Some progress in UK psychiatry

doi:10.1136/bmj.a1780

Published 23 September 2008, doi:10.1136/bmj.a1780
Cite this as: BMJ 2008;337:a1780

Letters

Pharma and medical education

Some progress in UK psychiatry

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Moynihan describes the defeated efforts of a group of psychiatriststo free the annual Congress of the Royal Australia and New ZealandCollege of Psychiatrists from drug company sponsorship.¹ Thesepsychiatrists can take heart from the fact that the BritishRoyal College of Psychiatrists conducted its 2008 annual meetingwithout reliance on any industrial sponsorship. The successof the conference shows that a rigorous and stimulating academicmeeting can be held without funding from the drug industry,albeit in less plush surroundings than usual.

The Critical Psychiatry Network has been encouraging the collegeto take action for several years, and we applaud the decisionto run the annual meeting without sponsorship. The recent collegepolicy on relations with the pharmaceutical industry also takessome important steps, such as prohibiting company sponsorshipof speakers or attendees at college run meetings, and the commitmentnot to use commercial sponsorship for public education . . . [Full text of this article]

Joanna Moncrieff, senior lecturer¹, Philip Thomas, professor of philosophy, diversity, and mental health², Rhodri Huws, consultant in community psychiatry³

¹ University College London, London WC1E 6BT, ² International School for Communities, Rights, and Inclusion, University of Central Lancashire, Preston PR1 2HE, ³ St George’s Community Health Centre, Sheffield S3 7ND

j.moncrieff@ucl.ac.uk