Medical Psychotherapy Training and the COVID-19 Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has seen a move away from face-to-face interactions and core psychiatry training has not been immune to this. The Royal College of Psychiatrists introduced online examinations (https://www.rcpsych.ac.uk/training/exams), Health Education England utilized virtual annual reviews of competencies (https://www.hee.nhs.uk/coronavirus-information-trainees), and locally, trusts adopted virtual academic and clinical work. This article seeks to highlight the impact of the pandemic on acquiring psychotherapy experience in the context of core psychiatry training. Trainees delivering psychodynamic psychotherapy via telephone in Surrey and Borders NHS Foundation Trust were included in the study and data were gathered using a phenomenological approach via reports provided by two core trainees in addition to a questionnaire distributed to all core trainees delivering telephone therapy. The results indicated that whilst telephone therapy may not be a full replacement for face-to-face contact, it has been an adequate substitute during the COVID-19 period, enabling trainees to achieve the required competencies, receive supervision and provide care where it may otherwise have been impossible.