An Acute Recovery Unit: the first 18 months.

Objectives: To describe a new type of acute inpatient unit, the Acute Recovery Unit, at the Concord Centre for Mental Health, Sydney and to report patient characteristics and outcome data for the first 18 months of operation.

Methods: The mission, values, principles of care and operation of the Acute Recovery Unit are presented, including the lessons from a review of the first 18 months of operation. The specialist assessment procedure, academic detailing and range of specialist interventions are described.

Results: Clinical outcome measures including the Health of the Nation Outcome Scale, Multidimensional Incomplete Recovery - Clinical Global Index and community tenure time post-discharge are presented.

Conclusions: The Acute Recovery Unit is an important component of the range of services required at a regional level to respond to those who will develop treatment refractory mental illness.