MINUTES OF THE WORKFORCE SUB-GROUP OF THE RCPSYCH in SCOTLAND/SPECIALTY BOARD MEETING HELD ON 18 APRIL 2013 IN THE BMA OFFICES, EDINBURGH AT 2pm
(WITH FACULTY CHAIRS)
- PRESENT
Dr Alastair Cook (Chair) ; Dr Susan Miller, Dr Kathy Leighton, Dr Robin McGilp and Dr John Russell.
In attendance
Karen Addie (Minutes)
Dr Cook explained he was Chairing the group following Dr Blake having to stand down due to other commitments but he was hoping to have discussions later about the role of the group and how it fits with the Specialty Training Board and other work the College is doing.
- APOLOGIES
Apologies for absence were received from: Dr Andrew Robinson, Dr Dallas Brodie; Dr Richard Athawes; Dr William Riddle; Dr Michelle George, Dr Andrea Williams, Dr Karen Richard, Dr Nabila Muzaffar and Dr Siobhan Murphy.
- MINUTES OF THE MEETING HELD ON 31 OCTOBER 2012
The minutes of the previous meeting were accepted as accurate.
- MATTERS ARISING
(i)Foundation Numbers
There is now progress with increasing the numbers of FY doctors coming to Psychiatry. The group noted an additional 45 FY1s are going to be created, some of which will be allocated to Psychiatry across Scotland. Dr Cook confirmed they cannot be on call so they need to be in fully supervised roles. They are ideally suited to be in Liaison Psychiatry but College tutors are being asked to design programmes for them. Basic salaries will be met centrally but NHS Boards will need to pay any banding supplements. Dr Cook stated there is not a great deal of information at the moment as the announcement is fairly recent. Dr Russell added that the model of how they are used in Edinburgh can perhaps be replicated in other parts of the country as they have had them for some time. Dr Cook concluded by saying there will need to be some thought given to getting additional FY2 posts for August 2014 for these new FY1s to move into. Dr Miller said she would be keen to see some of them go into sub-specialties of psychiatry.
(ii)Workforce Report RCPsych in Scotland 2012
This had been completed and is available online. The Committee discussed some of the headline facts from the report including why the headcount may have risen but the number of Pas appeared to be less than the previous year.
There was some discussion on what ISD are doing and whether joint work was possible to get the figures accurate. KA confirmed they had not heard back from ISD in some time and it had not been possible to work on the 2012 figures with them. Dr Cook added there is a new system for Boards to record their data on but it is very new and not all Boards are on it yet.
KA confirmed she is working on a new template for the spreadsheet returns and a draft will be discussed with Dr Cook before it is sent out. Dr Cook was also keen to include instructions on how to fill in the spreadsheets and to have a look at who is being asked to send back the data to make sure it is the most appropriate person.
(iii)RCPsych in Scotland Census 2012
See above – it was agreed the College should still do a Census in 2013
(iv)Specialty Doctor Vacancies in Scotland
The group noted the number of vacancies at this level had been more stable recently.
(v)Consultant Vacancies
The number of vacancies dropped in 2012. There are healthy numbers of applicants for most posts but the group noted CAMHs are finding it difficult to recruit to Consultant posts and this is one argument to support their need for more trainees. Dr Leighton emphasised it is currently an applicant’s market in this specialty.
The Committee went on to discuss the very low numbers of applicants from outside Scotland and Dr Russell reported from discussions at national meetings it was clear some people in England were put off applying to Scotland because of the referendum on Scottish Indepdendence planned for 2014.
The group considered the general issue of how to make Scotland more attractive to applicants at all levels. Dr Cook added that a lot of foundation trainees now go to Australia, New Zealand or England and very few ever return to Scotland. Dr Miller suggested asking trainees what makes Scotland attractive/unattractive. Dr Cook was concerned at people viewing Scotland’s very different political landscape as a potential barrier to moving here. The group noted NES are taking this problem seriously and are trying to address it.
Dr Leighton suggested that the low numbers of Scottish trainees able to attend national conferences is a problem as they are then not talking to other trainees in a positive way about living and working in Scotland. Low attendance could be due to lack of funding. Dr Cook advised the RCPsychiS has put money aside this year for bursaries for trainees wanting to display posters at national conferences.
(vi)Consultant Appointments (recent information on appointments enclosed)
Following the last meeting more very helpful information is now being provided by the Academy in their quarterly reports that come out listing all the appointments in psychiatry. Dr Cook thought it would be even more helpful if information was available about how many people applied for each post and how many got shortlisted. The group concluded that if an appointments committee was cancelled due to lack of applicants this information would not be recorded on the sheet.
(vii)Consultation on Training Numbers
Dr Cook and Dr Miller had met with Paul Padfield to have some discussion about numbers for psychiatry. It is likely there will be a numbers exercise this year. Paul Padfield is giving the impression he would like to see information that leads to minimal changes to current numbers. The group noted that CAMHs and Old Age numbers may need some work. CAMHs actual time to CCT is between 4 and 5 years on average and this has not been properly accounted for. Dr Cook agreed the Old Age Faculty needs to be consulted about their numbers. The group agreed that there is a danger if all vacancies are not filled the posts may be removed.
Dr Miller went on to speak about the difficulty in recruiting trainees into Intellectual Disability psychiatry and she thought dual training may help this situation. It was agreed she would speak to this at the Specialty Training Board as it may be possible to set up one dual training post and test out whether it would be successful. The reference to developmental disorders in the Mental Health Strategy of the Scottish Government may help to justify such a post.
Dr Leighton spoke about the problems in CAMHs with a relatively young workforce and attrition rates not just from training but consultants wishing to work part time. The Government may raise the age limit for CAMHs to 18 which will have an impact on the service.
It was agreed KA would ask Gary Morrison to send someone from OA Faculty to the group meetings.
Finally Dr Cook suggested sending information to Paul Padfield ahead of the actual consultation paper coming out as it usually comes out in the summer when most people are on holiday.
- WORKFORCE GROUP (UK)
The Centre for Workforce Intelligence are doing their “deep dive” into psychiatry and Dr Cook stated it will be interesting to see what the results are but he wondered about the timing of this given Greenaway is due to report this summer.
KA confirmed that she sends minutes of these meetings to the UK group and she would circulate their papers to this group.
- ANY OTHER COMPETENT BUSINESS
None
- DATE AND TIME OF NEXT MEETING
IT WAS AGREED THEAugust 15th meeting should be cancelled but the October 31stmeeting should be retained.
Workforce Minutes Final 25 April 2013 KA Page 1