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.