Psychiatry NCHD referrals to the local emergency department in the context of an in-house primary care service.

OBJECTIVES.: Patients with psychiatric illness are at increased risk of developing non-psychiatric medical illnesses. There have been positive reports regarding the integration of primary care services into mental health facilities. Here, we evaluate the appropriateness of psychiatry non-consultant hospital doctors (NCHD) transfers to the local emergency department (ED) in the context of an in-house primary care service.

METHODS.: We reviewed the inpatient transfers from St Patrick's University Hospital (SPUH) to the local ED at St James' Hospital (SJH) from 1 January 2016 to 31 December 2017. We used inpatient admission to SJH as our primary marker of an appropriate transfer.

RESULTS.: 246 inpatients were transferred from SPUH to the SJH ED for medical review in the years 2016 and 2017. 27 (11%) of these were referred to the ED by the primary care service. 51% of those referred were admitted with similar rates of admission for both general practitioner (n = 27, 54% admitted) and NCHD initiated referrals (n = 219, 51% admitted). Acute neurological illness, concern regarding a cardiac illness, and deliberate self-harm were the most common reasons for referral.

CONCLUSION.: Our primary finding is that, of those transferred to ED by either primary care or a psychiatry NCHD, a similar proportion was judged to be in need of inpatient admission. This indicates that as a group, psychiatry NCHD assessment of acuity and need for transfer was similar to that of their colleagues in primary care.