Changing concepts of care mean that all doctors, whatever their specialty, will have increasing contact with the mentally handicapped in their day to day practice. It is therefore essential that the amount of time devoted to this topic in medical schools is substantially increased and the nature of training radically reviewed to provide adequate clinical experience. There is evidence that medical students would welcome this.

ESCATA, the enterprising and innovative organisation which specialises in training material for health and social services professionals, does not claim mainly to produce educational films but rather, what it terms ‘video assisted workshops’. This is an important distinction and should be borne in mind when viewing the ‘Tread Softly’ video which looks at the transition from large psychiatric hospitals to local community services and is intended for practitioners, planners, managers and members from both voluntary and statutory mental health services.

Few people will have read the Mental Health Act 1983 from cover to cover and so the makers of this programme are to be congratulated on producing a timely, well-produced visual synopsis. The programme comes with an excellent transcript and contents but, in fact, the programme stands alone and can be watched without reference to these. It is divided into four parts; firstly the philosophy and background, the civil commitals, criminal commitals, and the final part covers the Mental Health Act Commission and rights for detained patients.

When viewing the videotape, the first question one has to ask is why it should be video rather than written or audio material. In this particular instance, that question is difficult to answer. The tape simply shows two psychiatrists reading a prepared script either on camera or voice-over to the legends making up the two mnemonics they propose. The result is a rather dull recitation of material which would not be likely to ‘have them rolling in the aisles’.