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Three months in the life of a community mental health team

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Jan Scott
Affiliation:
University Department of Psychiatry, Royal Victoria Infirmary, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 4LP
Sara McCluskey
Affiliation:
University Department of Psychiatry, Royal Victoria Infirmary, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 4LP
Lesley Smith
Affiliation:
Newcastle NHS Mental Health Trust
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Abstract

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An audit was undertaken to assess the efficacy and efficiency of a community-based mental health service which attempts to prioritise the care of those with severe and enduring disorders. Referral patterns over a three month period and change in case-load over the subsequent 12 months were recorded. Seventy-five per cent of new referrals met the priority group criteria, allaying anxieties that community services unceasingly get drawn to the care of those with less severe disorders. Furthermore, at 12 months the service had maintained contact with all patients previously admitted to hospital and all those presenting with psychotic disorders (27% referrals). Some changes in service structure are also suggested as a result of this evaluation.

Type
Audit
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, 1994

References

Scott, J., Normanton, M. & McKenna, J. (1992) Developing a community-orientated mental health service. Psychiatric Bulletin, 16, 150152.Google Scholar
Smith, L. (1993) Quarterly ‘Patient Activity’ Report. Newcastle NHS Mental Health Trust.Google Scholar
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