ATTITUDES OF GENERAL-PRACTITIONERS TO THE PSYCHIATRIC-SERVICES

Objective: General practitioners play a crucial role in the delivery o f psychiatric treatment to patients who have many similarities to thos e attending the general psychiatric services. The purpose of this stud y was to elicit attitudes of general practitioners to an existing loca l service. Methods: We used an anonymous questionaire hand delivered t o 54 general practitioners with practices in the catchment area of one of Dublin's psychiatric hospitals. Results: We received responses fro m 40 of the GP's indicating a high level of psychiatric morbidity in t he primary care setting, a moderate level of satisfaction with psychia tric service, a low level of knowledge of the catchment area system, l imited interest in taking on an increased role in the care of psychiat ric patients and a high popularity rating for the community psychiatri c nurse. Conclusions: This study confirms previous estimates of psychi atric morbidity in general practice, a need for improved communication between psychiatrists and general practitioners to identify more real istic expectations on both sides of the equation, and a huge potential for the expanding community psychiatric services to improve liaison b etween general practitioners and psychiatrists and yield considerable patient and doctor gains.