'New beginnings' North West Autumn Conference 2023

The recent RCPsych International Congress saw a "changing of the guard", with Dr Lade Smith CBE starting her term as the new President of the College. But what are Dr Smith's priorities in the role? This conference will provide a golden opportunity for Members of the North West Division to ask questions directly to the new President.  

In taking up office, Dr Smith has appointed Presidential Leads to spearhead the College's work in various areas, including wellbeing and retention, global mental health strategy, compassionate and relational care and equity and equality.  Several of the appointed Presidential Leads will provide a summary of their priorities at this conference.

Finally, this conference will provide an opportunity to gain insight into how we should recognise and value the work of our SAS doctors and what we can do to maintain positive working relationships with them.

See the full event programme.

We are delighted to announce the following speakers:

Dr Lade Smith CBE
President, RCPsych

Dr Shubulade (Lade) Smith was elected President of the RCPsych in 2023. She holds this role until 2026 and leads RCPsych on behalf of its members and associates.

Lade is a Consultant Psychiatrist at the South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust and Visiting Senior Lecturer at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, Kings College London.

Until July 2023, Lade was the Clinical and Strategic Director of the National Collaborating Centre for Mental Health at the RCPsych, providing medical leadership for the team developing mental health guidelines.

Lade was awarded a CBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours in June 2019 for services to Forensic Intensive Psychiatric care. In November 2019 she was awarded Psychiatrist of the Year by the RCPsych. In July 2020, she became joint Presidential Lead for Race and Equality at the RCPsych.

Professor Russell Razzaque
Presidential Lead for compassionate and relational care, RCPsych

'Making compassionate and relational care a reality'

Professor Razzaque has worked as Consultant Psychiatrist across a range of acute mental health services including Home Treatment Teams, Crisis, In-patient, PICU and community recovery teams.

Recently he has served on a number of bodies at the Royal College of Psychiatrists including the General Adult Faculty Executive, the Academic Faculty Executive, the London Region Executive and he also served as a nationally elected member of the College Council.

His research and area of expertise centres around models of care in acute mental health services and the importance of therapeutic relationships.

Dr Rajesh Mohan
Presidential Lead for Race and Equality, RCPsych

'The quest for equality in mental health'

Dr Raj Mohan is a fellow of the RCPsych, and he works as a consultant psychiatrist in forensic rehabilitation services at South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust. He is one of the two Presidential Leads for Race and Equality at the College. He is the immediate past chair of the Faculty of Rehabilitation and Social Psychiatry at the RCPsych and has actively campaigned to end the practice of out-of-area treatments through developing locally based rehabilitation services.

Dr Mohan has helped develop the RCPsych Equality Action Plan which has 29 actions to ensure equality in mental health services, for patients and carers and for the staff. He has actively led on producing guidance on Tackling Racism in the Workplace, supporting Reasonable adjustments for people with disability or neuro-diversity, and actions for LGBTQ+ equality. Raj is part of the Advancing Mental Health Equality (AMHE) initiative at the National Collaborating Centre for Mental Health (NCCMH) Raj is also one of the leads of the RCPsych Equality Champions Network.

Dr Mike Groves
Vice Chair of SAS Doctors Committee, RCPsych

'How can we support SAS doctors better?'

Dr Mike Groves is currently Vice Chair of the Royal College SAS Committee and a Specialist in Rehabilitation Psychiatry in Dorset working in both inpatient and community settings. Dr Grove graduated from Southampton University in 1997 and have worked as a SAS Doctor since 2004.

Dr Grove has been privileged to work in leadership roles both in clinical settings and on behalf of SAS Doctors. He was SAS lead for Southern Health Foundation Trust for many years and oversaw the development of both clinical and leadership opportunities for our doctors.

Dr Grove has a passion for empowering us as SAS doctors to fulfil our potential and for promoting our essential voice within the College.

Breakout rooms

Dr Ananta Dave
Chief Medical Officer, Black Country Integrated Care Board

'Wellbeing and retention of the workforce'

Dr Ananta Dave is Chief Medical Officer and Consultant Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist of the Black Country Integrated Care Board, part of the Black Country Integrated Care System. She was awarded Honorary Fellowship of the Royal College of Psychiatrists (RCPsych) in July 2023 in recognition of her work in psychiatry and mental health. Also, in July she was appointed Presidential Lead for Retention and wellbeing at RCPsych.

She was the first female President and is immediate Past President of the British Indian Psychiatric Association (BIPA).

Dr Dave works regionally and nationally in addressing healthcare inequalities and in developing a diverse & humane leadership culture which leads to good quality patient care. She is keenly interested in doctors’ health and wellbeing and was awarded a Churchill Fellowship in 2019 to study the topic of preventing doctor suicides in the US. In 2022 she was awarded ‘Doctor of the Year’ by BAPIO (British Association of Physicians of Indian Origin).

In addition to her medical qualifications, Dr Dave holds a Master’s in Medical Ethics and Law and is an Honorary Asst. (Clinical) Professor at the University of Nottingham.

Professor Mohammed Al-Uzri
Consultant Psychiatrist and Associate Medical Director, Presidential Lead for Global Mental Health, RCPsych

'RCPsych: A global institution'

Professor Al-Uzri is a consultant psychiatrist with the Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust. He held several leadership roles in the trust and currently he is Associate Medical Director. Professor Al-Uzri was appointed as Presidential Lead for Global Mental Health Strategy in May 2023 to build on the successful implementation of the first international strategy of the College. He was the Presidential Lead for International Affairs at the Royal College of Psychiatrists 2020-23 and leading the international team of the college on developing numerus collaborations with colleagues and organizations across the world. He also led the establishment of the RCPsych Medical Training Initiative (MTI) scheme in 2013 and was the College Advisor for MTI 2014-2020. He was awarded the RCPsych Presidential Medal in 2020 and the Honorary Fellowship in 2023 for his long-standing work to improve standards of mental health care in the UK and overseas. Professor Al-Uzri holds the title of Honorary Chair in Psychiatry at the University of Leicester where he contributes to research and teaching in mental health as well as international collaboration in medical education.

Dr Catherine Durkin
Consultant Forensic Psychiatrist, CNWL

'Women in mental health' (joint talk)

Dr Catherine Durkin is a Consultant Forensic Psychiatrist and the Clinical Lead for the Women's Service Line within the Health and Justice Directorate within Central and North West London Foundation Trust.

Clinically, Dr Durkin works across three women's prisons leading on safety and quality and inputs directly into HMP Downview. During her time working with women in custody, Dr Durkin has been a strong advocate for raising the profile of the complex mental health needs of women in custody including giving regional and national presentations and giving evidence to the Justice Select Committee, Women in Prison review in 2021.

Dr Durkin has been instrumental in establishing the neurodiversity pathway within Health & Justice and is the lead clinician working with neurodevelopmental disorders within the women's estate. She is currently undertaking research into gender-specific screening and diagnostic tools for women with ADHD in custody alongside facilitating broader research interest to support the health needs of women in prison.

Dr Philippa Greenfield
Joint Presidential Lead for Women and Mental Health, RCPsych

'Women in mental health' (joint talk)

Dr Philippa Greenfield is a Consultant General Adult Psychiatrist in Camden and Islington NHS Foundation Trust. Her clinical interest is in complex trauma and psychosis. Alongside her clinical work, Dr Greenfield holds roles of Trauma Informed lead and a Named Doctor for Adult Safeguarding in her NHS Trust.

She has been an elected member of the RCPsych Women and Mental Health Special Interest Group, since 2000. In this role Philippa has provided leadership in the College on addressing Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG). She represents the RCPsych and continues to co-chair the National Intercollegiate and Agency Domestic Violence and Abuse (INCADVA) forum and set up and co-chairs its subgroup ‘Responding to Perpetrators of Domestic Abuse in Healthcare’.

Dr Greenfield will represent the RCPsych on the newly formed NHSE ‘Domestic and Sexual Violence’ Clinical Reference Group and has contributed to national policy in health care responses to domestic abuse and given evidence to the Government APPG, addressing this topic.

This event is taking place online via Zoom. To take part you will need: 

• access to a reliable internet connection
• a PC, laptop, tablet or phone
• Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge browser or Zoom installed on your PC, laptop, tablet or phone.

Please note it is up to the participant to ensure that they have the correct requirements in place prior to booking the event.

Joining instructions for the event will be sent out the week of the event.

Please kindly note, the event will be recorded, and the recording made available within two weeks of the event.

We would encourage those who register to attend on the day of the event, should they wish to ask questions to our speakers.

The recording will be sent out to delegates via email to the email address used at the time of registering. If you are unsure whether your email address is up to date, please update this via your membership account.

The speakers for this event have the following competing interests to declare:

Dr Ananta Dave

• Trustee for charity Doctors in Distress (non-financial professional interest)
• Partner is Dean of the Royal College of Psychiatrists