The first contact of patients with schizophrenia with psychiatric services: social factors and pathways to care in a multi-ethnic population

Background. African-Caribbean patients have less desirable routes of entry into the psychiatric services than other ethnic groups in Britain but this may not apply to the first contact with services. Methods. Patients' pathways to care, type of admission or referral and sect ioning details were recorded for all first contact patients presenting to s outh London psychiatric services over a 2-year period. We also conducted a retrospective analysis of data from the Camberwell Register, comparing rate s of compulsory admission between 'Whites' and 'African-Caribbeans' for fir st and readmissions, over a 20-year period. Results. Our first contact sample comprised 38 White, 38 African-Caribbean and 24 Asian patients with CATEGO defined broad schizophrenia. GP referral was found to be the most common mode of contact and there were no significa nt differences between the ethnic groups with regard to compulsory admissio n. Similarly, data from the Camberwell Register showed no significant diffe rence in rates of compulsory admission between first admission White: and A frican-Caribbean patients. However, when all readmissions were examined, Af rican-Caribbeans were more likely to be admitted involuntarily. Conclusions. Our findings suggest that reports of less desirable routes of entry for African-Caribbean patients into the psychiatric service do not ap ply to their first admission but are likely to develop over time and repeat ed contact with the services.