Psychiatrists who work with the dying met together with other liaison psychiatrists at St Christopher's Hospice in April 1983 for a small two-day conference. We found it both stimulating and supportive to hear about several specialized aspects of our work.

In April 1983 I went on a medical tour of China, travelling around the People's Republic in three weeks, with compulsory stops at the Friendship Stores, and flying visits to commune hospitals, clinics, a Chinese Medicine hospital, and a Chinese Medicine factory. The psychiatrists on the tour were interested in visits to the Shanghai Psychiatric Hospital, the Neuropsychiatric Department of the Beijing Capital Hospital and the Hangzhau Railway Workers' Sanitarium.

This paper was produced by a multiprofessional Working Party set up by the College at the request of the DHSS. It has been approved by the parent bodies concerned, including the College's Council, in June 1983.

In the autumn of 1981 the College meeting was held jointly with the Danish Psychiatric Association, many of whose members came to London for a few days. Planning for the recent study tour by College members to Denmark started soon afterwards. By fortunate timing, Dr Tove Aarkrog's article on psychiatry in Denmark was published in the Bulletin (May 1983, 7, 90–91) on the eve of the group's departure.

When Wilson et al (1978) described ‘The new Aberdeen Medical Record,’ they stated: ‘The bulk and disarray of many hospital medical records make it impossible to review and retrieve information easily, hamper the proper care of patients and cause much time to be wasted … when papers accumulate chaotically in the folders much time is wasted in clumsy attempts to retrieve information; important facts about patients and their problems and drug treatment are obscured.’ The same problems apply to the records of psychiatric patients, and this paper describes the adaptation of the Aberdeen Medical Record for use in psychiatric units and hospitals.

Here is a good teaching case:

Mr Watene, aged 25, was put in prison for seven days on a charge of offensive behaviour, with a charge of robbery pending. On the third day he was recommended for transfer to a psychiatric hospital because he was sullen, depressed and uncommunicative; he had barricaded himself in his cell because he was scared of other prisoners, and he carried a knife for his protection, as he said. Two doctors wrote the order. One noted: ‘It is very difficult to gain his attention. He cerebrates slowly, and replies to repeated questioning are in the main irrelevant.’ The other said: ‘It is not really possible to have a conversation with him, but he does indicate his fear of being left alone in the cell and wished me to stay with him. Says he is mixed up.’

Over thirty-five years have elapsed since Dr Joshua Bierer opened the first psychiatric day unit in London in 1946. Following a somewhat tentative start in the early 1950s, day hospitals expanded rapidly during the latter 1950s, ‘60s and into the ‘70s, and are now regarded as an established part of the psychiatric services. However, it is probably a truism that many of the staff working in psychiatry know little more about the philosophy, practice and effectiveness of day care than their colleagues did a generation ago.