We have now completed our seventh year of operations. During the year we have achieved our main target, namely to maintain the number of admissions of doctors. We have admitted 40 doctors in the current year for treatment, virtually the same as last year when 41 were admitted.

Fundraising has occupied four of us in a very hard and concentrated effort to raise funds so that we may employ clerical staff, run an offíce and pay for a Chief Executive Offícer and Executive Assistant. Four bids have been prepared and submitted; the first to the King's Fund, which has been successful. We have been granted £30,000, per year, for tvvo years, on condition that we raise a similar amount from another Charity. The Henry Smith Charity did not support our work and did not make a grant. Subsequently we petitioned the Lottery Fund and the Masonic Grand Charities. Unfortunately the Masonic Grand Charities were unable to support the Trust. We still have a bid with the Lottery Fund and I have spoken at length about the families support network that was envisaged as a development project. We will not receive notification until the end of July, but my own assessment is that we will not gain support from this source. The Trustees, more than ever, realise that much more work will have to be done in order to persuade the Medical Profession to support and fínance the Sick Doctors Trust. The Fund Raisers, David and Barbara Stone, have worked tirelessly in an effort to raise funds but unfortunately the majority of Charities have not been able to support us in the present fínancial climate. It is important to stress the role of the BMA Charities who have been extremely generous in making regular donations of £5000. John Ashton the Secretary of the Kent LMCs has also donated on behalf of Kent LMCs the same aniount over the last 4 years on a yearly basis. More recently Somerset LMC has donated £2000 a year for the past two years. Last year Hampshire, consisting of 5 amalgamated LMCs donated £1500. All LMCs were sent a letter by Helen Caton, our Consultant fund raiser. Our target was £30,000 to match the Kings Fund conditional grant, but regrettably we will fall well short of half the amount. I also have to report that we were not successful in our application for a Section 64 Grant from the DOH, the third time that we have been unsuccessful.

We are still represented at meetings of the National Authority for Clinical Assessment. but have advisory input only as stakeholders. Membership does help in raising awareness of the work of the SDT, which is now widely known in the profession and future membership must be maintained. The CHITS Committee [Clinicians' Health Intervention, Treatment & Support] has met on three occasions, culminating in an application for a considerable sum of money direct to the Minister who has received it favourably. The application is strongly supported by the Chief Medical Officer but the outcome is not yet known.

We were able to assist the BDDG with a grant of £2000 towards the cost of the scientifíc day for the Convention, held in London, and hope to be able to repeat this on an annual basis. We are thus continuing to support education in the fíeld of addiction.

No intervention in the form of a visit to the home or workplace has been carried out in the period covered by the report. We still find that the majority of potential patients requiring admission are willing to be assessed on a formal basis. Direct referrals to the treatment centres by Consultant Psychiatrists, and self-referrals continue to increase. Birdsgrove House continues to have a high reputation in the addiction fíeld.

It is unfortunate that we have to report that Foxleigh Grove has closed as an in patient facility. It is understood that the closure was due to some diffículties with the recent legislation and the registration of the unit as a hospital and other commercial implications.

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1. Training:

The following remain a high priority in training but have been delayed by the amount of time taken up in Fundraising.

i) Trustee development.
ii) Teiephone responders for Family help line.
iii) Telephone responders for Sick Doctors Trust.
iv) Training recovering doctors in assessment and intervention skills.

2. Liaison with Benevolent Societies:

We continue to liaise with the Medical Benevolent Societies.

3. Advertising:

We continue to advertise in both the Clinical and General practitioner issues ofthe BMJ. The majority of the contacts still come through the help line and from the BMA. With the change of CEO the adverts in the BMJ and other Medical papers will require to be changed.

4. Co-operation with other professional bodies:

i) Liaison with the Medical Council on Alcohol.
We have excellent co-operation with this body and still receive a significant number of referrals from them. The Trust has developed a Web Site under the management of Dr Chris Wilson contains a link to the MCA web site. The web address is www.sick-doctors-trust.co.uk We have received in excess of 1750 hits and made three contacts in 7 months.
ii) Liaison with the BMA.
We had a successful stand at the Joint meeting of Local Medical Committee's, held in London during June of last year and also distributed advertising material at the AGM held later in the year in each of the delegate packs. We have decided not to have a presence at either meeting for the current year but will exhibit in the year 2004.
iii) The National Health Executive.
We still maintain contact with DOH through our representation on CHITS.
iv) Liaison with the BMA Counselling Service and the National Counselling Service
We still maintain a good relationship with these organisations.

5. Fund Raising.

This has been dealt with in the opening statement. 1 have to thank Barbara and David Stone for all the effort they have put into raising funds albeit that we have not achieved our target figure. We have had immense support, advice, and input from Helen Caton, a Management Consultant who was introduced to us by the King's Fund, and because of her impressive results we retained her as a Consultant for our other bids.

6. Lectures to Learned Bodies.

A lecture was delivered to the Faculty of Occupational Health for the South West of England by invitation. The lecture covered the work of the Sick Doctors Trust and raised a great deal of interest, although we have not received any referrals from this source. In November of last year the CEO was invited to the joint meeting of the Faculty of Addiction Medicine of the Royal College of Psychiatrists and the Society for the Study of Addiction. The Lecture was well received and has raised the awareness of our work, in particular among many of the Consultant Psychiatrists who attended. 1 have received quite a lot of feed back, which has been good.

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Total number of contacts, year ending 31st March 2003:

Running totals: 1 July 1995 – 31 March 2003:

Notes:

1. The number of admissions to specialised units preferred by the SDT has remained at 40 for the past year.
2. We have excellent follow up facilities both in the aftercare programmes and through BDDG meetings.
3. The number of female doctors who contact us and are admitted remains low but is comparable with the uptake of female doctors in the USA and Canada.
4. Opiates and other drugs are more frequently used although alcohol remains the major drug of abuse.
5. The difference between the number of admissions and the number of contacts represent clients who contacted the helpline for information regarding the trust.
6. 8% of admissions were due to opiate addiction.
7. Admissions were to treatment centres at Foxleigh Grove and Birdsgrove House. 17 clients were admitted to Birdsgrove House and 23 to Foxleigh Grove.

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