Conference Forward


“This is the second year we have developed the annual RAF Mental Health services symposium into a Force Development exercise. Following on the success of Amport House the opportunity to utilise the resources of RAF Akrotiri presented itself. As a disparate cadre we rarely enjoy peer development and supervision and have a poor record of adventurous training. It is hoped that the opportunities of Exercise Shapiro will be enthusiastically grasped by all in the cadre.

RAF Mental Health service’s has continued to develop. The Service Liaison Officer role is well established and is hailed as the main reason for the Priory contracts lowering costs over the past year. Recent Surgeon Generals Policy Letters regarding Operational Stress management has reinforced our Health Promotion role – which will need closely monitoring. The reservists MH support project at Chilwell is operating successfully, albeit an anticlimax of Millennium Bug proportions, whilst our time & motion study demonstrated what we all knew, that Admin takes up as much time as actually seeing patients.

We continue with establishment and staffing problems; Scotland remains without an RAF Psychiatrist and Defence Psychology only recently pulled back from the brink of extinction. Mental Health Social Work has grown in size and responsibility whilst our Nurse cadre has developed a Practice Teacher Mental Health and a training strategy that will leave us more ‘fit for purpose’.

To close, I must thank you all for the continued professionalism and flexibility you have shown in developing RAF Mental Health services. With annual force development exercises like this to look forward to, the future is bright indeed!”





Group Captain F McManus
Consultant Psychiatrist (RAF)May 2007