The role of the consultant psychiatrist in the clinical team

Abstract

Many psychiatrists are deeply disturbed by the changing and challenging circumstances in which they are responsible for patient care. This became evident at a conference on the role of the consultant in the clinical team, held by the Health Services Manpower Review at the Royal Society of Medicine on 14 July 1988 and attended by an entirely medical audience. The need for the consultant to act as leader of the clinical team was emphasised without identifying the nature and extent of this task, resulting in the failure to develop any strategy to tackle the many problems identified.