Survey of undergraduate teaching of old age psychiatry in the United Kingdom

Old age psychiatry has been steadily developing as a specialty in the United Kingdom. In 1978 the Royal College of Psychiatrists established a specialist section for old age psychiatry, and since October 1989 it has been formally recognised as a sub-specialty of psychiatry. In 1989 the Royal College of Physicians and the Royal College of Psychiatrists published a joint report entitled ‘Care of Elderly People with Mental Illness’ in which recommendations were made about both postgraduate and undergraduate training.