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Faculty of Liaison Psychiatry Annual Conference 2025 programme
Venue: RCPsych London/livestream
Date: Wednesday 14 – Friday 16 May 2025
Conference highlights
Use the tabs to see the highlights for each day or download the full programme below.
Wednesday 14 May
Alcohol care across the lifespan, neurodiversity and developmental disorders in acute hospitals, ethics and reality of assisted dying, acute hospital psychopharmacology, and Faculty updates from the Devolved Nations.
12.00pm | Registration and lunch (in-person) |
1.00pm | Welcome Dr Alex Thomson, Faculty Chair |
Plenary 1: Alcohol across the lifespan, neurodevelopment and endocrine Chair: Dr Raja Badrakalimuthu | |
1.00pm | Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder Dr Raja Mukherjee |
1.30pm | Better care and treatment for alcohol dependence and withdrawal Professor Julia Sinclair |
2.00pm | Alcohol related brain damage Dr Kaanthan Jawahar |
2.30pm | Neurodiversity in acute hospital care Dr Jessica Eccles |
3.00pm | Break |
Plenary 2: Ethics of assisted dying policy Chair: Dr Amrit Sachar | |
3.30pm | Ethics of assisted dying Professor Julian Hughes |
4.00pm | Physician-Assisted Death in Eating Disorders: Clinical, Ethical, and Policy Considerations Chelsea Roff |
4.30pm | Psychopharmacology in liaison psychiatry Dr Siobhan Gee |
5.00pm | Devolved Nation Chairs Updates |
Thursday 15 May
Improving quality and integrating mental health services in acute hospitals, service development and clinical care for persistent physical symptoms, management of suspected feigning and factitious disorder, and recent research and service innovations for patients who have attended the ED frequently.
08.30am | Registration and refreshments |
Plenary 3: Developing liaison psychiatry services Chair: Dr Janet Butler | |
9.00am | Clinical challenges at the interface of mental health and acute hospitals' Dr Janet Butler, Ex-Chair, PLAN AG |
9.30am | Partnership between the mental health service and acute hospital Dr Duncan Murray (Acute Hospital) Dr Amanda Thompsell (NHSE) Dr Girish Kunigiri |
10.30am | Break |
Plenary 4: Medically unexplained symptoms Chair: Dr Annabel Price | |
11.00am | Stories of Mind, Body and the Public: Communicating about liaison psychiatry Dr Alastair Santhouse |
11.30am | Persistent physical symptoms in outpatient care: RCP and liaison psychiatry Interface Dr Theresa Barnes |
12.00pm | What can paediatrics tell us about persistent physical symptoms? Dr Benjamin Baig Dr Sreena Das Dr Joanna Begent |
1.00pm | Lunch |
Plenary 5: Factitious disorder: are we doing more harm than good? Chair: tbc | |
2.00pm | Specialist assessment of suspected feigning Dr Derek Tracy |
2.15pm | Differential diagnosis of suspected feigning Dr Alex Thomson |
2.30pm | Lived experience presentation Dr Emma McAllister |
2.45pm | The assessment and management of factitious disorder Dr Sara McNally and Dr Chris Bass |
3.15pm | Q&A |
3.30pm | Break |
Plenary 6: High intensity service use Chair: tbc | |
4.00pm | The FUSED study Professor Else Guthrie |
4.30pm | Identifying & prioritising High Intensity Users – findings from the NWL HISS programme Dr Peter Greengross |
4.45pm | Frequent ED attendance as a prognostic marker and the value of advance care Dr Asha Katwa |
5.00pm | An overview of the type of work done by HIU team Dr Difna Bandaralage, Harshal Goswami, Simon Josha and Sala Salih |
5.15pm | Q&A |
Friday 16 May
New drug therapies including ketamine for depression and novel therapies for Alzheimer’s disease, women's health in medical care, new research presentations, parallel workshops, and clinical and service updates on paediatric liaison psychiatry.
08.30am | Registration and refreshments | ||
Plenary 7: Psychopharmacology in medical treatment Chair: Dr Sri Sira-Mahalingappa | |||
9.00am | Ketamine treatment of resistant depression. How might it work in acute hospitals? Dr Rupert McShane | ||
9.30am | New therapies for Alzheimer’s disease – the implications for liaison psychiatrists Dr Mohan Bhat | ||
10.00am | Women’s health in liaison psychiatry Dr Rachel Jones | ||
10.30am | Break | ||
Plenary 8: The next generation Chair: Dr Liz Sampson and Dr Nida Munawar | |||
11.00am | New Research Presentations | ||
11.40am | The value of the Psych Star Scheme Sabine Tromp | ||
11.55am | Move to workshops | ||
12.00pm | Workshop 1a (training) Simulation training part of the ALSG APEx Paeds version Dr Virginia Davies, Dr Mark Buchanon Sinead Kay, Dr Sarah Davies and Beth Rodgers | Workshop 1b (clinical practice) Dementia assessment in Liaison Psychiatry- Barriers, Facilitators and what represents a Formal Diagnosis? Helen Croft, Dr Kaanthan Jawaher and Dr Simon Thacker | Workshop 1c (service development) Functional neurological disorder in the emergency department Dr Mohammad Arbabi |
1.00pm | Lunch | ||
2.00pm | Workshop 2a (training) Respond multiagency mental health simulation training – Crisis in the Emergency Department Dr Oriana Bezzina and Steve Baker | Workshop 2b (clinical practice) Teaching acute hospital colleagues about delirium Dr Debbie Bull and Dr Janet Butler | Workshop 2c (service development) What do medical students want from their liaison psychiatry placements? Sabine Tromp, Lauren Griffiths and Shailpriya Nand, PSYCH STARs |
3.00pm | Break | ||
Plenary 9: Paediatric liaison psychiatry Chair: | |||
3.30pm | Treatment of mental health problems in children with long term physical ill health in paediatric settings Dr Isobel Heyman | ||
4.00pm | Paediatric liaison psychiatry | ||
4.30pm | Prizes and closing remarks Dr Alex Thomson | ||
Upholding College values
To encourage open dialogue, scientific discovery and enrich learning, we provide our delegates with the opportunity to hear from a diverse range of views and presentations. All the speakers, panellists and participants views and comments are their own and not the established views of the College. Speakers should expect probing questions and healthy debate.
The College expects all content of event programmes, and the behaviour of the speakers and the delegates, to be professional, respectful and to uphold the College values.
The College does not endorse any programme content or behaviour displaying any form of prejudice or discrimination.