Referrals to Adult Mental Health Services (FOI)

In each of the last five years, how many GP referrals to Adult Mental Health Services have been rejected or referred to other agencies, such as the Listening Lounge?

Currently all referrals are screened by a Multi-Disciplinary Team that includes a consultant psychiatrist. When a referral is accepted the individual is called or written to and invited to an appointment. This is optional and is not always taken up, this is captured in the table below as ‘Service Declined’. Most GP referrals are now accepted. During the initial Covid-19 pandemic period we were running a reduced service and some people did not want to attend because of Covid-19. We did not see routine referrals and urgent referrals were prioritised. This accounts for the number of returned referrals to date in 2020. In all instances when care from the Adult Mental Health Service is not appropriate at the time of referral, this is discussed with the referrer.

The following table shows the outcome of referrals received from GP’s:

In 2018 there were a high number of returned referrals. This was a consequence of the practice approach at the time which is no longer being used.

The following table shows total referrals received by the service: