To understand the experience of companions of patients seen in the emergency department by liaison psychiatry teams. Participants were recruited via purposive sampling following a recent visit to the emergency department of an inner- or outer-London hospital. Semi-structured interviews were administered to all participants.

Two major themes were generated. The first concerned the appropriateness of the clinical space, in which ‘noise’, ‘privacy’ and the ‘waiting area’ were subthemes. The second was communication with staff, including subthemes of ‘wanting more information’ and a ‘desire to be more involved’.

Liaison psychiatry services should consider appropriateness of the clinical space, promoting improved communication between staff and patients' companions, and a review of the information provided to companions in the emergency department. This research offers a novel perspective on liaison psychiatry and will enhance current understanding and clinical practice.

The concept of personal resilience is relevant to physician well-being, recruitment and retention, and to delivering compassionate patient care. This systematic review aims to explore factors affecting personal resilience among psychiatrists, in particular, those that may impair well-being and those that facilitate resilience practice. A literature search was performed of the Ovid®, Embase®, CINAHL and PsycINFO databases, using keywords to identify empirical studies involving psychiatrists that examined resilience, stress and burnout from the past 15 years.

Thirty-three international English language studies were included, showing that a combination of workplace, personal and non-workplace factors negatively and positively influenced well-being and resilience.

Given that workplace factors were the most commonly cited, it would appear that any resilience package that predominantly targets interventions at the workplace level would be particularly fruitful. Future research, however, needs to address the absence of a universal measurement of well-being and its moderators so that any potential interventions are better evaluated.

Memory services have expanded significantly in the UK, but limited performance data have been published. The aim of this programme was to determine variation in London memory services and address this through service improvement projects. In 2016 London memory services were invited to participate in an audit consisting of case note reviews of at least 50 consecutively seen patients.

Ten services participated in the audit, totalling 590 patients. Variation was noted in neuroimaging practice, neuropsychology referrals, diagnosis subtype, non-dementia diagnoses, waiting times and post-diagnostic support. Findings from the audit were used to initiate four service improvement projects.

Memory services should consider streamlining pathways to reduce waiting times, implementing pathways for patients who do not have dementia, monitoring appropriateness of neuroimaging, and working with commissioners and primary care to ensure that access to post-diagnostic interventions is consistent with the updated National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) dementia guideline.

We evaluated routine use, acceptability and response rates for the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9), Generalised Anxiety Disorder Scale (GAD-7) and Short Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-Being Scale (SWEMWBS) within adult community mental health teams. Measures were repeated 3 months later. Professionals recorded the setting, refusal rates and cluster diagnosis.

A total of 245 patients completed 674 measures, demonstrating good initial return rates (81%), excellent scale completion (98–99%) and infrequent refusal/unsuitability (11%). Only 32 (13%) returned follow-up measures. Significant improvements occurred in functioning (P = 0.01), PHQ-9 (P = 0.02) and GAD-7 (P = 0.003) scores (Cohen's d = 0.52–0.77) but not in SWEMWBS (P = 0.91) scores. Supercluster A had higher initial PHQ-9 and GAD-7 scores (P < 0.001) and lower SWEMWBS scores (P = 0.003) than supercluster B. Supercluster C showed the greatest functional impairment (P = 0.003).

PHQ-9 and GAD-7 appear acceptable as patient-reported outcome measures in community mental health team. SWEMWBS seems insensitive to change. National outcome programmes should ensure good follow-up rates.

We conducted a secondary analysis of data from the National Audit of Psychosis to identify factors associated with use of community treatment orders (CTOs) and assess the quality of care that people on CTOs receive.

Between 1.1 and 20.2% of patients in each trust were being treated on a CTO. Male gender, younger age, greater use of in-patient services, coexisting substance misuse and problems with cognition predicted use of CTOs. Patients on CTOs were more likely to be screened for physical health, have a current care plan, be given contact details for crisis support, and be offered cognitive–behavioural therapy.

CTOs appear to be used as a framework for delivering higher-quality care to people with more complex needs. High levels of variation in the use of CTOs indicate a need for better evidence about the effects of this approach to patient care.

Death of patients by suicide can have powerful effects on psychiatrists. We report the findings of a survey completed by 174 psychiatrists on the effects of patient suicide on their emotional well-being and clinical practice, and the support and resources they felt would be helpful.

The death of a patient by suicide usually had a major effect on respondents. Clinical practice was often negatively affected, and over a quarter of respondents considered a change of career path as a result. There were some gender differences in responses, with women reporting more sense of responsibility for the deaths and a greater effect on their clinical confidence. Desired support included a senior suicide lead clinician, support during formal post-suicide processes, opportunity for reflection on practice, information about resources to support families and help communicating with families and friends of the deceased.