What influences general practitioners' use of child psychiatry services?

Abstract

There are good reasons for Improving liaison between child psychiatrists and general practitioners. This study examined whether characteristics of the GP, patient or service influenced the referral of patients from primary care to the local child psychiatry service. Data collected by semi-structured interview from two samples of general practitioners who had either referred frequently or not at all over a two year period failed to show many of the associations found in other studies. Referral behaviour appears to be a complex phenomenon which may be influenced by increasing personal contact between professionals.