Setting up a new old age psychiatry service

Abstract

The views of general practitioners (GPs) on the priorities for a new old age psychiatry service were obtained. Most GPs identified dementia patients with behavioural or psychiatric disturbance as being the greatest priority for an old age psychiatry service. There was less consensus on the priorities for delivery of the service, but hospital-based services such as in-patient and day hospital facilities remain high on the GPs' priority list. There was a widely-based desire for results of assessments to be communicated by telephone, followed later by letter. These findings have been taken into account in the development of our new service.