The effects of regional obligatory provision of care as ex-emplified at a university hospital

Objective: Local care provision for the chronically mentally ill entails re sponsibility to be taken by all institutions involved in the care system of their respective area. ln the clinical sphere regional responsibility is i mplement-ed to a large extent apart from a few university clinics. The Univ ersity Psychiatry and Psychotherapy Clinic Tuebingen look after an area wit h obligatory provision of care consisting of 140 000 inhabitants in 1995. R esults: The comparative evaluation of the basic documentation showed minima l overall changes but an increase of older patients, of patients who are fr equently hospitalised, and of addicts. The number of emergencies remained u nchanged. The concomitant questioning of colleagues indicated delayed accep tance of the change. According to experiences made to date, the conditions for research and teaching have improved in certain areas thanks to the obli gatory provision of care.