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The psychiatric probation clinic

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Paul Collins
Affiliation:
Yorkshire Regional Forensic Psychiatry Service, Newton Lodge, Ouchthorpe Lane, Wakefield WF1 3SP
Hadrian Ball
Affiliation:
East Anglian Regional Forensic Psychiatry Service, Norvic Clinic, St Andrews Hospital, Thorpe, Norwich NR7 0SS
Ann Costello
Affiliation:
Greater Manchester Probation Service, Units 6/7 Ascroft Court, Ascroft Street, Oldham
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Liaison with the various agencies which deal with mentally abnormal offenders is one of the prime roles of the forensic psychiatrist (Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1988). The probation service is a key agency in this regard. The importance of such collaboration has once again been highlighted with the clear message that the care of the mentally abnormal offender is improved as a result (DOH/Home Office, 1991). However, the provision of a satisfactory psychiatric consultation service to probation clients who have been remanded on bail can be problematic. Much of the work of forensic psychiatrists is institutionally based. Non-attendance rates at hospital based out-patient clinics are high (Bowden, 1978). However, general psychiatrists have found that psychiatric clinics based in general practitioners' surgeries are more acceptable to patients than hospital clinics (Tyrer, 1984). The probation office as a community base for forensic psychiatrists is a valid equivalent.

Type
Audit in practice
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists 1993

References

Bowden, P. (1978) A psychiatric clinic in a probation office. British Journal of Psychiatry, 133, 448451.Google Scholar
DOH and Home Office (1991) Review of Health and Social Services for Mentally Disordered Offenders and Others Requiring Similar Services: Report of the Community Advisory Group. Google Scholar
Royal College of Psychiatrists (1988) The role, responsibilities and work of the consultant forensic psychiatrist: a discussion document. Bulletin of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, 12, 246249.Google Scholar
Thapar, A. & Ghosh, A. (1991) Non-attendance at a psychiatric clinic. Psychiatric Bulletin, 15, 205206.Google Scholar
Tyrer, P. (1984) Psychiatric clinics in general practice: an extension of community care. British Journal of Psychiatry, 145, 914.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
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