‘We must be proud of our profession’ – College of Psychiatrists’ President

Creativity and the arts in psychiatry converged with science to create a collection of stimulating sessions at the College of Psychiatrists of Ireland’s Winter Conference in Limerick. 

The two-day meeting, held at the Strand Hotel on 7-8 November, featured many presentations inspired by the arts on topics including musical therapy, storytelling, and transgenerational trauma and the arts.

Several informative scientific presentations on prescribing, forensic psychiatry, and physical health monitoring in patients with mental illness drew great interest from members. 

President of the College, Dr Lorcan Martin, warmly welcomed over 300 delegates to the gathering. He said they would see science and the arts “merge and complement each other” through the meeting agenda.

Eclectic and fascinating workshops would ensue, stated Dr Martin, before he highlighted several pressing matters concerning the specialty. 

“Mental illness is real,” underlined Dr Martin, who suggested this was not always recognised by critics of psychiatry.

“We are doctors and we treat illness. We are scientists and we base our practice on evidence. We are also artists, be it in the creative art we see today, or in the oft overlooked and ancient art of the physician.

“We must be proud of our profession, often in the face of unwarranted and ill-informed negativity, much of which manages to find its way onto every social media platform at the stroke of a disgruntled finger.”

He said there was no suggestion that psychiatry should not be held to the highest standards or that it should lack regulation. However, he noted there were unrealistic expectations of the capacity of psychiatry services, which lacked appropriate funding even for the delivery of their core function (ie, treating severe mental illness).

He added there was hardly a service in the country that was not “bedevilled” by staff vacancies or lack of resources.

“Many services still run on a wing and a prayer where it comes to IT and administration. The HSE’s current pay and numbers policy is a blunt instrument which seems little more than a cynical exercise to save money at the expense of quality patient care. It requires services to fight for resources, which have long been demonstrated to be necessary for good mental healthcare. Once again, we are being asked to do so much more with so much less.

“All of this is in the background of the lowest ever mental health budget as a percentage of the overall health budget. Yet again this year it’s less than 6 per cent and even less than last year. This is consistently at odds with national standards and even contradicts the figure quoted in Sláintecare. Naturally we in the College continue to lobby and advocate for what is required to provide a modern and comprehensive service. Additionally, consistently low and shrinking training budgets will mean that we will be unable to train the specialists required for the years to come. Those old enough to remember in 1984 we had planning for the future. Perhaps 2024 now requires planning for catastrophe.

“In spite of it all, the postgraduate and training department continues to develop and improve our training scheme, which has already taken the lead in so many areas.”

In spite of it all, the postgraduate and training department continues to develop and improve our training scheme, which has already taken the lead in so many areas

Dr Martin remarked on the ongoing revision of mental health legislation as another major challenge facing the specialty. Commenting on the Mental Health Bill 2024, he said: “This legislation as it stands represents the greatest threat to our patients’ wellbeing for some considerable time. It may not cause illness, but it will certainly cause suffering. There is an obligation on all of us… to try to make this right by whatever means we have at our disposal. I would encourage every one of you to answer that call, whether it’s writing to public representatives or galvanising patients and families.”

Meanwhile, Dr Martin also led tributes to CEO Ms Miriam Silke who celebrated 30 years with the College this year.

Several former College presidents paid tribute to Ms Silke’s immense contribution during this time, describing her as a “marvel” and a “gem”.