Aims of the School

The aims of the School are to develop psychiatrists with the correct range of skills and attributes required for specialist practice in today’s NHS, as well as equipping them with the spirit and skills for continued personal development throughout their professional career.  Thus the trained psychiatrist will be knowledgeable, able to apply the principles of evidence based medicine in their every day practice, and have a range of high level clinical skills.  This will enable them to employ a full range of psychological and biological therapies in a consistent fashion which is beneficial for patients today and in the future.  They will be a team worker operating with values and attitudes portrayed in contemporary professional literature.
 

Summary

Core training is an exciting and innovative programme compromising 3 years of psychiatric training. This is divided into six, 6 monthly placements across General Adult Psychiatry and other sub-specialties. These include CAMHs (Child and Adolescent Mental Health), Learning Disabilities (LD), Forensics, Medical Psychotherapy, Old Age Psychiatry and Liaison psychiatry. The West Midlands is fortunate to have the Barberry (National Centre for Mental Health); a centre of excellence which is highly specialised in providing perinatal, eating disorders and deaf services. 

The aim of the “core” years is to develop clinical experience alongside supervised training and formal teaching sessions. Trainees can become skilled in clinical history taking and examination, diagnosis, formulation and management.

This broad based training enables trainees to become familiar with psychiatry in a relaxed and supportive learning environment.

Alongside the clinical experience, there is also a requirement to pass the MRCPsych exams to obtain full Membership of the Royal College of Psychiatry. During the three years of Core Training, there is a weekly teaching and training programme that aims to provide the skills and knowledge required to be Member of the Royal College of Psychiatry and to pass their exams.