Regional aspects of long-term public sector psychiatric care in the Eastern Cap

Conclusion: Despite higher access to public psychiatric care in the western region, the majority of patients originated from there. Contributing factors to this include diagnoses, insufficient bed numbers and the absence of admission criteria and referral pathways. It is recommended that the provincial Department of Health set up a task team to determine a standardised working framework for all public sector psychiatric institutions. This should be informed by national policies, legislation and provincial norms and indicators.
Source: South African Journal of Psychiatry - Category: Psychiatry Source Type: research