Loss of contact with psychiatric services in people diverted from the criminal justice system

There have been few follow-up studies of patients diverted to psychiatric c are from magistrates' courts. The aim of this study was to follow up all pa tients diverted by a court diversion scheme over a 2-year period and to exa mine reasons for loss of contact with services where applicable. Of the pat ients diverted to inpatient services from the courts, at least one third ha d lost contact with psychiatric services at 12 months follow-up. For patien ts referred from the courts to psychiatric community teams or outpatient cl inics, less than one third attended their first appointment and of those, a lmost one third had become disengaged from services before the follow-up 12 months later. There is a need to develop a more effective outreach service to assist patients with serious mental illness to engage with services imm ediately following court appearance.