A very damning account of the social work profession has been written by Brewer and Lait, a profession which the authors perceive to be a ramshackle collection of idiosyncratic practitioners who clumsily bump and grind their way through the least fortunate sections of our society, doing untold harm. It would be gratifying to dismiss what they say; but social work after just over ten years in its present form is sorely in need of critical examination. We cannot ignore our critics, and it is imperative that we should put our house in order. Should social work survive is the real question being asked here—a political statement of a quite contentious nature.

A number of schemes exist to provide aid from the developed countries to those countries which are less privileged and belong to the Third World. For example, the official Guide Book (1978) of the Inter-University Council states: The Inter-University Council for Higher Education (IUC) was established in 1946 by the Universities in the United Kingdom, at the request of the British Government, to assist the advancement of higher education in developing countries and, to this end, to encourage co-operation between Universities in those countries and Universities in the United Kingdom … In 1970 the IUC became a corporate, independent body and entered into a general agreement with the Ministry of Overseas Development which provided that all British official aid to the Universities with which it was associated should as soon as possible be co-ordinated by the Council.’

The Uffculme Clinic opened 25 years ago as an early psychiatric treatment and research centre and has for the past 15 years functioned as a regional centre for psychotherapy in the West Midlands. Day and in-patients participate in a psychotherapeutic regime which includes a daily analytic psychotherapy group, relaxation therapy, projective art, psychodrama and more traditional occupational and recreational therapies. A weekly community meeting has recently been extended to give staff and patients a large group experience. Patients in intensive treatment are severely affected by neurotic or personality difficulties and are only admitted if they are incapable of functioning at work or at home.

A workshop on the teaching of psychiatry to undergraduate medical students was held at the Institute of Psychiatry on 6 May 1981. Dr S. Greer and Dr C. Bass organized the meeting on behalf of the Association of University Teachers of Psychiatry, and there were sessions on four topics during the day; recruitment to psychiatry; the measurement of students' attitudes towards psychiatry and the use of ‘liaison’ psychiatry as a teaching method; the use of videotapes in teaching medical students interviewing skills—a practical demonstration; and a panel discussion of the problems in teaching undergraduates psychiatry.

Psychiatrists at times have difficulties in sharing responsibility with colleagues who are not medically qualified. As nurses, clinical psychologists and social workers acquire greater autonomy in their separate professions, the multidisciplinary team may degenerate into a tiny battlefield if its function and correct working are not properly understood.