PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - Alasdair A. McKechnie AU - Alistair E. Philip AU - John G. Ramage TI - Psychiatric services in primary care: specialized or not? DP - 1981 Oct 01 TA - The Journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners PG - 611--614 VI - 31 IP - 231 4099 - http://bjgp.org/content/31/231/611.short 4100 - http://bjgp.org/content/31/231/611.full SO - J R Coll Gen Pract1981 Oct 01; 31 AB - We compare referrals made to a psychiatric service by two comparable general practices. One practice made its referrals through conventional channels; the other referred patients to a multi-professional team who saw patients at a clinic held on the practice premises. The members of the team and the general practitioners in the second practice also met regularly to discuss matters of mutual interest. More patients were referred by this method, which also made greater use of the multiple disciplines involved in psychiatric care. Patients referred through conventional channels were more likely to have had previous contact with the psychiatric service, were more likely to be admitted to hospital and spent 70 per cent more time as inpatients. These results confirm the findings of other workers in demonstrating that there are tangible benefits in a multidisciplinary specialist team working in primary care.