title: Discharges from an early intervention in psychosis service: where do patients stand after 3 years?
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Continuity of care is an important therapeutic factor in psychiatric services. This study aimed to look at the continuity of care for patients following discharge from an early intervention in psychosis service.
  
  
  METHODS
  Continuity of care was assessed by looking at whether a patient was still with the same service after 3 years or more following discharge from an early intervention in psychosis service. If not, records were checked to see where their care had moved. Discharges from 2006 to 2009 were included in the study.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Descriptive statistics were worked out to calculate the proportion of service users who remained with the same service and those who had moved to other services. About 8% of patients had moved to another service during the identified study period. Only 4% of patients had moved from a less intensive to a more intensive service within this time.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The findings from this study showed that only a very small proportion of patients discharged from an early intervention in psychosis service move to another service in the 3 years following their discharge. Movement of patients to a more intensive service after discharge from the early intervention in psychosis team was even lower. Most patients thereby have a stable continuity of care following discharge from an early intervention team.
authors.affiliation: The PIER Team, Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust, Leicester, UK.
authors.forename: Shiraz
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ahmed
authors.forename: Rashid
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Khan
authors.forename: Danny
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Pursglove
authors.forename: Jo
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: O'Donoghue
authors.forename: Nandini
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Chakraborty
mesh_terms: D003266:Continuity of Patient Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D061345:Early Medical Intervention / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D008605:Mental Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010351:Patient Discharge; D011320:Primary Health Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011618:Psychotic Disorders / Q000628:therapy*; D063127:Secondary Health Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D063128:Tertiary Health Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D013997:Time Factors
keywords: continuum of care; discharge planning; mental health service; patient transfer; psychosis