title: Quality of psychiatric care in the general hospital: referrer perceptions of an inpatient liaison psychiatry service.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To explore the experience of senior staff on acute medical wards using an established inpatient liaison psychiatry service and obtain their views on clinically relevant performance measures.
  
  
  METHODS
  Semistructured face-to-face interviews with consultants and senior nurses were taped, transcribed and analyzed manually using the framework method of analysis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Twenty-five referrers were interviewed. Four key themes were identified - benefits of the liaison service, potential areas of improvement, indices of service performance such as speed and quality of response and expanded substance misuse service. Respondents felt the liaison service benefited patients, staff and service delivery in the general hospital. Medical consultants wanted stepped management plans devised by consultant liaison psychiatrists. Senior nurses, who perceived themselves as frontline crisis managers, valued on-the-spot input on patient management.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Consultants and senior nurses differed in their expectations of liaison psychiatry. Referrers valued speed of response and regarded time from referral to definitive management plan as a key performance indicator for benchmarking services.
authors: South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, London, UK. luke.solomons@berkshire.nhs.uk
authors: Luke C
authors: LC
authors: Solomons
authors: Ajoy
authors: A
authors: Thachil
authors: Caroline
authors: C
authors: Burgess
authors: Adrian
authors: A
authors: Hopper
authors: Vicky
authors: V
authors: Glen-Day
authors: Gopinath
authors: G
authors: Ranjith
authors: Andrew
authors: A
authors: Hodgkiss