The Urdu translation of the MSPSS was found to have good construct validity, and internal consistency. However, the findings suggest that women in the study population perceived social support as a unitary construct, as opposed to a tri-dimensional one as identified in Western samples.

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Purpose – Handover is essential to ensure high quality care. It is also a dynamic educational opportunity for trainee doctors. In the UK, the General Medical Council's annual training survey has repeatedly highlighted handover as a major concern in the training of doctors in psychiatry. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the handover experiences for Core Trainees (years one to three) in psychiatry in the North Western Deanery (England). Design/methodology/approach – An online questionnaire focusing on current practice, safety and the educational aspects of handover was sent to all Core Trainees (years one to three) in psychiatry from the North Western Deanery in April 2013. The questionnaire had quantitative and qualitative elements and was analysed descriptively, with free text collated into themes by the authors. Findings – The survey was completed by 77.7 per cent of trainees, and indicated a wide variety in the structure of the handover process. There were no specific safety incidents but concerns regarding the handover of medical problems and handover from peripheral hospital sites. Trainees felt that handover was an important opportunity to learn, but in practice it had limited educational value. It is important to consider the robustness of handover in the context of the types of problems handed over, multiple sites and a lack of senior involvement. There also needs consideration as to how a high quality handover can be of educational value. Originality/value – This is the first report that evaluates clinical handover between Psychiatry trainee doctors in the UK which evaluates both a clinical and educational perspective.

Improving working lives Rafey Faruqui is quite right that appropriate workloads and good working conditions are essential ingredients for maintaining good recruitment and retention of consultant psychiatrists (Psychiatric Bulletin, November 2003 correspondence, 27, 437). The question that my editorial, 'Locums-and the light at the end of the tunnel', tried to address is: how can those things be achieved when there is such an imbalance in supply and demand, causing work overload for many psychiatrists (Psychiatric Bulletin, August 2003, 27, 281^282)? Dr Faruqui agrees that reliance on a locum workforce is 'pathological', and no kind of a solution. In that respect, the letter by Skudder, of Psyche UK Ltd (Psychiatric Bulletin, November 2003 correspondence, 27, 437), which grossly misrepresents what I wrote, invites the question of whether a declaration of interest of a locum agency should have been made. The recent expansion of medical schools will not be felt for more than a decade at consultant level. Meanwhile, demands on psychiatrists working in traditional ways will very likely continue to grow. It is hopeful, therefore, to see so many items appearing in the Bulletin about how roles and working practices of psychiatrists can change to reduce their case-loads and improve working conditions. The College is addressing this complex issue, and consulting its members on the options through the College website (www.rcpsych.ac.uk) and the Bulletin. It is an issue of crucial importance to the future of the profession and mental health services. Therefore, the views of specialist registrars will be particularly important.

Recommendations to address this educational gap are presented. Recommendations include making time in trainees' academic programmes for formal educational activities for professionalism development, and further exploration of why some supervisors are not considered good role models for professionalism.

Aims and method The need for an age-appropriate in-patient service for 16- to 17-year-olds led to the development of a 6-bed acute admissions unit in a non-metropolitan county in the UK. We provide a descriptive evaluation of the first 2 years of its operation. All admissions from April 2010 to March 2012 were reviewed, clinical details systematically recorded and descriptively analysed.Results Ninety-seven young people were admitted during this period (a third were compulsorily detained under the Mental Health Act 1983). The average length of stay was 3–4 weeks. The most common presenting complaints were self-harm and low mood, usually in the context of life events and childhood adversity. Nearly half had substance misuse and other risk-taking behaviours. A third presented with psychotic symptoms. Adjustment and anxiety disorders were most common, followed by alcohol/substance use disorders, depressive illnesses and psychotic illnesses. Comorbidity was the rule rather than the exception. Most patients improved by the time of discharge.Clinical implications The unit provides an accessible and effective age-appropriate service and is likely to constitute an important component of the comprehensive child and adolescent mental health service strategy in the county.

Our findings confirm that even in the developing world, patients with MUS are common among primary care attendees. However, patients with MUS in urban Karachi, Pakistan may differ from Western MUS subjects in the role of stress, support, and anxiety in their presentation, and may be reflective of a conceptually different group of difficulties.

Sedative‐hypnotic medications are commonly abused prescription drugs, which are commonly prescribed by psychiatrists. We aimed at studying benzodiazepine and related drug prescriptions among patients attending psychiatric out‐patient clinics of a hospital in East Lancashire. A total of 6.2 per cent of patients who attended the department in one representative week were prescribed benzodiazepine/related drugs. A majority of these had anxiety disorders, and anxiety was the major indication for prescription of these drugs. Diazepam, temazepam and related drugs like zopiclone/zolpidem were the most commonly prescribed. Most subjects had been on the drug for one to 12 months. The prescriptions were not in keeping with the BNF guidelines in most cases. The findings do not support the hypothesis of an unduly high prevalence of sedative prescriptions in this setting. The results highlight a need for complete documentation of various aspects of benzodiazepine prescriptions.