To examine data on referrals to an inner-city London memory service to explore any differences in referral rates, cognitive assessments and stages of dementia at presentation between ethnic groups.

African–Caribbean patients were well represented in the memory service. They were diagnosed with dementia on average 4.5 years younger than their White British counterparts and were more likely to be diagnosed with a vascular or mixed type dementia. However, scores on initial cognitive testing were significantly lower in the African–Caribbean group, possibly representing more advanced disease at presentation.

Initiatives to access Black and minority ethnic populations earlier in the course of their illness should be considered. Professionals need to consider the potential for cultural bias in memory testing and diagnosing dementia in these populations, and the importance of cultural competency in assessments.

This review aims to clarify the evidence on the effectiveness of telepsychiatry following the COVID-19 pandemic. We conducted a literature review of three databases (Cochrane Library, PubMed and PsycINFO), using the terms virtual consultation/telepsychiatry/video consultation AND psychiatry/mental illness.

We identified 325 eligible papers and conducted a thematic analysis resulting in five themes: patient and clinical satisfaction, diagnostic reliability, outcomes, technology and professional guidance. The most significant factors linked to effectiveness of telepsychiatry were patient and clinician satisfaction and adequate technology to facilitate examination of the patient.

The consistent diagnostic reliability, satisfactory clinical outcomes and patient satisfaction linked to telepsychiatry favour its continued use once the pandemic ends. The main barrier is reluctance among clinicians and lack of professional guidance. We recommend education on the uses of telepsychiatry among clinicians, and the provision of professional guidance for its use from medical bodies and organisations.

This study utilised qualitative methods to explore medical students' experiences of a clinical attachment in psychiatry and examine the impact of these on career intentions. Fifteen 4th-year students from the University of Bristol were interviewed and their responses analysed.

Four key themes of role models, difference, stigma and career choice emerged from the analysis. Role models could be more influential than the specialty when choosing career options. Many students experienced psychiatry as being different to other specialties. For some this was a reason not to pursue psychiatry as a career but for others it was a positive aspect of the specialty. Stigma arose from a variety of sources, notably from medical students themselves.

These findings are relevant given the current recruitment problems in psychiatry and need to be considered in the planning and delivery of undergraduate medical education.

To assess the impact of a total smoking ban in a high secure psychiatric hospital. Staff and patients were surveyed before and after implementation. Data were collected on untoward incidents, seclusions, nicotine replacement therapy and changes in psychotropic medication.

Of the 298 patients in the hospital for the evaluation period, 72.8% were smokers before the ban. There were no significant differences in rates of seclusion before and after the ban and only one significant comparison (P =0.01) showed an increase in untoward incidents for smokers. There were no significant increases in the use of psychotropic medication after the ban.

With adequate preparation, it is possible to implement a total smoking ban in a high secure psychiatric setting without serious negative consequences.

This study provides an overview of the development of early intervention services for psychosis across England in February 2005. A bespoke self-report audit tool was completed by key informants across the eight regional development centres of the National Institute for Mental Health in England.

Out of 117 teams identified, 86 have funding, of which 63 are operational with case-managed patients (as of February 2005). Only 3 teams meet all 10 audited early intervention fidelity requirements and there are variations in service model, delivery setting and resources across teams.

Current inequity of access and the early, fragile nature of service development means that early intervention in England has reached a critical phase requiring consolidation.

A cross-sectional study aiming to assess the prevalence of trauma and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in a community substitution treatment sample, and to assess and compare the characteristics of traumatic experience, substance use, and psychological and social factors in those with and without PTSD. All assessments were completed during the interview which took approximately 1.5 h.

The prevalence for current PTSD was 26.2% and for lifetime PTSD 42.9%. Traumatic experiences were extremely common, with two or more reported by 92.9% of the sample. The two groups differed significantly on the majority of psychological functioning and social variables, with women experiencing higher rates of PTSD and the non-PTSD group having lower rates of psychological impairment.

The research supported findings from previous studies. The very high incidence of traumatic experiences has not been reported before. Training and information about trauma and PTSD for substance misuse workers are therefore necessary so that PTSD can be more easily detected and treated.

There has been much uncertainty about the concept of recovery in psychosis. The aim of this paper is to conceptualise recovery, through service users' descriptions of their recovery stories. A qualitative approach (interpretive phenomenological analysis) was used to guide interviews and analysis of data.

Eight service users were interviewed about their recovery from psychosis. Data analysis revealed four superordinate themes: ‘impacts on mental health’, ‘self-change and adaptation’, ‘social redefinition’ and ‘individualised coping mechanisms’.

Data indicates that multiple dimensions of recovery are all important to individuals when considering their subjective experiences of recovery from psychosis. Recovery can only be conceptualised by the person making the recovery journey and treatment outcome measures must reflect this individuality.

We review the prescribing rates for clozapine among all mental health trusts in England and explore whether it has changed with the introduction of NICE guidelines, generic clozapine and the Healthcare Commission ratings. Data were collected from mental health trusts in 2005–2006 and compared with a previous study from 2000. Mental health star ratings of 2004–2005 were taken from the Healthcare Commission.

We found a reduced inter-trust variability from 34-fold variation in 2000 to 5-fold variation in 2005–2006. There was a significant inverse relationship between star rating and clozapine prescribing.

NICE guidelines and generic clozapine seem to have improved access to gold standard therapy for treatment-resistant schizophrenia. Star ratings have little bearing on the implementation of NICE guidelines.

We surveyed educational supervisors and trainees in Wessex about their experience of the first 6 months of using workplace-based assessments (WPBAs), to see whether they needed further support in using them and, if so, in which areas. An anonymous questionnaire was sent to all trainees and educational supervisors in Wessex.

Overall, 63% of trainees and 61% of educational supervisors responded; 22% of supervisors had not received training in WPBA and 61% of trainees identified barriers to completing it. Non-medical staff were rarely approached for assessments.

There is a need for further training of supervisors, a more user-friendly IT system and expansion of the role of non-medical staff as assessors.

To assess the patients' most influential concerns regarding long-acting injectable antipsychotics (LAIs) and mental health professionals' preconceptions about these concerns. For both groups, to assess the level of knowledge about LAIs. This cross-sectional study used semi-structured interviews of patients with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder (n = 164), nurses (n = 43) and physicians (n = 20).

The mental health professionals overestimated many of the patients' fears of LAIs, and the expressed fears exceeded the actual experiences of patients already on LAIs. Acceptance to switch to LAIs was associated with shorter time from diagnosis. Nurses and patients disclosed limited knowledge of antipsychotics.

Physicians and nurses should aim to identify the individual patient's concerns about LAIs in the discussion about choice of antipsychotic treatment early in the course of illness.

Schizophrenia is a psychotic disorder that is stereotypically stigmatised as untreatable and associated with violence. Several authorities have suggested that changing the name, for example to psychosis, would reduce such stigmatisation. We aimed to compare attitudes to schizophrenia and psychosis on Twitter to see if psychosis was associated with less negative attitudes. Tweets containing the terms ‘schizophrenia’, ‘schizophrenic’, ‘psychosis’ or ‘psychotic’ were collected on www.twitter.com and were captured with NCapture. On NVivo, tweets were coded into categories based on user type, tweet content, attitude and stigma type by two independent raters. We compared the content and attitudes of tweets referring to schizophrenia/schizophrenic and psychosis/psychotic.

A total of 1120 tweets referring to schizophrenia/schizophrenic and 1080 referring to psychosis/psychotic were identified over two 7-day periods; 424 original tweets for schizophrenia and 416 original tweets for psychosis were included in the analysis. Psychosis was significantly more commonly included in tweets expressing negative attitudes (n=131, 31.5%) than schizophrenia (n=41, 9.7%) (χ² = 237.03, P < 0.0001). Of the personal opinions or dyadic interactions, 125 (53.4%) in the psychosis data set were stigmatising, compared with 33 (24.6%) of those in the schizophrenia set (χ² = 44.65, P < 0.0001).

The terms psychosis/psychotic are associated with a significantly higher number of tweets with negative content than schizophrenia/schizophrenic. Together with other evidence, this suggests that changing the name of schizophrenia to psychosis will not reduce negative attitudes toward the condition.

S.L. has received personal fees from Otsuka and Sunovion, and personal and research fees from Janssen.