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A comparison of ‘specialized’ and ‘non‐specialized’ psychiatric services for old people in the united kingdom
Author(s) -
Wattis John Philip
Publication year - 1989
Publication title -
international journal of geriatric psychiatry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.28
H-Index - 129
eISSN - 1099-1166
pISSN - 0885-6230
DOI - 10.1002/gps.930040114
Subject(s) - psychiatry , psychology , medicine
Using data derived from a recent survey of psychiatric services for old people in the UK, services provided by ‘specialized’ consultants (committing 5/11 or more of their working week to old people) were compared with those provided by ‘non‐specialized’ consultants (working less than 5/11 with old people). The measures used included total referrals, provision of personnel, provision and location of facilities, teaching activities and research interests. Because of the way in which they were selected, non‐specialized respondents were a relatively small and probably enthusiastic proportion of all non‐specialized general psychiatrists providing services for old people. Despite this, clear differences emerged in favour of the specialized services on most measures. Future routine statistics in psychiatry should identify ‘specialized’ consultants if they are to be meaningful.