The Role of Consultants with Responsibility for Substance Misuse. Position Statement by the Faculty of Substance Misuse

This position statement from the Faculty of Substance Misuse aims to identify and clarify the role and contributions of consultants with responsibility for substance misuse (addiction psychiatrists).

The statement recognises that consultant psychiatrists with responsibilities for substance misusers are one part of a multi-disciplinary team in which key disciplines and professionals have specific roles and contributions, and that there are particular groups of medical and non-medical professionals (e.g. primary care teams, criminal justice agencies) with whom consultants have mutually beneficial relationships.

Specific aims are:

1. (1) To provide consultant psychiatrists with a comprehensive outline of:

   1. i the potential roles of those with responsibilities for substance misusers;

   2. ii the variety of professionals and disciplines with whom consultant addiction psychiatrists work, liaise, collaborate and coordinate services;

   3. iii the range of interventions provided by consultant addiction psychiatrists and the spectrum of settings in which they operate.

2. (2) To provide a structure for the:

   1. i definition of components for consultant posts (e.g. for regional advisers to review job descriptions);

   2. ii description of the contribution of addiction psychiatrists for trainees;

   3. iii accreditation of training posts.

3. (3) To provide non-psychiatrists with an outline of the role of consultants in the organisation of services, and the system of appraisal and accreditation in addiction psychiatry.

The document discusses the prevalence of substance misuse and dependence (addiction), implications for psychiatry and training of specialist addiction psychiatrists. It then discusses specific roles in relation to clinical work, facilitation and liaison, training and education, planning, service development, prevention and policy and, finally, the contribution to research and audit.

The full report is available from the College's Book Sales Office, tel: 020 7235 2351 ext. 146.