AN Ipswich-based consultant psychiatrist has been awarded a travelling fellowship to lecture and present on mental health care in New Zealand.

AN Ipswich-based consultant psychiatrist has been awarded a travelling fellowship to lecture and present on mental health care in New Zealand.

Professor Bob Peckitt, senior forensic psychiatrist at Suffolk Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust, will fly to New Zealand on Saturday at the invitation of the Mid Central District Health Board (MCDHB), which is based in Palmerston North on North Island.

Every year MCDHB awards a travelling fellowship to a speaker of international renown and has this year chosen Professor Peckitt.

He said: “This is a wonderful opportunity for me to raise the profile of Suffolk Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust.

“I am looking forward to exchanging experiences with people on the other side of the world and hopefully bringing back with me new ideas to further improve the already excellent forensic services we have here in Suffolk.

“I also hope it will be the start of a partnership between the trust and Mid Central District Health Board which will benefit both organisations and their patients.”

During what will be his first trip to New Zealand, Professor Peckitt will give talks and lectures on a range of forensic issues in Auckland, Wellington and Palmerston North to clinicians, lawyers and professionals involved in the criminal justice system.

For example, at the University of Victoria in Wellington he will give a lecture on women in the criminal justice system in England called “Mothers or Monsters?” to dispel myths and stigma surrounding mental disorder.

In addition, he will spend two days with the New Zealand police profiling unit in Auckland.

Professor Peckitt, who returns to England on 4 May, is also a member of The Parole Board of England and Wales.