FOI: Liaison Psychiatry Referral Policy

The request was successful.

Dear South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust,

We are a group of clinicians & researchers carrying out a national evaluation of liaison psychiatry service provision in NHS hospitals across England. As part of this project, we are submitting FOI requests to all NHS Mental Health Trusts to ask about local policy and practice. We kindly request the following information as per the FOI Act 2000.

Our enquiries relate to the provision of liaison psychiatry services in adult general hospitals, including patients in inpatient wards or A&E departments. This research is conducted as part of an Academic Foundation Programme research post. No specific grant was awarded for this project. All findings will be de-identified from Hospitals or Trusts before publication.

1. At which general hospital(s) does your Trust provide liaison psychiatry services?

For each of the above hospitals, please answer the questions below:

2. Is there a written policy about prioritising patients who have been referred to liaison psychiatry, or determining which referrals to accept? (If No, please move to Question 6).

3. If so, is this policy made available to all (psychiatry and non-psychiatry) clinicians working within the general hospital? If so, please specify where (e.g. Trust intranet)?

4. Please attach the policy document if possible. We aim to extract only certain information from the policy document, so if the complete policy document cannot be sent, please send the following information:

a. Details on which locations this policy covers and which patients (i.e. inpatient ward/A&E/referrals) the policy covers.

b. Details on any guidelines to prioritise or determine which referrals to accept. Specifically:
i. Patients should be medically fit for discharge prior to review
ii. Patients should be medically fit for assessment prior to review
iii. No restriction applied; all patients are reviewed
iv. Any other methods used to prioritise patient referrals (please specify)

c. Whether the policy states which professional group (e.g. psychiatrist, psychologist, nurse) should review the referral and/or assess the patient? If so, please specify.

d. When was the policy last reviewed or updated?

5. When (if at all) was local practice last audited against this policy and what were the findings?

6. At your Trust, how do doctors refer patients to liaison psychiatry for review (e.g. by telephone, by electronic referral system, by email, by fax)?

Many thanks for your time. Please do not hesitate to get in touch by email if you have any questions or clarifications. We look forward to your reply.

Yours faithfully,

Dr George Gillett, 
Academic Foundation Programme Doctor
Department of Psychiatry, University of Oxford 

Dr William Lee, 
Honorary Clinical Senior Lecturer, University of Exeter Medical School.
Consultant Liaison Psychiatrist, Devon Partnership NHS Trust.

Kazeem, Toyin, South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust

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Information Governance Office
Maudsley Hospital
Denmark Hill
London SE5 8AZ
Email: [1][South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust request email]
 
Dear Dr Gillett,
 
I am writing to acknowledge receipt of your recent request for information
about liaison psychiatry referral policy. Your request was received on
10^th December 2019 and we are dealing with it under the terms of the
Freedom of Information Act (2000).
We aim to provide you with the information requested within the 20 working
days. In certain exceptional circumstances a fee may be payable and if
that is the case, I will let you know the likely charges before
proceeding. You will receive a notification if an exemption applies to the
disclosure of this information under the Freedom of Information Act
(2000).
If you have any queries about this letter, please contact us at
[2][South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust request email]
 
Yours sincerely,
 
 
 
Ms Toyin Kazeem
Archives and Assurance Manager
Information Governance Team
SLaM email is secure and has been accredited by NHS Digital to the same
SCCI1596 standard as NHS.net.
Accreditation can be found here:
[3]https://digital.nhs.uk/nhsmail/secure-em...
 
 
 
 

References

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Kazeem, Toyin, South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust

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Dear Dr Gillet,
Please find enclosed response to your request for information.

Regards

Ms Toyin Kazeem
Archives and Assurance Manager
Information Governance Team

SLaM email is secure and has been accredited by NHS Digital to the same SCCI1596 standard as NHS.net.
Accreditation can be found here: https://digital.nhs.uk/nhsmail/secure-em...

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