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A Comprehensive Emergency Psychiatric Service in a General Hospital

Rapid developments in general hospital outpatient psychiatry reflect increasing demands from the community for such setvices. Combining the outpatient caseload and Emergency Room psychiatric patients, nearly 2,500 patients per year were under care. To provide better care a new emergency intake service has been established, with a 72-hour limit of stay. This is a valuable therapeutic resource, and has made it possible to better study and treat selected acutely-ill patients. It is also a dynamic teaching setting. The establishment of this intensive-care unit has relieved pressure on the existing services. Suicidal patients, those with transient deliria and acutely disturbed patients have been accommodated. About 20 per cent of the casualty caseload has been admitted to the Short Stay Service, and nearly 50 per cent of such patients were able to return to their homes and community living within three days. These clinical experiences confirm the description of this unit as a ‘comprehensive emergency psychiatric service’ in a general hospital setting. The survival of the service is assured and encourages the establishment of similar units in other centres.