DR. A. K. BLACK.
INTERNET VERSION (ABBREVIATED)
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FULL NAME NATIONALITY DATE OF BIRTH CIVIL STATUS EDUCATION UNIVERSITY QUALIFICATIONS
PROFESSION Contact Information Web |
Andrew Kilgour Black British 1950 Married Winchester College 1963 - 1968 Edinburgh Medical School 1968 - 1974 B. Sc. Med. Sci. 1971 M. B. Ch. B. 1974 Part 1 M. R. C. P. 1977 M. R. C. Psych. 1981 T. Psych. 1991 F. R. C. Psych. 2001 CONSULTANT PSYCHIATIST |
PREVIOUS APPOINTMENTS 1974-1977 ( Before entering Psychiatry )
August 1974 to January 1975. HOUSE
PHYSICIAN to Prof. J. B. L. Howell, Southampton
General Hospital. February 1975 to July 1975. HOUSE SURGEON to Mr. J. A.
Ross, P. R. C. S. (Edin.), Eastern General Hospital,
Edinburgh.
October 1975 to April 1977. SENIOR HOUSE
OFFICER IN MEDICINE, Hillingdon Hospital, Uxbridge, Middlesex. A busy
rotation involving experience in Intensive Care, Coronary Care, Nephrology,
Endocrinology and Respiratory Medicine, in addition to General Medicine. This
post also included six months valuable experience as CASUALTY OFFICER in
the busy Accident and Emergency Department, which served Heathrow Airport. I
obtained Part 1 of the M.R.C.P. Examination during placement in this rotation.
EXPERIENCE
IN PSYCHIATRY SINCE 1977
July 1977 to September 1978. SENIOR HOUSE
OFFICER IN PSYCHIATRY to Dr. A. R. M. Freeman,
Hillingdon Hospital, Uxbridge Middlesex.
October 1978 to May 1982. SENIOR HOUSE
OFFICER / REGISTRAR ROTATION IN PSYCHIATRY, The
London Hospital Group. This was a three-year rotation involving work at The
London Hospital, Whitechapel, St. Clement's Hospital,
Mile End Hospital and Stepney Day Hospital, together with liaison work at other
locations in the Tower Hamlets Health District.
May 1982 to May 1985. SENIOR REGISTRAR IN PSYCHIATRY. A rotating appointment, involving The London Hospital Group, Basildon & Thurrock and Southend Health Districts.
May 1982 to March 1984. Senior Registrar to Dr. A. J. Winbow, Chairman of the Division of Psychiatry for the Basildon & Thurrock and Southend Health Districts.
April 1984 to March 1985. Senior Registrar in Psychiatry to Dr. John Cookson, based at the London Hospital, ( St. Clement's ).
September 1984 to December 1984. Locum Consultant Psychiatrist in the Tower Hamlets Health District, with responsibility for the Elderly. This was a fixed three-month Locum appointment pending the appointment of a successor to Dr. Brice Pitt to run the psychogeriatric services, and the post was offered to me with full approval for leave from my substantive Senior Registrar post.
April 1985 to August 1985. Senior Registrar in Psychiatry to Prof. S. I. Cohen, Professor of Psychiatry at the London Hospital, Whitechapel.
TEACHING AND TRAINING EXPERIENCE. Thorough involvement with the Thursday afternoon teaching and training programme for the 20 or so trainees in the S.H.O. / Registrar rotation at Runwell Hospital. I chaired many case presentations, journal meetings, tutorials and seminars for the junior doctors, and assisted the Clinical Tutor in the smooth running of the courses. I also held several informal sessions with the trainees, such as preparation for the M.R.C.Psych. Examinations.
I also presented a paper, Mathematical Models in Psychiatry at an Open Meeting at Runwell Hospital.
ADMINISTRATIVE EXPERIENCE. As Senior Registrar I was able to gain considerably from the nature of the post, particularly in Essex, where the Senior Registrar was a member of the weekly Consultant meetings at Runwell Hospital and also sat on the Division of Psychiatry at Basildon Hospital. I also chaired a working party on revising the case-notes folder at Runwell Hospital, reporting back to the Division of Psychiatry. I went on a Royal College Accreditation visit with Dr. A. C. Kaeser to the Northwest Region and this was an interesting and useful experience.
I attended two management courses, one week at the Manchester Business School in April 1983, where the emphasis was on the reorganisation of the National Health Service at that time, and one week at Falfield where the involvement was more experiential in nature.
RESEARCH INTERESTS AND EXPERIENCE. I was involved as Senior Registrar in research carried out by Dr. M. R. Lowe. This DELTA project was designed to assess the value of a cognitive approach to patients with alcohol problems, in which lectures were given to educate the patients concerning the various organic and sociological harmful effects of alcohol abuse. I was involved in running a control group of patients, which consisted of providing weekly group psychotherapy.
My principal research interests lie in the investigation of seasonal effects, such as the relationship between date of birth and date of admission in patients with Schizophrenia.
CONSULTANT APPOINTMENTS
September 1985 - December 1995. CONSULTANT PSYCHIATRIST in the Basildon & Thurrock and Southend Health Districts. ( In April 1993, my employer became Thameside Community Healthcare NHS Trust ).
The majority of my full time post was committed to the Basildon & Thurrock Health District, with commitments at Runwell Hospital which mainly involved Training and Administration, though I looked after one long stay ward at Runwell (Grangewood 1). .
I represented the district at the Regional Psychiatric Advisory Committee for four years and I also acted as link representative to the Consultant Staff Committee over the same period. I sat on the Local Drug Formulary Committee and I was responsible for co-ordinating the section on Psychiatry in the new edition of the Formulary. I was Chairman of the Division of Psychiatry at Basildon for two three-year periods and I was a member of the Special Professional Panel for the district. I also served the district as one of the three "wise men" from 1993 - 1995.
For two years I was elected as a POWAR, negotiating with management on behalf of my colleagues, a role which I saw as being highly important, as it became increasingly necessary for Doctors to be proactive as Health Services continued to evolve.
Jan 1996 to February 1999. CONSULTANT IN GENERAL ADULT PSYCHIATRY in the Southend Health District, working for Southend Community Care Services NHS Trust in the Rayleigh Sector. I was Chairman of the Consultant Psychiatrists during 1997.
July 1996 to October 1999. Visiting Consultant Psychiatrist, HM Prison Bullwood Hall. This was a sessional appointment on a weekly basis, and I provided General Adult Psychiatry input for the prisoners. There were a number of young offenders, and I worked closely with the nursing staff and prison officers, as well as being involved in the preparation of medicolegal and other reports.
March 1994 to October 2000. CLINICAL TUTOR for the South Essex Rotational Training Scheme in Psychiatry.
As CLINICAL TUTOR, I enjoyed the challenge of encouraging trainees, their trainers and their managers to appreciate that a rounded training consisted of a suitable balance between an appropriate and well supervised service commitment, with the valuable training that this affords, and a program of formal teaching, with outside course study, ( which many trainees perceive initially to be the best way of passing their examinations ). I introduced formative, ( as opposed to summative ), assessments involving the Trainee, his/her Educational Supervisor and the Clinical Tutor, and I was closely involved in trying to produce "user-friendly" trainees in addition to successful examination candidates.
I used my special interest in, and experience with, Information Technology, to develop the role of computers in education and research by introducing CD-ROM to the rotation, allowing literature searches and computer aided learning. I was proactive in obtaining access to the Internet for the Psychiatric Trainees and the Postgraduate Administrative staff, and I was involved in training colleagues how to use the Internet, while I gained further experience myself, using my own connection at home. Since May 1997, I have been involved in the development of my own web site, with a Mental Health orientation, and I look forward to assisting further in the development of on-line information and services in the field of Mental Health.
As Clinical Tutor, I always believed that the future of the rotation lay in enhancement of links between the two districts in the rotation, (Thameside Community Healthcare NHS Trust and Southend Community Care Services NHS Trust), and I am delighted that in April 2000 these former NHS Trusts came together to form South Essex Mental health and Community Care NHS Trust, later linking further with other community services to become South Essex Partnership NHS Trust in April 2002. I was also closely involved with developing further academic and training links with teaching hospitals, and was successful in helping to negotiate a rotational link with the Royal London Hospital rotation at SHO level. We published suitable parts of our Trainees Handbook at our South Essex Psychiatric Training Scheme website.
From July 1995 to 2005 I was an EXAMINER for the Royal College of Psychiatrists and I found this activity to be enjoyable and rewarding. I have also been able to use my first-hand experience to coach the trainee Doctors towards a successful outcome in the exam.
March 1999 to February 2010. CONSULTANT IN GENERAL ADULT PSYCHIATRY in the Wickford Sector of the Basildon & Thurrock Health District, working for South Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust (previously for Thameside Community Healthcare NHS Trust, before it merged with Southend Community Care Services NHS Trust on April 1st 2000). I was Chairman of the South Essex Community Consultants Committee between 2000 and 2002.
From August 2001 to July 2002, I worked as CONSULTANT IN INTENSIVE CARE for Newham Ward at Runwell Hospital. This additional opportunity arose as a result of a post becoming vacant. The Eight-bedded Psychiatric Intensive Care Unit on Newham Ward had been serving a population outside our normal catchment area for several years. A new Psychiatric Intensive Care Unit was being developed within the Newham area, and the patients were successfully transferred to the new PICU in July 2002.
In
2003 I decided to embrace the spirit of New Ways of Working by changing my base
from Basildon Hospital to Aston Court, where I was based alongside the
Community Mental health Team, and I also provided clinical leadership to a
Crisis Resolution and Home Treatment Team. I continued to look after
inpatients at Basildon Hospital.
From January 2003 to May 2007 I worked as a Clinical Director, initially in General Adult Psychiatry (East Sector), and from August 2005 as Director of Medical Appraisal.
I retired from this post on my 60th birthday, mainly on financial grounds, given that I held Mental Health Officer status.
May 2010 to November 2010. LOCUM CONSULTANT PSYCHIATRIST in Suffolk Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust. This was a very positive experience, introducing me to an official "New Ways of Working" post, (even though it involved a way of working that was thoroughly familiar to me from my days of training in the 1970s). I looked after 19 inpatients, working closely with the staff on the ward and liaising with the various community teams, as well as furthering my continuing professional development. With a 120 mile drive each day, I was relieved that the Trust had a sensible policy over flexible working - the journey would have been a nightmare during the rush hours!
June
2011 to September 2011. LOCUM CONSULTANT PSYCHIATRIST in Norfolk
and Suffolk Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust. I was invited to cover a
colleague during a period of leave, and enjoyed the experience of helping to evacuate
a ward from the somewhat delapidated
environment in St. Clements Hospital to a brand new ward in the local District
General Hospital. Parking was available at the DGH for £11 a day, but I
declined this facility, preferring to walk a mile or so. I feel sorry for
patients and relatives who have the additional stress of parking in such an
environment, apart from their other problems. The parking ticket issuers
were somewhat assiduous, claiming the scalps of several members of staff during
my time there! In August I moved into the Community Mental Health Team in
Stowmarket, and spent a very pleasant few weeks working outside of the hospital
setting with a first-class team.
April 2012 to September 2012. LOCUM CONSULTANT PSYCHIATRIST in
Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust. I worked with the excellent
Assertive Outreach Team based in Ipswich.
March
2013 to July 2013. LOCUM CONSULTANT
PSYCHIATRIST in Norfolk and Suffolk Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust, again
working with the Community Mental Health Team in Stowmarket.
February
2014. LOCUM CONSULTANT PSYCHIATRIST in
Norfolk and Suffolk Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust, working in Liaison
Psychiatry at Ipswich General Hospital.
FUTURE PLANS
I hope to continue to work as a Consultant Psychiatrist on an ad hoc basis, now that I have retired, unless experienced UK psychiatrists are no longer required in the market place! While I have so far managed to concentrate mainly on clinical work, I am certainly no stranger to management, and I can be relied upon to contribute positively in discussions with managers on a wide variety of topics. I am particularly interested in issues surrounding the recruitment and retention of psychiatrists.
INTERESTS OUTSIDE MEDICINE
I enjoy Mathematics and Computer Programming, and their applications to human problems. I use my lateral thinking abilities to solve the Times Crossword in about ten minutes as my daily relaxation and I also like a good competitive game of Contract Bridge when I get the chance. I enjoy overseas travel, especially during the English winter months, and I intend to spend more time overseas now that I have retired.
I have never regretted being blessed with a sense of humour, and I intend to write a few books now that I can find the time to do so.
REFERENCES
Available under separate cover.
Dr. Andrew K. Black F.R.C.Psych.
Consultant Psychiatrist
Last Updated 28th February 2014