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Quality of referrals to old age psychiatry following introduction of the single assessment process

Central North West London Mental Health Trust

James Warner, Senior Lecturer in Old Age Psychiatry

Claybrook Centre, Charing Cross Campus, Imperial College, St Dunstan’s Road, London W6 8RP, email: j.warner{at}imperial.ac.uk

Declaration of interest

None.

AIMS AND METHOD

We sought to identify changes in the quality of information in referrals to an old age psychiatry service before and after the introduction of the single assessment process. Referrals were compared in terms of length, legibility, information and clinical utility.

RESULTS

Compared with letters before the introduction of the single assessment process, referrals made on the new forms took longer to read (mean 96 v. 124 s, P=0.001), had more illegible sections (P=0.011), contained less information (P=0.026) and were judged to be less clinically useful (P=0.001).

CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS

The introduction of the single assessment process has impaired clinical communication between general practitioners and psychiatrists, and might be prejudicial to patient care.