News & Events

Here are a couple more stories which have been pointed out to us and raise some interesting points about the state of modern mental health care across the UK.

From the Express website comes a claim by the President of the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) that patients are being failed by the NHS because GPs don't have enough time, training or resources to provide proper care.

Dr Clare Gerada was interviewed by the website for its We GPs can’t help mental health victims in 10 mins story where she said waiting lists, poor investment and red tape were preventing people getting the services they need.

Meanwhile, the BBC's Health Correspondent Nick Triggle explains how the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has said that the standard of care provided for people with dementia is "patchy".

The warning came as the organisation unveiled new standards for dementia care covering issues such as housing and access to leisure services. For further information please read his Dementia care "patchy" on the BBC's website. 

If you have a mental health news story or event you would like us to highlight on this blog please contact us via email at lhills@rcgp.org.uk or on 029 2050 4516.

Here are a couple of mental health news stories which caught our eye this weekend and we thought you might find interesting.

Both come from the Guardian website's Science section the first deals with the issue of the legal restraints imposed by UK law on dealing with depression and the second looks at the problems surrounding our current way of diagnosing certain mental conditions.

The first story is entitled Magic mushrooms' psychedelic ingredient could help treat people with severe depression and was penned by the website's Science Editor Robin McKie.

The story looks at how drugs derived from magic mushrooms - which contain could psilocybin - could help treat people with severe depression but according to Professor David Nutt of Imperial College London the UK's strict drugs laws are preventing research into this area.

Professor Nutt - who was sacked as the chairman of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs in 2009 after clashing with government ministers on the dangers and classification of illicit drugs - has found that psilocybin appears to stop patients suffering from depression from dwelling on themselves and their own perceived inadequacies and makes them feel happier just weeks after taking the drug.

However, his ongoing researach into this area is encounterating difficulties as magic mushrooms - and therefore psilocybin - are rated as a class-A drug and the active chemical ingredient cannot be manufactured unless a special licence is granted.

The second news was covered by the regular Guardian columnist Vaughan Bell who is visiting senior research fellow at the Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London.

In his weekend column called News from the borders of mental illness he discusses new research which is challenging the polarised views of how best to define, diagnose and treat conditions such as schizophrenia.

He discusses the issues surrounding the classification of "mental illness" and whether this is fundamentally flawed and the key issue of whether different diagnoses such as schizophrenia, bipolar or depression represent distinct disorders have specific causes or are just convenient ways of dividing up these conditions for the purposes of treatment.

If you have a mental health news story or event you would like us to highlight on this blog please contact us via email at lhills@rcgp.org.uk or on 029 2050 4516.

Our parent organisation has helped launch the first practical guide to help GPs navigate their way around the ethical dilemmas of using social media.

The new Social Media Highway Code was launched in the middle of March and has been described as "a practical and encouraging guide for doctors and other healthcare professionals who use social media".

Published by the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) - in collaboration with Doctors.net.uk and LimeGreen Media - it has been drawn up to ensure doctors make the most of their online communications whilst meeting their professional obligations and protecting their patients' confidentiality at the same time.

The document is a collection of practical and supportive advice based around a 10-point plan created by a range of people with an interest in social media including doctors, nurses, journalists, lawyers, students and patients.

It is intended to help and encourage healthcare professionals to communicate effectively using various social media channels whilst adhering to the conventions that their patients, their colleagues and the public might reasonably expect.

Since its launch healthcare professionals from all over the world have been providing feedback through Twitter, Facebook and the online forums on Doctors.net.uk.

This feedback has now been incorporated into the Code and there has been interest in adapting the content for education and other professionals.

For further information please visit the Doctors in the fast lane on social media guidance page on the RCGP website or download a copy of the Social Media Highway Code from the following Social Media page on the same website.