Council

The College’s Council discuss the affairs of the organisation and make recommendations to the Board of Trustees on many of the biggest decisions the College has to make.

What is Council responsible for?

Council has overall responsibility for education and psychiatric training, policy, professional practice, professional standards, public engagement, quality improvement and research.

Other responsibilities include:

  • to elect people to fellowship and membership of the College
  • education, policy, professional practice, professional standards, public engagement, quality, research, and training in psychiatry
  • considering and approving applications for pre-membership psychiatric trainees (PMPTs), affiliates, mental health associates, specialist associates and international associate membership
  • to make recommendations to the Board of Trustees for new faculties
  • to make recommendations to the Board of Trustees about the nature, scope and extent of the privileges of membership, including changes
  • making, changing or cancelling regulations about the examinations. (The council has no power to make other regulations but may make recommendations to the Board of Trustees.)

There are 11 Committees of Council.

See who's on our Council

Headlines from the most recent meeting

Below is a round-up of items covered at our second Council meeting of the year, which took place on Friday 21 April.

  • Peter Thompson, Director of CCQI presented data on how many people staff working in mental health are supported by the work of the College. In total, this comprises 50,000 staff from over 1,550 mental health services - this is the first time the College has quantified how many people we support
  • The Council also heard about the work of the CCQI from Angela Sergeant, an Independent Nurse Consultant who has worked with the College on quality networks for 20 years and Dr Mary Docherty, the CCQI's Clinical and Strategic Director.
  • There followed a presentation from Tom Ayers, Director of the NCCMH, who updated the Council about the College’s QI Collaboratives programme. This included highlighting the Reducing Restrictive Practice collaborative which has led to an overall reduction of restrictive practice of 15% across 40 wards.
  • College President, Dr Adrian James, informed the Council that the RCPsych Privy Council has approved plans for online voting to be allowed at future AGMs and Special Meetings (beginning at the 11 July AGM).
  • Dr Richard Wilson, Chair of RCPsych in Northern Ireland (NI), provided an update to Council, highlighting the high degree of engagement in NI amongst members and staff and discussing plans for the NI winter conference.
  • Council then heard from Dr Linda Findlay, Chair of RCPsych in Scotland, who provided updates on the last devolved council, the Choose Psychiatry in Scotland campaign and the new Ethnically Diverse Communities Group.
  • This was followed by a presentation from Dr Maria Atkins, Chair of RCPsych in Wales, who provided an update on the work of the College in Wales to bring together medical royal colleges to discuss healthcare issues with the Welsh government.
  • The Council heard from College Registrar, Dr Trudi Seneviratne, about the College's work on guidance to help employers tackle racism in the workplace.
  • College Dean, Professor Subodh Dave, provided an update on education and training highlighting the new quarterly newsletter that updates members on progress in these areas.

    Council minutes

    Council minutes are not classified as public records. Access is restricted according to the RCPsych Access to Archives Policy.