It is now common practice in many hospitals to admit psychiatrically ill mothers along with their babies. Main first admitted a mother with her child in 1948, and started to admit puerperal cases in 1955. Since those days, there has been a piecemeal development of mother and baby facilities throughout the country. Service developments have usually been the result of local interest rather than central planning and motivated by the belief that such a service adds to the quality of care. We were aware that our hospital was not offering such a service and so we decided to look at what occurred elsewhere to help in our planning. We devised a questionnaire and sent this to 42 district medical officers in England and personally visited the mother and baby units at Park Prewett and Fairmile Hospitals. We received 29 replies to our questionnaire, a 69 per cent response rate. Most of these had been completed by an involved clinician or senior nurse and several expressed a wish to be informed of the findings.

The importance of tracing technique and persistence was stressed by Sims. Long-term follow-up studies help to complete the clinical picture, a phrase used by Morris. They also help to clarify such issues as the effectiveness of treatment methods and changes in the socio-demographic status of patients. Unless a high percentage of the follow-up group is effectively traced, then the results of a long-term follow-up study must be suspect.

Do overseas graduates fail the MRCPsych exam more than indigenous graduates; if so, why? After passing the MRCPsych exam, do overseas graduates do less well in their career: if so, why? A trainees' forum was held at the College Quarterly Meeting in February 1985 to try to provide some answers to these questions. Professor Cawley (Chief Examiner) presented comparative data regarding failure in the MRCPsych. Dr Bhate (Chairman, Overseas Trainees' Sub-Committee, OTSC) gave preliminary results on the OTSC's career survey of all successful MRCPsych candidates from November 1981 and April 1982. Dr Julie Hollyman (Chairman, Collegiate Trainees' Committee, CTC) chaired the forum which was attended by an audience including examiners, consultants and trainees.

Between 1977 and 1984 the pass rates for the Preliminary Test for UK/Eire candidates varied between 64% and 84% whilst those for overseas candidates were in the range 23% to 42%. Corresponding figures for the Membership Examination were 61% to 70% and 25% to 43% respectively. During those years overseas candidates were in the majority, comprising 60-65% of those taking the Preliminary Test and 50-55% of those taking the Membership Examination. Over the last two years the proportions have fallen to 40-50%.

The Royal College of Psychiatrists is the only Royal College which allows its trainees to take an active role in decision making and determining policy. Its origins can be dated from 1973 when, after pressure by the Association of Psychiatrists in Training, a Trainees' Working Party was formed. This was a sub-committee of the Education Committee and allowed for some input by trainees on matters specifically related to training. In 1979, this working party was disbanded and replaced by the Collegiate Trainees' Committee, which is a Special Committee of Council and is directly responsible to it. Since its inception, the CTC has gradually increased its representation within the College so that it now has at least one trainee on every committee of the College except the Court of Electors. We therefore have an opportunity to comment on all issues of relevance to trainees and to psychiatry as a whole.