To explore the experiences and attitudes of mental health professionals working in acute elderly care to a new clinical dashboard system. Metrics were identified from the Royal College of Psychiatrists' Accreditation for Inpatient Mental Health Services – Older People (AIMS-OP); these were tracked from baseline to 6 months. A questionnaire was developed and distributed across the three clinical areas involved in the clinical dashboard mental health pilot.

Staff completed the questionnaire 3 months after the initial implementation. At this point the benefits of the introduction of the dashboard were suggested as: improved access to information, increased communication and information-sharing, increased staff awareness, and data quality.

The introduction of the clinical dashboard in older adult mental health services allowed for better data availability and resulted in better data quality.

To detail changes in the use of place of safety orders in England, including the outcome of these detentions, using publicly available data.

There was a sixfold increase in the rate of the Mental Health Act Section 136 detentions to places of safety in hospitals between 1984 and 2011. The use of Section 135 and the rate of subsequent detention under Section 2 or 3 also increased, but the proportion of people detained fell as the absolute rate of detention increased. There was a wide variation between regions in the use of hospitals or police stations as places of safety. The change in the annual rate of detention under Section 136 was associated with the annual change in the population of England.

The increase in detentions to places of safety in hospitals may in part reflect their move from police cells. It may also reflect a real increase in overall rate of detention and possibly a change in the threshold for the use of Section 136 detentions.

To assess the competence of psychiatry trainees in identifying major abnormalities in a 12-lead electrocardiogram (ECG). This was a three-stage prospective study. In stage 1, selected ECG traces were presented to the trainees. They were then asked to comment on any abnormalities of note on the ECG traces. In stage 2, an ECG e-book was made available to the trainees and the survey repeated. In stage 3, ECG workshop sessions were introduced in the mandatory teaching programme and the survey was repeated.

The number of correct responses after the introduction of the workshops were significantly more when compared with correct responses in stage 2 (P = 0.0002), and stage 1 (P = 0.0091). When compared with stage 1, the correct responses in stage 2 actually showed deterioration (P = 0.0284).

Our study not only shows that providing access to an e-book is not enough to improve these skills, it also shows that ECG refresher sessions improved the diagnostic accuracy markedly.

To provide a picture of availability and equality of access to mental health services for older people prior to the Equality Act. In 2010, a questionnaire was sent to health commissioners in England, Scotland and Wales under a Freedom of Information request.

Overall, 132 (76%) replied. Of 11 services, 7 were either unavailable or did not provide equality of access to older people in more than a third of commissioning areas. When provided by specialist older people's mental health, services were more often considered to ensure equality.

Increasing need resulting from an ageing population is unlikely to be met in the face of current inequality. Inequality on the basis of age is the result of government policy and not the existence of specialist services for older people. Single age-inclusive services may create indirect age discrimination. Availability alone is insufficient to demonstrate equality of access. Monitoring the effects of legislation must take this into account.

Psychiatry in the UK has long-standing issues in recruiting UK-trained doctors. A key potential influence on interest in psychiatry during medical school is the clinical attachment. This narrative review investigates how the clinical experience of psychiatry affects medical students' attitudes towards the specialty.

We identified 107 studies, of which 46 were included. They showed that clinical attachments in psychiatry did result in more positive attitudes towards the specialty and increased career interest. There was inconsistent evidence on whether interest was maintained, with some studies indicating that the increase is transient. Factors which may influence attitudes include attachment setting, duration and student demographics.

The results suggest a need to actively maintain interest in psychiatry throughout medical school. Research with long-term follow-up and evaluation of schemes to maintain students' interest is needed.

Passing the MRCPsych Clinical Assessment of Skills and Competencies (CASC) is a significant challenge for trainee psychiatrists. We describe the process of setting up a new educational intervention of a simulated CASC examination incorporating peer observation, and report the findings from these events.

The training events involved a series of simulated scenarios followed by personalised feedback from examiners. Peer observation was a fundamental part of the events and was viewed positively by the trainees with perceived improvements in knowledge and skills. Differences in self-rated and examiner-rated competence were observed more often in those who subsequently failed the CASC.

Simulated CASC examination as a training event with a strong focus on observing and learning from peers provides a useful learning experience and supports trainees who are preparing for the CASC examination.