Patient engagement with primary health care following discharge from community mental health services.
OBJECTIVE
Increasing pressure is being placed to facilitate Community Mental Health (CMH) patients' discharge to primary care. However, engagement following discharge is an under-researched area. This audit aimed to measure engagement and explore the factors that are associated with engagement in primary care following discharge from CMH.


METHODS
Primary care teams for 55 service users discharged from Auckland District Health Board CMH centres between July and December 2012 were approached as part of an audit and asked to provide information regarding engagement with general practitioners.


RESULTS
From the 50 responses received, the median number of GP visits per year was 3.7 and the mean was 4.41. 72% of the sample had contact with their GP at least every 3-4 months, however 8% did not engage with their primary care team. Differences in attendance following discharge based on age, diagnosis or socioeconomic status were not found. There was a suggestion that where GPs had responsibility for ongoing prescribing individuals engaged more frequently.


CONCLUSIONS
Generally, discharged individuals engage with their primary care team well, and at a level many clinicians would be comfortable with. There is a proportion of the population that does not engage at this level, which requires further study.
School of Population Health, Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences, The University of Auckland, 85 Park Rd, Grafton, Auckland, New Zealand. rsta133@aucklanduni.ac.nz.
Ryan
R
Stangroom
Molly
M
Morriss
Ian
I
Soosay
D000328:Adult; D003156:Community Mental Health Services; D005260:Female; D058006:General Practice; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008485:Medical Audit; D008875:Middle Aged; D009520:New Zealand; D010349:Patient Compliance / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010351:Patient Discharge; D011320:Primary Health Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*