This tenth annual census undertaken by the Royal College of
Psychiatrists relates to psychiatric staffing in England, Scotland,
Wales and Northern Ireland as at 30 September 2001. The information
for the database held at the College comes from returns from
individual trusts throughout the UK and this is then correlated
with other databases held by the College, including those related
to National Training Number (NTN) holders and doctors with
Certificates of Completion of Specialist Training (CCSTs). In
addition, College officers have made further checks on returns this
year to ensure the most accurate and complete picture is achieved.
There are some trusts which have not sent in returns and data have
been carried forward from previous years, but we have achieved a
return rate of 72% this year. There have been additional problems
this year with the changes of trust names, mergers and formation of
primary care trusts, some of which have responsibilities for
secondary mental health services, but we have endeavoured to
produce a census that is comparable with previous years.