General practitioners' views of community mental health services: A survey in one London borough

Abstract

Community mental health teams are increasingly focusing their activities on people with severe mental illnesses. At the same time, the overall extent of mental health need in primary care ensures general practitioners (GPs) remain key professionals in the co-ordination and provision of mental health services to a wide range of patients. This study sought to establish the views of GPs working in one London borough on community mental health services, and to establish what they believed were appropriate services for community mental health professionals to provide. A postal questionnaire sent to all 104 GPs working in the borough produced a 48% response rate. GPs believed community mental health teams were useful, and effective in dealing with patients presenting with a variety of mental health problems. Many believed that enhanced primary health care teams, adequately resourced and staffed with attached mental health professionals, could provide a wide range of mental health interventions. Dissatisfaction appeared to be related to the evolving focus of community mental health teams. Many GPs believed that they had lost a valuable service for people with less severe mental health needs.