CNWL holds first post-Covid Psychiatrists Conference

On Monday 12 December, over 150 of CNWL’s psychiatrists came together at County Hall to celebrate each other’s work and gain a wider sense of what psychiatrists, both in and beyond CNWL, will be working towards in the future.

Despite heavy snow and major travel disruptions, the conference began promptly with the first keynote speech from Dr Shubulade Smith CBE who discussed the need to address inequalities in Psychiatry. Dr Smith broke down the various contexts and structural discriminations that lead to inequalities within psychosocial pathways. She also discussed proposed reforms to the Mental Health Act and the benefits of ‘Advance Statements’ - a document that allows patients to state how they wish to be treated during a future crisis or relapse, by making professionals aware of their advance wishes and preferences. Click here to read more about Dr Smith’s work.

Later in the morning, Professor Henrietta Bowden-Jones OBE presented on ‘how to stop gambling in a post review era’. Professor Bowden-Jones spoke about the prevalence of gambling harm in the UK and various efforts to invest more time and money in the treatments of gambling disorders. She said: “we need the most successful treatment interventions to be taught and monitored across the country for all to benefit. Clinicians and patients alike.” More of Dr Bowden-Jones’s work on gambling addictions can be found here.

Throughout the day, attendees split off into breakout rooms to engage in presentations, delivered by CNWL staff, on a range of topics:

Professor Russel Razzaque, Associate Medical Director and Director of Research and Innovation for North East London NHS Foundation Trust, spoke in the afternoon on ‘Bringing the relational back to the core of psychiatry’. He advocated for ways of making treatments more patient-centred and discussed new models of care, including Open Dialogue which CNWL is starting to adopt. You can watch Professor Razzaque’s vlog series on relational psychiatry here.

The final talk came from NHS doctor, journalist, broadcaster, speaker, campaigner and comedian, Dr Phil Hammond. Reflecting on how the culture of medicines has changed over the years, Dr Hammond spoke with great humour about his childhood, his 34 years in the NHS and his experiences as Private Eye magazine’s medical correspondent.

The conference concluded with a short awards ceremony. The winners and runners up for each award were as follows:

Dr Gareth Jarvis, Medical Director for CNWL’s Jameson Division, gave special thanks to all the guest speakers and the conference planning committee. He said: “I’ve been so impressed by the quality of the speakers, both external and from within CNWL’s incredible pool of talent, and it’s very inspiring to hear leaders in various fields deliver such high-quality sessions. It’s also just lovely to see people face-to-face again after such a long time.”