Abstract

Over the past decade, old age liaison psychiatry services have been developing across the UK. The driving force behind this has been the recognition of the inequity in service provision for people over the age of 65 with mental health problems in a general hospital setting. A postal survey of consultants in old age psychiatry in April 2002 showed that most respondents (71%) considered that the service they provided to older people in general hospitals was poor and needed to be improved (Holmes et al, 2002). Much work has been done to highlight this issue, and liaison psychiatry for older adults is gaining prominence. The national conference on liaison psychiatry for older people, which has been held in Leeds for the past 4 years, attracts large numbers of enthusiastic participants. The Department of Health (2006) document A New Ambition for Old Age specifically mentions the current poor standard of care that older people with mental health problems receive in a general hospital setting. The Royal College of Psychiatrists (2005) has produced guidelines for the development of liaison mental health services for older people.

Highlights

  • The authors believe it is timely to consider higher specialist training issues in liaison psychiatry for older adults

  • We look forward to the day that higher specialist training in liaison psychiatry for older adults is recognised by the Royal College of Psychiatrists

  • The question could be asked if the skills gained in a specialist training post differ from those that would have been gained from an attachment in general old age psychiatry, or liaison psychiatry? From the authors’ clinical experience and from discussions with colleagues it is believed that there is specific and important experience to be gained from training in this specialty

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Summary

MAURA YOUNG AND SIOBHAN MORRIS

Higher training in liaison psychiatry for older adults: experiences of two specialist training posts. The authors believe it is timely to consider higher specialist training issues in liaison psychiatry for older adults. No such competencies exist for liaison psychiatry for older adults but they could resemble the psychiatric competencies for higher specialist trainees in geriatric medicine. Safe and effective use of electroconvulsive therapy for the treatment of severe depressive illness . Ability to liaise across different specialties and organisations, including non-statutory organisations The authors describe their experiences of a year’s training in two posts attached to specialist services

Structure of the training posts
General skills
Experience of different models of service deliver y
Mental capacity assessments
Educational input
Other experience
Findings
Conclusions
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