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Changing characteristics of medical directors in mental health trusts in England

Lookup NU author(s): Dr Peter Cornwall

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).

Abstract

© The Author(s), 2025. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Royal College of Psychiatrists.Aims and method The medical workforce in psychiatry is increasingly diverse, but not necessarily in its senior leadership in the UK's National Health Service (NHS). We aimed to describe the characteristics of psychiatrists with board-level responsibility in mental health trusts in England in 2024, comparing the current picture with that of 2016 and 2020, using publicly available data. Results The proportion of medical directors who are female has not changed, so women remain underrepresented, while the proportion who are international medical graduates has increased substantially, so they are no longer underrepresented. Although fewer in number, intellectual disability psychiatrists are underrepresented. Clinical implications Greater attention will need to be paid to developing female medical leaders if representative leadership is to be achieved.

Publication metadata

Author(s): Cornwall PL, Walton P

Publication type: Article

Publication status: Published

Journal: BJPsych Bulletin

Year: 2025

Pages: epub ahead of print

Online publication date: 11/07/2025

Acceptance date: 04/06/2025

Date deposited: 28/07/2025

ISSN (print): 2056-4694

ISSN (electronic): 2056-4708

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

URL: https://doi.org/10.1192/bjb.2025.10123

DOI: 10.1192/bjb.2025.10123

Data Access Statement: Data are available from the corresponding author.

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