DCP In Focus: February 2024

This covers both January and February, as a lot of work has been going into compiling our DCP Review of 2023 - a summary of all the work we have undertaken across all our networks in the last year.

I hope you will agree that it is an impressive body of work and I want to record our thanks to everyone who has contributed their time and energy to making this happen.

We'll be highlighting some of the specific achievements in March's newsletter - but for now you can read the review on our website.

- Julia Faulconbridge, DCP communications and publications lead

News

Annual conference 2024 - reigniting joy at work

We're delighted to be able to announce plans for our annual conference in 2024, which will be in a completely new style following feedback from members.

You asked for a face-to-face conference with the opportunity to network, so we are bringing the conference to a venue near you. We have one theme for the conference that will run across nine sites, including the the three devolved nations and a range of locations in England.

We understand that working life is tough for everyone and have responded to that by offering a workshop style conference with the theme 'reigniting joy at work'.

We are excited to be welcoming two international keynote speakers, Dr Karen Treisman and Kate B. Hilton JD MTS, who together bring many years of experience in supporting individuals and organisations across the world to thrive in challenging times using evidence based approaches to working with trauma, generating hope and developing joy in work, reducing the impact of burnout, low motivation and poor morale.

You can register your place at the conference now via our website - and keep an eye out for more news and announcements over the coming weeks.

Nominations open for the roles of President-Elect and Elected Trustee

BPS members have the opportunity to put themselves forward for two important governance roles.

The President-Elect serves for two years, before serving a further two years as President. Elected Trustees serve a three-year term, with the option of standing for a further three years.

The society is keen to see candidates for both roles who come from all walks of life and represent the vast array of experience, skills, and knowledge that we are fortunate to have within our membership.

Full details of both roles and the nomination process, which includes finding two fellow members to propose and second your application, are available on our website.

Nominations will close on 21 March - if you would be interested in getting more involved in your society and helping us to build a brighter future for psychology in the UK, we would love to hear from you.

Developing psychologists as approved clinicians

A BPS webinar on 'Developing psychologists as approved clinicians' is now available to watch on Youtube, and may be of interest to those considering becoming an approved clinician or working in this area.

Congratulations to our latest award winners

We recently announced the latest winners of three of our awards - the Monte Shapiro Lifetime Achievement Award, the May Davidson Award, and the Trainee Research Excellence Award.

Congratulations to Dr Andy Tyerman, Associate Professor Judith Johnson, and Dr Alex Lau-Zhu respectively on their achievements and winning these awards.

More information on the awards and winners is available in a news story on the DCP website.

DCP response to new figures on readmission to mental health facilities

The DCP has commented on new figures showing that almost 5,000 people were readmitted to a mental health facility within a month of leaving last year.

A freedom of information request by Dr Rosena Allin-Khan MP has revealed figures from NHS mental health trusts in England showing that last year, almost 5,000 people (children and adults) were readmitted to a mental health facility within a month of leaving.

In all, 3,381 patients were readmitted within 30 days of their discharge by 35 of the 54 specialist mental trusts in England during 2022-23. Extrapolating those figures to all 54 trusts suggested an estimated 4,927 people were readmitted within a month, she said.

Also, in 2022-23, 1,972 people were readmitted by 36 trusts within a week of discharge – something NHS mental health services accept should never happen. Extrapolation of those figures to the 54 care providers shows that an estimated 2,794 people returned as an inpatient within seven days.

New NHS data sets released

The NHS has recently published two new data sets which may be of interest to members.

The NHS talking therapies for anxiety and depression workforce census 2023 covers NHS commissioned services delivered by NHS and non-NHS service providers. The census provides a high-level overview of the workforce across England as of 31 March 2023.

The NHS Benchmarking Network has also completed and published the annual NHS benchmarking children and young people's mental health workforce census.

This report will aid NHS England and stakeholders across the system to understand the size and shape of the CYP MH workforce. It should be used to inform decision making in relation to workforce planning, and strategic investment in education and training nationally, regionally, and locally.

Insights: The DCP Pre-Qualification Group podcast

Four episodes of our Pre-Qualification Group's podcast, 'Insights', are now available to listen to online.

The podcast sees hosts Melissa McRae and Liam Myles interview a variety of clinical psychologists working in various services and roles, bringing insights and reflections on the nature of their work.

New publications

Job planning for practitioner psychologists

The BPS has produced new guidelines for practitioner psychologists working in the NHS and social care on navigating the job planning process.

Job planning is important in helping services to deliver high-quality outcomes for service users and allowing individual staff to be clear about their own role in the activities required to deliver those outcomes.

Job planning processes are now widely used and recommended in the NHS, but prior to the launch of this document, specific guidance for practitioner psychologists was either out-of-date or did not exist.

Developing chemsex intervention services

This briefing document outlines how practitioner psychologists could contribute to the development, delivery, and evaluation of services for men who engage in chemsex.

These are generally gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men (GBMSM), who use drugs to enhance sexual experiences, often referred to as chemsex, a term coined by David Stuart.

The document provides an overview of the relevant chemsex literature in relation to GBMSM and how psychologists can work alongside existing teams to meet the varying needs of this population.

Psychologists promoting and supporting the physical health of people with learning disabilities

The physical healthcare needs of people with learning disabilities have been identified as a priority within Government and practice documents since the start of the millennium, with the need for action to reduce health inequalities being highlighted in key documents.

However, despite this long-term focus on physical healthcare for this group, evidence suggests that people with learning disabilities still receive poorer healthcare and have significantly worse health outcomes than those without learning disabilities.

This document is aimed at understanding what the challenges are and identifying what practitioner psychologists can do to improve the physical healthcare of people with learning disabilities.

Opportunities

Join the DCP Communications sub-committee

Effective communications are essential for the DCP to be an effective organisation for our members, for the people we work with and for the wider public.

We already have a communications sub-committee and want to expand the number of people to increase what we can achieve. We are looking for people with commitment, energy and new, creative ideas to help us move forward and would love to welcome you to our group.

The communications sub-committee needs to be truly diverse in its composition and to have members at all levels of their careers.

You do not need to have experience in this field - the aim is for the sub-committee to be a dynamic and supportive team with shared learning and mentoring integral to its operation.

Find out more and apply via the BPS website.

Upcoming events

• Our Faculty for Eating Disorders is hosting a webinar on developing the skills of families and carers in supporting eating disorder recovery on 7 March.

• Our Faculty of Holistic Psychology is hosting a webinar titled 'What's in a name?' and looking at neurodiversity on 28 March.

• A webinar offering a new perspective on the Understanding Depression document is being held on 9 May.

• Our Faculty for People with Intellectual Disabilities is holding its advancing practice conference from 13-14 May.

• The second part of our Faculty of Clinical Health Psychology and Faculty for HIV and Sexual Health's joint 'transitions in health' event is taking place on 5 June.