Increasing attention continues to be paid to the discrepancy between the current performance of medical practitioners in dealing with alcohol dependence and the enormous potential which exists for early diagnosis and cost-effective treatment. This discrepancy has been noted in various government reports, in articles in the medical press and in the seminal report of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, Alcohol and Alcoholism. One way of narrowing the gap between performance and potential would be through improvements in medical education. The purpose of this short paper is to review existing evaluated studies of medical education on alcohol dependence in order to discover whether any specific lessons emerge which might be useful in planning curriculum changes either at undergraduate or postgraduate level.

In 1973, Morris Carstairs, writing in the Journal (123, 271–77) on the psychiatric problems of developing countries, made references to Baghdad: the newly completed teaching hospital had very few nurses, and might have been a misguidedly expensive project for a developing country; there were no psychiatric beds in the teaching hospital; the out-patient clinic was primitive; and the students learnt psychiatry only by visits to the unsatisfactory mental hospital.

Members of the College will know that in the 1980–81 Parliamentary Session the Social Services Committee, chaired by Mrs Renée Short, examined the problem of achieving for hospital medical staff a proper balance between the number of doctors in training and the number in the career grades. In February 1982 the Government published its response to that Report as a White Paper, and stated its intent of seeking early discussion with the responsible bodies, which include the College, to promote action.

All members will be interested to know that there is now a comfortable Members Room situated on the Ground Floor of the College headquarters at 17 Belgrave Square. The purpose of this room is to provide a quiet area within the College where members may read or meet their friends. It will be available to all members of the College from Monday to Friday, between 9.00am and 5.00pm, except on Bank Holidays, special days when the College may be closed or on rare occasions when the whole of the Ground Floor area may be used as a Lecture Theatre for College meetings.