Visiting Clinical Research Fellow in older people's substance use and mental health, King's College London
Following postgraduate clinical and research experience in psychiatry on the Cambridge and Maudsley training schemes, I started as a consultant in old age psychiatry in 1998, working first at Lewisham and Guy’s Mental Health Trust and later at South London and Maudsley (SLAM) NHS Foundation Trust.
Over the past 20 years, I have published widely on the subject of alcohol misuse in older people. I was visiting Professor of Addiction in Older People at London South Bank University from 2010 to 2012 and currently a Visiting Clinical Research Fellow at the Institute of Psychiatry. I was also co-author of The Royal College of Psychiatrists Report Our Invisible Addicts in 2011 and 2018.
Since 2007, I have delivered both keynote speeches and other presentations on alcohol and older people at postgraduate and voluntary sector conferences, as well as acting as a specialist advisor to the All Party Parliamentary Group on Alcohol Misuse, the Institute of Alcohol Studies and Alcohol Concern. I received a Clinical Governance award from my Trust in 2007 for my work on service development for dual diagnosis (alcohol misuse accompanying other mental disorders) and helped to set up the first dual diagnosis working group for older people within my own Trust. I have also become a Fellow of the Royal Society of the Arts and a member of the Medical Journalists Association.
I chaired the Substance Misuse in Older People Working Group at the Royal College of Psychiatrists from 2012-2017 and currently chair the South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust Dual Diagnosis Group for the Psychological Medicine and Older Adults Clinical Academic Group.
Having a broad overview of both clinical and public health aspects of addiction as well as being a frontline NHS clinician,My overall aim has always been to ensure that older people can live healthy lifestyles in their own homes. Living healthily with alcohol and free from drug related harm requires a better understanding of the relationship between substance use and health.
Experience
–present
Visiting Lecturer in Old Age Psychiatry, King's College London
1998–present
Consultant Old Age Psychiatrist, South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust
2010–2012
Visiting professor, London South Bank University
Education
2008
University of Westminster, Certificate in Educational Leadership
2004
Institute of Psychiatry, MSc in Addictions
1998
University of London, MD
1994
Royal College of Psychiatrists, MRCPsych
1989
University of London, MBBS
1986
University of London, BSc
Publications
2021
Dual diagnosis in older drinkers during the COVID-19 pandemic, Advances in Dual Diagnosis
2021
Risky alcohol consumption in older people before and during the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom, Journal of Substance Use
2021
Alcohol use and dementia: new research directions, Current Opinion in Pscyhiatry
2020
Alcohol consumption of UK members of parliament: cross-sectional survey, BMJ Open
2020
Alcohol Use Disorders and the Brain, Addiction
2020
Alcohol and public mental health for older people: 20 years of UK policy change. , Journal of Public Mental Health
2020
Thiamine as a modifying factor for alcohol related intracranial hemorrhage, Alcohol and Alcoholism
2019
Substance misuse in later life: challenges for primary care: a review of policy and evidence, Primary Health Care Research & Development
2019
New thinking on alcohol related harm in older adults, BMJ
2019
Risky drinking and dual diagnosis in older people under a UK community old age psychiatry service, Advances in Dual Diagnosis
2018
Methodological difficulties of studying alcohol consumption and dementia, BMJ
2018
Addressing alcohol-related dementia should involve better detection, not watchful waiting, British Journal of Psychiatry
2018
Vascular cognitive impairment and vascular dementia, InnovAIT
2017
Substance misuse in older people, BMJ
2016
Substance misuse in older people, Substance misuse in older people
2016
Assessment in the Older Patient, Addiction in the Older Patient
2016
7 day services and psychiatry, Lancet Psychiatry
2016
Managing older people's alcohol misuse in primary care, British Journal of General Practice
2016
Alcohol misuse in older people, BJPsych Advances
2016
Cognitive impairment in older people with alcohol use disorders in a UK community mental health service, Advances in Dual Diagnosis