Abstract
General adult psychiatric services in Nottingham operate on a sector basis, with clinical teams having responsibility for the psychiatric care of all patients resident in a defined area. Sectors, which are conterminous with two or more social service areas, are not of equal population size, but comprise populations likely to give rise to similar demands for psychiatric services. The Social Services Department responded to the introduction of full sectorisation of hospital services in 1982 by allocating social workers to sector teams where possible, aiding the development of multidisciplinary teams.
Highlights
General adult psychiatric services in Nottingham operate on a sector basis, with clinical teams having responsibility for the psychiatric care of all patients resident in a defined area
The flexible arrangements for initial assessments which have been adopted by the team have proved success ful in achieving a prompt response, with the majority of patients being seen within a week of referral. This contrasts with the situation in the two years immediately prior to the introduction of home assessments, when the rigidity inherent in conventional scheduled out-patient clinics often resulted in patients having to wait up to six weeks for an appointment
Several general practitioners were favourably impressed by the speed of response, and it may have contributed to the favourable opinion of home assessment expressed by patients
Summary
General adult psychiatric services in Nottingham operate on a sector basis, with clinical teams having responsibility for the psychiatric care of all patients resident in a defined area. A weekly out-patient review meeting has been instituted in order that all referrals can be discussed by the team as a whole and selection made of team members to undertake specific assessments. Following the initial assessment visit, a report is made to the team meeting and one, or sometimes two, key workers are identified to take responsibility for the agreed programme of care. They are responsible for any follow-up that is considered necessary and will involve other members of the team as appropriate. Addition ally an examination was made of the speed of response to referrals and the extent to which different disciplines under took both initial assessment and subsequent key worker roles
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