The London School of Psychiatry

Introduction

Welcome to the London School of Psychiatry Homepage 

I have been Head of School since June 2017 and am delighted to be helping to guide the largest group of psychiatry trainees in the UK. The diversity of our trainees is a strength of our programmes and we support and encourage international medical graduates.  

I am a committed Londoner, having been born in London, gone to school in London, trained in medicine at Guys and St Thomas's and completed my postgraduate training in General Adult Psychiatry at the South London and Maudsley NHS Trust. As a Consultant I have always worked in acute settings, including acute inpatient units and a health-based Place of Safety. Throughout my career I have been involved in medical education at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels and was the Training Programme Director for the General Adult Higher training scheme at SLAM for almost 10 years. I am an advocate of academic training and am the Associate Dean for Academic training at London HEE and Associate Dean for Academic Psychiatry at the RCPsych.

We are living in challenging times. Even before the COVID pandemic there was a mixture of uncertainty and optimism for all of us working in the NHS. The School has worked hard to support trainees throughout COVID from the initial pandemic-related redeployment into an active recovery phase and plans to the positive educational experiences that have arisen in the last 2 years. 

In addition, we have developed projects helping us to:

- improve understanding of recruitment and retention

- learn alongside trainee from other specialities

- promote educational opportunities in areas such as inclusion health.

- help trainees return to clinical training after breaks

- succeed in clinical exams and preparing for consultant roles

- understand and reduce the impact of violence on trainees

The landscape of the NHS is constantly changing and mental health provision is the subject of major review and transformation. I will be working with the team at HEE to ensure that training develops alongside these changes.

Trainee involvement is a cornerstone of the School ethos.  We link with the RCPsych London Trainees committee, host a pan London trainee wellbeing committee, and have established an Educational Fellows network. All of the educational committees have invited trainee representatives and trainees have access to regional training days in addition to local taught courses.

You can find out more about the individual programme specialities and locations by following the links to their web pages.

Psychiatry is a challenging, fascinating and rewarding career.  Being a trainee in London offers a breadth of opportunity and experience you will not find anywhere else!

 

Head of School of Psychiatry

Professor Vivienne Curtis

Deputy Head of School of Psychiatry

Dr Luca Polledri

The vision for the London School of Psychiatry is:

• World class education for world-class healthcare
• Excellence of postgraduate training and education
• Producing clinical leaders of tomorrow

Programme specialties :

Core Psychiatry :

• North Central London
• North East London
• North West London
• South East London
• South West London

Child and Adolescent Psychiatry:

• North East London
• North Central London
• North West London
• South East London
• South West London

General and Old Age Psychiatry:

• North Central London
• North East London
• North West London
• South East London
• South West London

Forensic Psychiatry:

• South London
• North London

Learning Disability Psychiatry:

• South London
• North London

Medical Psychotherapy:

• South London
• North London

Useful Resources

• Curriculum: https://www.rcpsych.ac.uk/training/curricula-and-guidance/gmc-approved-curriculum-modules
• ARCP checklists: 
  • Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service
  • Core Psychiatry
  • Forensic Psychiatry
  • General Adult Psychiatry
  • Learning Disability
  • Medical Psychotherapy
  • Old Age Psychiatry

• ePortfolio: https://training.rcpsych.ac.uk/
• Exams: https://www.rcpsych.ac.uk/training/exam

Find out more

To find out more about training in Psychiatry, please visit the Royal College of Psychiatrists website at www.rcpsych.ac.uk

Contact us

Please visit our contacts page where you will find contact information regarding all training matters (ARCP, rotational placements, revalidation, out of programme applications, intra London programme transfers, inter deanery transfers, integrated academic training, less than full-time training, and travel expenses).

PGMDE Trainee Support Portal - click here