Contents:
- Editorial
- Trainees’ day at the College Annual
Meeting
- Trainees’ dinner at the College Annual
Meeting
- Student Associates
- European Working Time
Directive
- Volunteer Subcommittee: invitation to trainees to
learn about the volunteer programmes in Ghana, Iraq and
Malawi
1) Editorial
Clare Oakley, Chair, PTC
The PTC continues to work
to promote psychiatry as an attractive career option for medical
students and foundation doctors. There are increasing numbers
of Student Associates joining the College and there are now two
Student Associate representatives on the PTC: Jude Harrison
(University of Dundee) and Vivek Datta (King’s College,
London). In this newsletter Jude provides an update on the
activities of the Student Associates and the College’s recruitment
campaign. I would also encourage you to read the excellent
first edition of the Student Associate
newsletter.
The College’s annual
meeting is rapidly approaching and aspects of the programme of
particular interest to trainees are highlighted in this
newsletter. This year there will be a Trainees’
Dinner on Wednesday 3rd June at a
restaurant close to the conference venue (details below). Please do
join us for an enjoyable evening and I look forward to meeting many
of you then.
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2) Trainees’ day at the College annual
meeting
Ollie White, Immediate Past Chair,
PTC
This year’s College
Annual Conference is in Liverpool on 2nd –
5th June 2009. The conference promises to be an
excellent event with a wide range of sessions and
workshops. There are a number of trainee-focused events
throughout the conference, details of which are highlighted
below:
The Trainee’s Institute Day (Wednesday 3rd
June)
Lessons in leadership: a European
perspective
During this session
hosted by Professor Sue Bailey (College Registrar), 3 prominent
European young psychiatric leaders (Dr Amit Malik, Dr Victor
Buwalda and Dr Kajsa Norstrom) will discuss what they have
achieved and the skills and lessons they have learnt about
leadership.
Debate: 'This house believes that the
sub-consultant grade threatens to degrade psychiatry as a
profession’
We have continued our
tradition of hosting debates on key issues affecting the
profession. Professor Peter Tyrer will again chair the debate that
this year will focus on the sub-consultant grade. Two
prominent psychiatrists (Dr Sally Pidd and Professor Nick
Craddock) will argue the motion supported by two trainees (Dr Paul
Henderson and Dr Lisa Gardiner).
Challenges to the future of training
in psychiatry – Q&A Panel
This session is your
chance to ask questions about any aspect of psychiatric training.
Panel members include Professsor Jacky Hayden (Lead Dean for
Psychiatry); Patricia Le Rolland (Director of Quality, PMETB);
Professor Rob Howard (Dean, RCPsych); Dr Dave Fearnley (Medical
Director); and Dr Clare Oakley (PTC Chair).
Portfolios in Psychiatry
Many trainees remain
unclear about the role and function of training
portfolios. This session will explore how to measure a good
doctor (Professor Femi Oyebode); discuss specifics about portfolios
for trainees (Dr Andy Brittlebank) and also focus on revalidation
and portfolios for consultants (Dr Laurence Mynors-Wallis).
Workshop (Thursday 4th June)
Becoming a Consultant Psychiatrist -
what you really need to know
This workshop is
facilitated by two newly appointed consultant psychiatrists
(Dr Amit Malik and Dr Graham Worwood) who will share their
personal accounts of adapting to the role. The workshop will also
contain information about how to get the consultant job of choice
and how to survive the first year as a consultant.
Trainee’s Coffee Lounge
Throughout the
conference, a dedicated area will be available for trainees to
relax and network. Each lunchtime in this area trainees will
have the opportunity to have an informal discussion with a range of
prominent psychiatrists:
Tues 2nd June: Professor Anthony
Bateman,
Chief Examiner, Royal College of
Psychiatrists.
Weds 3rd June: Dr Joe Bouch,
Editor, Advances in Psychiatric Treatment.
Thurs 4th June: Dr Steve
Peters,
University of Sheffield & British Cycling
& UK Sport
Fri 5th June: Professor Rob
Howard,
Dean, Royal College of Psychiatrists.
Trainees benefit from
reduced delegate fees for the conference (£50 per day for PMPTs;
£180 per day for higher trainees). Further information can be
found by clicking on the links below:
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3) Trainees’ Dinner at the College annual
meeting
Thanks to generous
support from the College, the PTC is hosting a Trainees’ Dinner at
the College’s annual meeting in Liverpool. This event will
take place on Wednesday 3rd June following the Trainees’
Day at the conference and is open to all psychiatric
trainees. It will be held at the Pan American Club in
the Albert Docks, just a five minute
walk from the conference venue. Dinner will be at 7.30pm and
will include three courses and wine, with trainees only needing to
pay a contribution of £10 towards the cost. The President, Dean,
Registrar and Chief Executive of the College will be present at the
dinner and there will be plenty of opportunities to ask them
questions.
To reserve your place at
the dinner, please send your contact details and a cheque for £10
made payable to ‘The Royal College of Psychiatrists’ to:
Rebecca Cove
Training Administrator
The Royal College of Psychiatrists
17 Belgrave Square
London
SW1X 8PG
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4) Student Associates
Jude Harrison, Student Associate
representative on PTC
There has been tremendous
progress on several fronts of the recruitment campaign. 770
students and foundation doctors have signed up to the new Student
Associate Grade of the College since its launch in December
2008. The first Student Associate Newsletter, produced in
April, featured news about the free Summer School at the Institute
of Psychiatry, which will take place in July 2009. This
exciting new event will give a select group of 30 students a unique
experience of talks, demonstrations and tours with input from some
of the most prominent researchers and clinicians in the
specialty. The newsletter also advertised the first
Undergraduate Conference jointly organised by the College and East
Midlands Healthcare Workforce Deanery. The conference, aimed
at students who wish to find out more about careers in Psychiatry,
will be held on the 30th of June in Leicester; this is
in addition to the student session which will form part of the
College Annual Meeting. Student Associates who are interested in
attending any of these events should contact Charlotte Cox.
The PTC is spearheading
the founding of Psychiatry Societies in medical schools across the
country. These student-led local interest groups allow those
who are interested in Psychiatry to come together to learn more
about the specialty through seminars and discussion
sessions. Furthermore, they raise the profile of Psychiatry
and the College among medical students generally. With the
assistance of trainees, Psychiatry Societies have been established
in Birmingham, Cambridge, Cardiff,
Dundee, Keele, KCL, Leeds, Liverpool,
Manchester, Nottingham, Oxford, Sheffield, Southampton and Swansea
since August; several more are in the process of setting
up. This combination of initiatives from the College will
provide encouragement and opportunities for hundreds of
students.
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5) European Working Time Directive
A reduction to a 48 hour
working week is due to be implemented in August 2009 as a result of
the European Working Time Directive (EWTD). The implications of
EWTD for both training and service provision have caused great
concern. Psychiatry presents different challenges to that of some
of the other specialties as many psychiatry rotas are already EWTD
compliant. In particular, concern has been raised about reduced
trainee experience in out of hours work due to other members of the
multi-disciplinary team, such as crisis teams, undertaking a
significant proportion of the work traditionally carried out by
doctors. In addition, many psychiatry rotas are non-resident and
cover multiple sites to ensure compliance, potentially impacting on
patient safety.
In February 2009, the PTC
produced a document outlining our views on EWTD. This document has
been endorsed by the College Education, Training and Standards
Committee, and proposes that a number of different issues should be
addressed in order to minimise the impact of EWTD on psychiatric
training. It was felt that rota design should be carefully
considered to optimise training experiences and that exposure to
assessments out of hours was essential. In addition, handover
arrangements should be improved and trainees should have increased
access to consultant supervision. The full document can be viewed on the
trainees’ section of the College website.
The Academy of Medical Royal Colleges Trainee Doctors
Group have also produced a
statement on EWTD which can be viewed on their
website.
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6) Volunteer
Subcommittee: invitation to trainees to learn about the volunteer
programmes in Ghana, Iraq and Malawi
Dr Allen Kharbteng, allenkharbteng@hotmail.com
The Volunteer sub-committee would
like to invite any interested trainees to attend a volunteers forum
at the College from 4.30-6.30pm on Wednesday 13th May
2009. The provisional programme will deal with Ghana, Iraq
and Malawi, and will cover volunteer experiences from
members of the College. If you would like to attend, please email:
yvettet@rcpsych.ac.uk,
or to discuss contact Dr Peter
Hughes, organiser and member of the volunteer
subcommittee.
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PTC newsletter editorial
team
Clare Oakley, Chair
Elena Baker-Glenn, Vice Chair and Website
Editor
Mark Tarn, Honorary Secretary
Arpan Dutta, Deputy Website Editor
Back to trainees'
home page
Page last updated 28th
April 2009 by E Baker-Glenn