I was interested to read Dr Cormac et al's article regarding physical health and health risk factors in a population of long-stay psychiatric patients (Psychiatric Bulletin, January 2005, 29, 18–20). In my own service I am responsible for two long-stay units. Local general practitioners (GPs) have designated sessions to attend consultant ward-round reviews and are responsible for providing primary care services for patients in these units. This means that as part of the regular review, issues such as weight gain and diet, smoking, hypertension and other risk factors predisposing to coronary heart disease or other physical disorders are regularly discussed and addressed with appropriate physical examination, health-care advice and investigations.
The value of GPs attending the regular in-patient reviews has offered benefit not only to our residents in ensuring appropriate access to primary care services, but also to myself and staff in learning about recent initiatives in primary care. The GPs who attend have also had the benefit of access to the knowledge and experience of mental health specialists, which they have been able to use in their own practice.
It would seem a mutually beneficial arrangement and one that I would recommend to all services that provide long-stay, psychiatric in-patient services.
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