General Practice Referrals to a Community Team for Mental Health in the Elderly: Information and the Mode of Referral

Telephone & letter referrals by general practitioners to a community health team for the elderly were compared for information provided. Significantly less information was available to the team when the referral was by letter, particularly in the areas of suicidal tendencies (recorded 12 times in telephone referrals compared to only 3 times in written referrals), patient telephone number & possible informants. The implications of these findings are discussed. (4 refs.)