E News July RCPsych in Scotland Update

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1 E News July 2015 RCPsych in Scotland Update Dear All Summer is here, the schools are on holiday, commuting is a joy and I get a chance to tidy my office and do some planning for the Autumn. Hope our members have enjoyed a break or have a break to look forward to. It was a busy start to the summer for RCPsych in Scotland with multiple events and lots of Parliamentary activity to keep us on our toes. I was out of the office a lot and could be found lurking in the Parliament or Conference venues with a camera. TEAM NEWS Our office team has changed again with Rebecca Middlemiss going off on maternity leave for a year. I am beginning to think a loyalty card for Mothercare might be a good investment! Laura Hudson joined us on 18 June as Rebecca s replacement so I look forward to working with Laura and introducing her to the members over the coming months. Susan Richardson returns from her maternity leave on 21 September and we look forward to having Susan back with us but in the meantime we have a super temp, Vivienne MacFarlane, covering Susan s desk and doing a fine job. PARLIAMENTARY ACTIVITY The Mental Health (Scotland) Bill was formally enacted on June 24 th when Stage 3 was completed in the Parliament. We have followed the Bill s progress carefully through the three stages, tracking all 113 amendments and writing briefing papers for MSPs in preparation for each debate. The College tried to put through its own amendment, from the Forensic Faculty, with Dr Richard Simpson MSP providing us with support but unfortunately it was not accepted. It is difficult to summarise in a few sentences what we proposed but essentially we wanted to see a mechanism by which the appropriateness of sentence can be reconsidered for the admittedly very small number of patients whose diagnostic category has changed and whose detention in psychiatric hospital is consequently inappropriate. The Government has committed to a review of including Learning Disability as a category under the MHA and we will be consulted on that in due course.

2 Dr Roch Cantwell spoke at the Maternal Mental Health Scotland/NSPCC Parliamentary launch on 22 April Mark McDonald MSP (on crutches) is in the background. Mark is Co- Convenor of the Cross Party Group on Mental Health and is very interested in mental health issues. OUT AND ABOUT Dementia Awareness Week kicked off with a huge conference in the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Glasgow organised by Alzheimer s Scotland. Here is our College stand with AgnesHouston, a longstanding member of the Scottish Dementia Working Group and a passionate campaigner.

3 I also managed to get a picture of another of our members in action, Dr Clafferty, speaking about the interfaces between old age psychiatry, primary care, geriatric medicine and social work. Dr Debbie Browne came and helped on the College stand for the day, Debbie is a Higher Trainee in OA Psychiatry in NHS Forth Valley. She very much enjoyed the workshops and presentations and I enjoyed the chance to recruit a keen trainee to help with College work in the future (Debbie maybe doesn t know this) Here she is manning the stand!

4 RCPsych International Congress I had a quick visit to Birmingham for a couple of meetings organised on the fringes of International Congress. Every year the Policy Unit organises a meeting of the lead civil servants for mental health from each of the four nations alongside the Chairs of the Celtic countries and it is chaired by the President. I am grateful to Dr John Mitchell, Principal Medical Officer from the Scottish Government, for coming along and contributing to the discussions. It is a very useful meeting and helpful to know what is going on across the UK in terms of mental health priorities. The second meeting was the annual meeting and dinner of Division Chairs and Managers where I get to see my colleagues from around the UK and discuss issues we all have in common with the Chief Executive and the Director of the Membership Relations Department. Whilst in Birmingham I spotted copies of the latest edition of The Registrar with an article by Dr Caroline Fell on her experiences during her year as our Policy trainee. If you missed it you can read it soon on the PTC pages of the College website. COLLEGE EVENTS General Adult Faculty Annual Meeting in Stirling on 15 May 2015 The General Adult Faculty enjoyed a day of mixed fortunes at their annual get- together. The venue proved a challenge to organisers on the day with some poor service and standards that fell below what we expect for College meetings. Despite this the feedback for the presentations was mostly positive. Our subsequent complaints to the venue resulted in a hefty discount on our final bill so we will certainly be passing that on to the Faculty to reduce the delegate feefor their 2016 event (in a different venue!). Here is the winner of the Poster Prize, Dr Angela Liaros,who won with her poster "Physical health monitoring of patients receiving antipsychotics in acute mental health wards in Hairmyres hospital Dr Neil Masson, Faculty Chair, is also in the photo.

5 Eating Disorders Faculty Skills Training Course for General Adult Psychiatrists held in Perth on 19 June Delegates enjoyed a whole day of education on how to manage Eating Disorders in General Psychiatry settings. We are grateful to Dr Jane Morris from NHS Grampian who is Chair of the new Eating Disorders Faculty and Dr Philip Crockett who both delivered the whole day of sessions and led workshops on different aspects of the disorder and how to manage it. Despite some Laptop/Powerpoint difficulties they coped admirably with all the problems thrown at them and the feedback for this event was very positive. We would love to do more of this type of event for members and I know an has gone out for suggestions for topics. Watch this space for a few more skills courses coming your way in 2016.

6 OUR CLEVER, TALENTED MEMBERS IN SCOTLAND Dr Tom Brown, Associate Registrar of the College and ex-chair of RCPsych in Scotland receiving the President s Medal at the recent International Congress in Birmingham for an outstanding contribution to mental health and psychiatry. Dr Rebecca Lawrence, Consultant in Addictions Psychiatry, NHS Lothian, receiving her Morris Markowe Prize for What s in a name on psychoactive substances. Rebecca was presented at IC by the President, Sir Professor Simon Wessely. Karen Addie, Policy Manager, RCPsych in Scotland, July 2015