Dinesh Bhugra
Dean of the Royal College of Psychiatrists

I was elected as Dean of The Royal College of Psychiatrists in 2003.

The main responsibility of the Dean is postgraduate education, assessments and training. The key task of the Dean is to ascertain the quality of training and approval of training posts and examinations which are supervised by the Chief Examiner although under the broad umbrella of the Dean. Within the College I lead on changes in response to PMETB in assessments, entrance and exit criteria in specialist training in psychiatry. The working group that I chair on Work Place Based Assessment reported in 2006. The draft curriculum with which I was actively involved was submitted to PMETB in March 2006 and provisionally approved.

For six years I chaired the Overseas Doctors Training Committee during which time I was responsible for overseeing the Consultant Assisted Sponsorship Scheme and developing structured assessments and references.

I chair:

  • Education, Training and Standards Committee
  • Examinations Monitoring Panel
  • Meetings with Heads of Schools
  • College Research and Training Unit Board
I am a member of:
  • Board of International Affairs
  • Equivalence Committee
  • Publications Management Board
  • Recruitment and Retention Working Group
  • Fellowship Sub-committee
  • Programmes and Meetings Committee
  • Overseas Doctors Training Committee
  • Curriculum Committee
  • Quality Assurance Committee
  • Assessment Committee
I also sit on the education and assessment committees of the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges.

Having previously been the Secretary of the Faculty of General and Community Psychiatry for the period 1993 to 1997, I was elected the Chairman of the Faculty of General and Community Psychiatry for four subsequent years. In addition to chairing its Executive Committee, I attended meetings of the Executive and Finance Committee and of the College Council. My key contribution in this role had been finalising the roles and responsibilities of adult psychiatrists and interface with other specialities. I was elected sub-Dean of the Royal College of Psychiatrists in 2001-2003.

I have chaired two working parties on Homelessness and Mental Health and on Community Care on behalf of the General and Community Psychiatry Section. Both working party reports were published by the College as Council reports.

I was a member of the consensus group for the College's Defeat Depression Campaign.

I have been a member of the College's working parties on Caring for a Community, Managing Vulnerable Persons and the Overseas Role of the College. I am now on steering groups for terrorism and the role of psychiatry; complementary medicine and mental health; and constitutional changes within the college.

I have led on development and piloting of workplace based assessments for the College. Since August 2006, we have piloted nine different types of assessments on over 600 trainees in 17 different sites - each site dealing with one or more assessments, with three sites using all nine. This has allowed us to identify best assessments for psychiatry and resources required along with normative data. These observations have led to a publication by the Royal College of Psychiatrists. I have led on several Trainers 'fora' in London for advice and support to trainees.

If you have any questions on my role as Dean, do e-mail me.