SCAN Addiction Psychiatry meeting for SpRs and newly-appointed consultants

12th - 13th June 2008, Francis Hotel, Bath

• Evidence Based Care and New Clinical Guidelines
• The Future for Addiction Psychiatrists and Career Development

WHO SHOULD ATTEND?

The conference will be of interest to SpRs/ST 4-6 who incorporate addiction into their training and any other trainees with a special interest in the subject. Also welcome to attend are new consultants, associate specialists and psychiatrists with a special interest in addiction. This year we are also delighted to open up the conference to staff grade psychiatrists.

Planning is underway for this annual meeting which will take place on Thursday 12^th and Friday 13^th June at the now familiar venue: the Francis Hotel, Bath. This is becoming the signature location for this annual event, and provides a beautiful setting for SpRs, STs and new consultants to network and learn. The event will commence on Thursday afternoon, and runs for one and a half days with one night's accommodation and a conference dinner.

As the title suggests this conference is open to all SpRs who are interested in pursuing a career in addiction psychiatry, but not necessarily constricted to those currently in an addiction training post. This obviously applies to the new ST grades 4 - 6, as well as clinicians recently appointed to, or new to the role of consultant psychiatrist in addiction.

Full programme and registration details coming soon...

Clinical governance in drug treatment: A draft good practice guide for providers and commissioners

A draft of the document Clinical governance in drug treatment has been put out for consultation by the NTA until May14th 2008. The final document is likely to have a significant impact on service delivery, continuing professional development, and roles and responsibilities of clinicians in addiction services over the next few years. The consultation asks for responses to 19 separate questions addressed in the document, and these can be found on the proforma here.

SCAN will prepare a response to the consultation, incorporating all replies from members which are sent to us by Wednesday 7^th May. Please do take the time to respond those parts of the document that are of relevance to your clinical practice.

More information can be found here: Consultations page. The final SCAN response incorporating members' views will be available on the website.

Drug Misuse and Dependence; UK Guidelines on Clinical Management 2007

After extensive consultation the final version of the ‘Clinical Guidelines' or ‘Orange Book' is now published. It covers all 4 countries of the UK which is greatly to be welcomed as our patients don't easily respect geographical boundaries. SCAN was involved in the consultation process and has distributed this document to all members.

This update of the previous guidelines, (last updated in 1999), comes at a time when there have been tremendous changes in the treatments available and in the ways in which they are delivered, reflecting the expanding evidence base and the changing roles of professionals delivering services, with, however, inequity of service delivery in different parts of the UK remaining a problem. Since it is recommended that specialists ensure that they fulfil the standards and quality of care as set out in the Clinical Guidelines it is very important that we all read them, and that we consider how we might address local resource issues that make it difficult to comply with the guidance