David is a General Practitioner from Leek, North Staffordshire by background, his special interest in mental health arising from personal involvement as carer to a daughter with schizophrenia.  Within the West Midlands David helped set up IRIS (Initiative to Reduce the Impact of Schizophrenia) in the 1990's to improve services for young people with emerging psychosis and their families.   IRIS remains an important regional and national focus for this high priority service development.

David works two days per week as advisor for Mental Health in the West Midlands Region and two days per week as joint lead, with Dr Jo Smith of Worcester, the National Early Intervention in Psychosis Programme.

The major focus for David in the West Midlands over the next 12 months will be:

1. Improving Access to Psychological Therapies programme: David will establish a network of GPs involved in the emerging IAPT sites in the West Midlands to help these new services engage locally with primary care.  The inaugural meeting of this group commences in May.   David will represent the West Midlands on the national GP reference group, working with colleagues from other parts of the country.

2. Improve the physical health care of those with serious and persisting mental disorders by leading a programme of engagement between primary care and local Early Intervention services.  There is a need to focus attention much earlier in the pathway to the adverse physical health disorders that this group of people face.  This key theme was identified in the West Midlands Darzy report.  David will build on collaborations in the West Midlands with colleagues such as Professor Helen Lester to create a distance learning pack of resources (completion of the pack anticipated in June) and then encourage its profiling and dissemination.

David can be contacted by email.