Dean's 2022 update
Our Dean Professor Subodh Dave gives an update on the work of his team of Associate Deans, Advisers and staff and outlines his five key priorities going forward.
It has been a privilege to serve as your Dean since June 2021. Personally, I have found it an energising experience largely fuelled by the humbling awareness of the humongous amount of work being done for the College by colleagues across the country.
I want to start my update by thanking my indefatigable team of Associate Deans, Specialist Advisers and staff members of the College who beaver away in the background. The success of the Education and Training Team is down to their persistent efforts.
Dean’s key priorities
My overarching vision is to explicitly link the Royal College of Psychiatrists’ education and training offer with patient outcomes. I intend to translate this idea to action through the following five key priorities:
The best measure of our education and training offer should be based on how it improves outcomes for the sections of our population that are left behind. We have seen health inequalities for many of our patients persist for decades.
Poverty, co-morbid conditions such as substance misuse and chronic physical health conditions are all contributors to these inequalities. Ethnicity, gender and other protected characteristics can add yet another layer of inequity.
I believe that understanding and addressing the factors that cause and perpetuate these inequalities needs to be a part of our core education and training offer. Our new curricula now include a set of new key capabilities that will help our workforce acquire public mental health and person-centred care skills to narrow the health inequality gap.
Learners have varying needs based on their personal and professional circumstances. It is vital that our training offer creates an alignment between what our learners need and what our patients need. I have commenced the process of mapping all our educational content and to launch training courses that will upskill the workforce in areas where there is a clinical need.
It is an absolute pleasure and a huge honour for me to serve you as your Dean. I am immensely grateful for your support and look forward to working with you over the coming years.
Professor Subodh Dave, Dean
October 2022
