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MBChB5 Mental Health - Block 1, Grampian, 2 wk, Grampian (2026 - 2027)

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We wish to recognise and appreciate those who have excelled in your Year 5 learning experience, eg quality of teaching, student support. Staff may be based in the University or in the NHS environment. If you wish to nominate any member of staff involved in your education, please do so here, stating - who they are; where they work; why you have nominated them.

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Dr Nimisha Doval amazing consultant and great enthusiasm about learning goals for students
I was shadowing Dr. Daniel Chew in older adult psychiatry for the two weeks for clinics as well as time in the ward. I generally really enjoyed it, I felt welcome and he actually took the time to introduced me to every team member and gave me a good summary of each presenting patient so I was in the loop. Although I wasn’t involved in patient care, he helped draw out the most important learning points as a student from each patient case. I genuinely felt so seen and comfortable enough to learn, most placements u go to you are regarded a fly on the wall but it felt so nice to be involved and not expected to know everything- which is something I struggle with. Super down to earth and made himself available to teach even willing to hear my question no matter how silly I felt, changed my view about the scaries of a medical career - working with a wider team. Also nice to feel inspired about having a nice work ethic!
Dr Christopher McDonald; Royal Cornhill Hospital; was a good supervisor and did his best to facilitate teaching/learning experiences to the medical students on the ward.
I would like to mention Dr Rachel Ball ST5 and Consultant supervisor Dr Colyer for their continued support and teaching throughout my 2 week block. They helped me grab opportunities to interact with patients and understand some nuances that are specific to the learning disability speciality.
Dr Daniel Chew was an excellent and a very welcoming tutor. He gave me a clear timetable and gave me teaching whenever he had a spare moment between patients.

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I had a placement in CAMHS. Overall this was a helpful placement, I felt well supported by my supervisor and had good exposure to common CAMHS presentations, mainly ADHD. The only problem I had with my placement is that it did not give opportunities to fulfill the student assistantship outcomes and I had to organise out of hours shift at Lochhead to make sure I achieved some of these outcomes. This is an extra stress and pressure and I would recommend having a separate set of revised assistanship outcomes for students placed in CAMHS or other outpatient departments that do not have ward rounds and handovers.
I didn't like the placement. Interviewing patients was difficult as most were either not there, refuse to speak or there was no place to talk to patients. Giving back the key & alarm in the morning of the last Friday makes moving around the hospital/completing task inconvenient. Myself and others were subjected to inappropriate comments/behaviours and have been concerned over safety while on placement in Cornhill due to aggressive behaviours from patients towards themselves or to staff working there.
I think the assistantship outcomes do not align with liaison psychiatry and I found it stressful to try and get all of these done. I know an email was sent about halfway into placement saying we did not need to get all of these, but I then found it tricky to know exactly the outcomes I needed to do. I had to communicate this with my supervisor to ensure they were happy with what I was doing, which did add a bit of stress to placement. The FYs and CTs were all lovely and I spent most of my time with them. They were welcoming and allowed me to see patients with them. Maybe more could be done in liaison to timetable students in with their consultant supervisor for clinics? As I rarely saw mine.
I gnerally found cornhill to be overcrowded. There was one day with 2 4th years and 2 5th years on the same ward which only had 1 jr doctor on the ward and no seniors. It is hard to spend time on the ward unsupervsied as a medical student as it is a very busy and cramped environment and we generally feel in the way in the office. There were also 3 students in lochhead when i went even though i tried to arrange in advance a day no one else would be in. The staff expressed frustration at this which was uncomforatble for everyone. I have had outpatient supervisors in both 4th and 5th year and I have found it tricky to spend time on the ward as I dont have an induction as to where anything is or anyone to supervise me. I think it would be helpful to have specific time in inpatients and outpatients. Or a ward induction for all medical students to advise us on where things are kept, timings of the day and spaces we are able to see patients in ourselves.
I felt my mental state examination skills have really improved – I think I went in OSCE-ready and felt I left being able to do an MSE or take a history in a much more natural way. Seeing the ST4, the CTs and the consultant do these assessments was also helpful, learning by seeing as well as practising these skills myself. I was made to feel part of the team, and it was good to feel useful – in 4th year, you can sometimes feel a bit of a spare part (in general this feeling is not specific to Pysch). The sign-offs relevant to assistantship were very useful – getting to write a discharge letter, clerk patients and write clinical notes on ward round, etc. I feel I had good learning experiences on the placement despite it only being two weeks. I understand in previous years that you either did GP or Mental health and I hope you keep the mix of both in future years. I was kindly invited by Dr Davidson on a home visit and to a post-discharge mental health facility on Ellon Road. It was really useful to see patient assessment in this context and learn what facilities are available for those who may be ready for discharge from RCH but may need a period of adjustment before going home. I observed a person being detained – I was able to see how this was done by the MHO and the ST4, and how the legislation we have learned about is used and applied in this setting. It was really valuable to see this being done in such a respectful way, with so much care and attention given to ensuring the criteria were met. Everyone was very kind and willing to teach – really good teaching by Dr Lee in particular. For example, I did a cognitive exam with a patient, and he then went through the exam and explained how each aspect relates to different aspects of cognition and different areas of the brain. After interviewing someone with psychosis, he went over antipsychotic medication and the nature of delusions with me. It was really helpful and made the presentations, therapies and assessments really memorable, as I now feel I have a deeper understanding of them. Really lovely environment – so kind and supportive. I really appreciated Dr Davidson, who I knew from the teaching centre, discussing patients I could see and staff I could meet at the start of the placement. It meant I felt I could hit the ground running and made me feel welcome. Dr Pearle Jilla was very kind, and I felt she really included me on the ward. She was really supportive, and I learned a lot from even just watching her interact with patients. If I could make two small suggestions, it is a shame that we are not able to shadow the on-call team at present due to the oversaturation of medical students, although I hear that some students who are in 5th year were allowed to do this. I wonder if there was a way to make this more equitable, even if it was through a lottery system or something similar. I also feel that 15 interviews is quite a lot to complete alongside the assistantship outcomes and generally wanting to be helpful on the ward. I wonder if some of the assistantship contacts could be included in this. For example, gaining consent for blood tests from a paranoid patient is a skill specific to psychiatry without necessarily needing to conduct a whole interview.