Since training at The Royal Free and Maudsley Hospitals, I have worked as an NHS consultant since 1994 covering an inner London catchment and helping to provide a wide range of services for older adults across the gamut of emotional disorders. I have established a successful private practice in general adult and older adult psychiatry with my opinion being sought by colleagues for complex cases. I have also had wide experience in dealing with medico-legal matters and assessment of mental capacity.
In all areas of my work, I try to work in close conjunction with clinicians of other disciplines including GPs, nurses, psychologists, and occupational therapists, as well as with the patient and, where appropriate, their families, carers or representatives. Collaboration with and support from families is important, especially in the care of people with dementia and I organise and run a carers’ support group for this client group.
Where patients are physically or mentally too frail to travel, I try to offer assessment at home.
In life outside of psychiatry I run a music festival in which school students play for elderly people and I am a director of a group of care homes.
My research interests have included chronic fatigue syndrome, the difficulties in designing services for London, and the problem of defining the severity of mental illness.