My experience of old age psychiatry in the United Kingdom was gained through a registrar exchange programme organized between Royal Park Hospital in Melbourne and the Royal Free Hospital in London. The Exchange programme involved a direct `swap' for 6 months between a registrar from the Royal Free rotational training scheme and one based at Royal Park. There were a number of job possibilities available in both countries. Those organizing the exchange had aimed to oer those rotations that registrars from a dierent country would ยฎnd interesting and informative.
At the Royal Free there was the possibility of working in a day hospital, on the eating disorders unit or in old age psychiatry. At Royal Park the rotations were oered in community psychiatry, the early psychosis inpatient programme or old age psychiatry.
As I was the ยฎrst registrar to participate in this particular exchange programme, I found the challenge both daunting and exciting. The major part of my job was based on Nancy Swift Unit', the acute inpatient psychogeriatric unit at the Royal Free. There were 12 acute beds with a turnover of approximately two patients per week. I was also involved in the care of patients in the inpatient long-stay ward The Hoo', separate to the main hospital grounds. `The Hoo' was a 24 bed unit catering for patients with severe end-stage dementia, or those with dementia complicated by