Reduced Activity in an Inpatient Liaison Psychiatry Service During the First Wave of the COVID-19 Pandemic: Comparison With 2019 Data and Characterization of the SARS-CoV-2 Positive Cohort.

The COVID-19 pandemic led to changes in the way that healthcare was accessed and delivered in the United Kingdom (UK), particularly during the peak of the first lockdown period (the "first wave") beginning in March 2020. In some patients, COVID-19 is associated with acute neuropsychiatric manifestations, and there is suggestion that there may also be longer term neuropsychiatric complications. Despite this, at the time of writing there are only emerging data on the direct effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on psychiatric care.

Time of referral to older adult liaison psychiatry service and other factors affecting length of stay in the general hospital.

Objectives: To explore the relationship between social and clinical factors with (1) Time to referral to an older adult liaison psychiatry service, and (2) Length of stay (LOS), in a sample of older adults admitted to an acute general medical hospital receiving liaison psychiatry intervention, in London, United Kingdom, over a 3-year period.

Methods: Information on patients referred to liaison psychiatry for older adults between January 2013 and December 2015 was collected using structured forms, with clinical diagnoses determined according to International Classification of Mental Disorders-10. The association of social and clinical factors with the time taken to refer to liaison psychiatry and LOS was assessed using Cox proportional hazards regression and zero-truncated Poisson regression, respectively.

Liaison psychiatry for older adults in the general hospital: service activity, development and outcomes.

Unlabelled: Aims and method This study used data collected to describe the activity, case-load characteristics and outcome measures for all patients seen during a 6-year period.

Results: The service reviewed 2153 patients over 6 years with referral rates and case-load characteristics comparable to those described in a previous study period. The team saw 82% of patients on the day they were referred.

The Executive Interview (EXIT25) as a tool for assessing executive functioning in older medical and surgical inpatients referred to a psychiatry service: feasibility of creating a brief version.

Background: Most neuropsychological tests of executive function are time-consuming and otherwise unsuitable for routine bedside assessment, particularly in older people admitted to a general hospital. After introducing the Executive Interview (EXIT25) in our routine clinical practice, we hypothesized that it would be possible to shorten it for easier administration in our group of patients while maintaining or improving properties of the scale.

Methods: The EXIT25 was applied in 122 clinically stable medical and surgical inpatients aged 65 years and over referred to the Liaison Psychiatry Service for Older People.

Mental capacity assessments among general hospital inpatients referred to a specialist liaison psychiatry service for older people.

Background: Mental capacity has been little studied among older general hospital inpatients.

Methods: A retrospective analysis was undertaken of routinely collected data (age, gender, ethnicity, admission diagnosis, psychiatric diagnosis, Mini-mental State Examination score, whether capacity was assessed, the outcome of that assessment, and discharge destination) on referrals to a liaison psychiatry service for older people (2003-2006) from medical and surgical teams at a large London teaching hospital.

Results: 1267 patients were referred to the service, of whom 379 (30%) were assessed for capacity.