Objective. To investigate the preferences of psychiatric patients regarding attendance for their continuing mental health care once stable from a primary care setting as opposed to a specialized psychiatric service setting. Methods. 150 consecutive psychiatric patients attending outpatient review in a community mental health centre in Dublin were approached and asked to complete a semistructured questionnaire designed to assess the objectives of the study. Results. 145 patients completed the questionnaire giving a response rate of 97%. Ninety-eight patients (68%) preferred attending a specialized psychiatry service even when stabilised on their treatment. The common reason given by patients in this category was fear of substandard quality of psychiatric care from their general practitioners (GPs) (67 patients, 68.4%). Twenty-nine patients (20%) preferred to attend their GP for continuing mental health care. The reasons given by these patients included confidence in GPs, providing same level of care as psychiatrist for mental illness (18 patients or 62%), and the advantage of managing both mental and physical health by GPs (13 patients, 45%). Conclusion. Most patients who attend specialised psychiatric services preferred to continue attending specialized psychiatric services even if they become mentally stable than primary care, with most reasons revolving around fears of inadequate psychiatric care from GPs. 1. Introduction In Ireland community mental health care consultations are provided by both primary care and specialised public mental health services. However, unlike the specialised public mental health service consultations, primary care service consultations are not currently free for the majority of Irish residents. Patients on the lowest end of the socioeconomic ladder qualify for state “medical or GP visit cards” which are a form of state health insurance that entitles the holder to receive free primary care consultations in addition to the universally free public specialist mental health consultations. All other patients including those with private health insurance pay for all primary care consultations which average around 60 dollars per consultation. A detailed description of the structure of both primary care and community mental health service provision in Ireland, as well as the proportions of patients with medical/GP visit cards and private health insurance and the packages received by these patients have been given in two related publications [1, 2]. The delivery of mental health services presents several important challenges to
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