RCPsych Wales - Dr David Medhurst on being a policy attachment

I am an ST6 in Intellectual Disability Psychiatry working in South Wales.

I have been working through an attachment with the Public engagement and Policy team within the RCPsych Wales over the last year. When I saw the advert I thought it would be a really great opportunity to promote the needs of people with intellectual disabilities on a more wide scale.

I have had a wide range of opportunities which include having been able to develop my own project, focusing on the transfer of care of people with intellectual disabilities between health boards in Wales. This piece of work has allowed me to chair a working group and put together a memorandum of understanding. I have also presented to the RCPsych in Wales exec committee and attended a range of working group meetings on the mental health act changes and cross-organisation advisory group. I have been very well supported and met in a frequent basis in this role by Liz Williams, Policy officer, Ollie John, RCPsych in Wales Manager, and Dr Katie Fergus (Policy & Public engagement lead for RCPsych Wales).

I have really enjoyed the last year and would encourage any trainees to consider applying for this role as it provides a great insight in to the wider picture in terms of what the college and government are doing. It also gives you the opportunity to shape the direction of future changes. On top of this it gives you a fantastic opportunity to develop management and leadership skills.

• Applications are new open for 2 new policy and public affairs attachments posts in the RCPsych Wales for 2022, it's a one year post.
• Applications should be sent to Liz Williams by Friday 26th November.
• Further detail is available and applicants are asked to submit a CV and a cover letter outlining interest in the role.
• For any additional information or further queries, please contact Liz Williams, Policy Officer, RCPsych Wales.