The impact of referral letter quality on timely access to specialised mental health care: a quantitative study of the reliability of patient triage.

Background: Patients referred to specialised mental health care are usually triaged based on referral information provided by general practitioners. However, knowledge about this system's ability to ensure timely access to and equity in specialised mental health care is limited. We aimed to investigate to the degree to which patient triage, based on referral letter information, corresponds to triage based on a hospital specialist's consultation with the patient, and whether the degree of correspondence is affected by the quality of the referral letter.

Defining when specialised mental health care is needed: a focus group study.

Background: Shared understanding between GPs and hospital specialists concerning when patients need specialised mental health care is important to ensure patients receive appropriate care. The large amount of rejected referrals often indicates a lack of such shared understanding.

Aim: To explore how patient representatives, GPs, and mental health specialists understand 'need for specialised mental health care', meaning that primary care is no longer sufficient.