Should the future GP do a six months' senior house officer job in psychiatry as part of his or her training? This was the central question at a one-day discussion held on 28 May 1980 at the Royal College of General Practitioners in Princes Gate, London, following the publication of the guidelines prepared by a RCPsych/RCGP Liaison Committee (Bulletin, June 1980, p 93) and presented to the conference by Dr Thomas Bewley. As Professor N. Kessel, among others, pointed out, psychiatric hospitals and units stand to gain considerably if they can recruit these doctors to their junior staff. Regular SHO posts are often difficult to fill at present, and GP trainees may be of very good quality. They do not expect to compete up the specialty training ladder, but they will carry part of the work-load. On the other hand, is what the hospital offers what they really need, or can it be made so?