PG
Tel: 020 7235 2351 ext
6234
Fax: 020 7235 6051
Email: gandcfaculty@rcpsych.ac.uk
Website: General and Community
Faculty
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