Dr Nicholas Taylor

Consultant Forensic Psychiatrist and Expert Witness – Medical Director, Forensic Psychiatry Experts

Publications and presentations

Books, journal articles, invited talks and posters, together with my work in medical education and training.

Recent presentations

  • Criminal medico-legal work: career pathway or professional side hustle? Royal College of Psychiatrists Private and Independent Practice Special Interest Group Winter Conference, 4 December 2026 (forthcoming)
  • Artificial intelligence – implications for medico-legal practice. 25th Annual Grange Conference, Hazlewood Castle, Yorkshire, September 2026
  • Psychiatric consequences of chronic pain. Chronic pain seminar for solicitors and insurers, Nine Chambers, Manchester, May 2025

Earlier invited presentations

I have given oral presentations, including invited talks and some presenting original research, at regional, national and international conferences in Europe, North America and South Africa, on occasion representing the Royal College of Psychiatrists. These include:

  • Does psychiatry need a facelift? World Psychiatric Association International Congress, Cape Town, 2016
  • How not to save money in forensic mental health care. International Association of Forensic Mental Health Services Conference, Miami, 2012
  • Forensic psychiatry – madness, murder and medicine. Teaching talk on the science of forensic psychiatry for medical students and junior doctors

Posters

Working with trainees in forensic psychiatry and with medical students, I have presented posters at regional, national and international conferences, including:

  • Has the coronavirus lockdown had an impact on the weight and body mass index of medium secure forensic patients? Royal College of Psychiatrists Faculty of Forensic Psychiatry Annual Conference (online), March 2021 – view poster (PDF)
  • Uptake of the COVID-19 vaccination in a secure psychiatric hospital population. 2021
  • How safe is forensic psychiatry? Royal College of Psychiatrists Faculty of Forensic Psychiatry Annual Conference, Madrid, 2017 – view poster (PDF)
  • The use of Skype video telecommunication for social visits in a medium secure hospital: a service evaluation. Royal College of Psychiatrists International Congress, Edinburgh

Journal articles

  • Uptake of COVID-19 vaccination in a medium secure psychiatric hospital population. BJPsych Open, 2021 – read the article
  • How to judge – without judging. Mental Health Practice, 2013
  • The role of the mental health professional in cases of online sexual activity. The British Journal of Forensic Practice, 2008
  • Advanced videogame consoles – a new and unrecognised threat to secure service provision? The British Journal of Forensic Practice, 2008, 10(4), 15-18 – publisher’s page. The technologies described are now dated, as is the approach to individualised care and least restrictive practice.
  • Service user involvement in psychiatric training: a practical perspective. The Psychiatric Bulletin, 2007

Books and book chapters

  • The A-Z for the MRCPsych
  • MRCPsych Part 1 Practice Papers: ISQs and EMIs
  • MRCPsych Part 2: Practice ISQs and EMIs
  • The Complete Guide to MRCPsych
  • “Ethical and legal aspects of the Mental Health Act 2007 and related legislation”, in Forensic Mental Health Nursing: Ethics, Debates, Dilemmas

Research, teaching and educational leadership

My LLM dissertation examined the impact of the Human Rights Act 1998 on mental health legislation and practice.

I have a long-standing interest in supervising and teaching trainee psychiatrists preparing for the MRCPsych examinations, and a range of other professionals. I was a trainer recognised by the General Medical Council for almost 20 years, a Clinical Examiner at the University of Nottingham from 2009 to 2017 and a lecturer on its Doctorate in Clinical Psychology course, and an Honorary Lecturer at the Universities of Birmingham and Liverpool.

From 2012 to 2020 I was the Training Programme Director for Forensic Psychiatry in the East Midlands, coordinating placements for forensic psychiatry trainees in Northampton, Leicester, Derby, Nottingham, Rampton Hospital and Lincoln. I founded the National Forensic Psychiatry Training Programme Director Group within the Royal College of Psychiatrists.

I am a former member of the Royal College of Psychiatrists’ Faculty of Forensic Psychiatry Executive Committee, its Quality Assurance Committee and its Choose Psychiatry Committee, and more recently of the Forensic Faculty Education and Curriculum Committee, now the Forensic Psychiatry Specialty Advisory Committee (FPSAC). In 2019-2020 I worked with a small group to rewrite the national forensic psychiatry curriculum for the Royal College of Psychiatrists and the General Medical Council. It now sets the standard for higher training in forensic psychiatry across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

As a higher specialist trainee, I helped run the MRCPsych course in Birmingham, delivering lectures and small-group teaching and working with actors as simulated patients. This included pioneering work involving patients and service users in the management and delivery of postgraduate psychiatric training, an approach that is now commonplace. Years later I led the forensic component of the East Midlands MRCPsych course.