Abstract
Although childhood psychiatric disorders are commonly seen in general practice, only a few children in the community eventually gain access to professional help (Rutter, Cox, Tupling et al, 1975; Bailey, Graham & Boniface, 1978). Whether a child is referred or not depends on various factors connected with the child and family (Garralda & Bailey, 1988) and others such as what the GP expects from the referral. Whether GPs know of what the child psychiatric services in the area have to offer might also be expected to effect referral. We know that there is a general dissatisfaction with written communication between general practitioners and specialists in terms of the quality on the communication and usefulness to both groups (Pullen & Yellowlees, 1985; Kentish, Jenkins & Lask, 1987).
Highlights
Childhood psychiatric disorders are commonly seen in general practice, only a few children in the community eventually gain access to professional help (Rutter, Cox, Tupling et ai, 1975; Bailey, Graham & Boniface, 1978)
An attempt was made to assess the amount of difficulty that GPs have experienced in persuading their patients to accept referral to child psychiatrists and the possible reasons for their resistance
As we provide a service to other agencies, we asked GPs if they felt it would be appropriate for psychiatrists to receive referrals directly from agencies not related to primary medical care, e.g. social services, probation services etc
Summary
Childhood psychiatric disorders are commonly seen in general practice, only a few children in the community eventually gain access to professional help (Rutter, Cox, Tupling et ai, 1975; Bailey, Graham & Boniface, 1978). The aim of the study was to assess the standard of knowledge of general practitioners about the available child and family psychiatric services in their area and their level of satisfaction of this service in terms of its accessibility and communication. An attempt was made to assess the amount of difficulty that GPs have experienced in persuading their patients to accept referral to child psychiatrists and the possible reasons for their resistance.
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