Background

The purpose of the liaison psychiatry for older people website is to help facilitate collaboration between practitioners, researchers and others to promote improvements in the care of older people with mental health needs in general hospital settings.

Why we are here?

The website is managed by the liaison psychiatry for older people research team based at the University of Leeds, led by Dr John Holmes. It was set up in response to requests to provide a forum to share ideas and information from members of the special interest group for liaison psychiatry for older people and delegates from the national annual conferences that have run successively over the last six years.

Why are psychiatry services for older people in general hospital settings important?

Provision of responsive, effective psychiatric services is important for the care of older people in general hospital settings. Older people currently occupy two thirds of UK general hospital beds. Within this population there are high rates of co-morbid mental illness.
For example, prevalences have been reported of up to:

For those older people with co-morbid mental illness, evidence suggests that a number of significant outcomes are poorer across a range of user, carer and service related outcomes; including increased mortality, increased length of stay, increased rates of institutionalisation and persistent symptoms. For example, older people with co-morbid dementia, delirium or depression will on average spend 10 days more in hospital than those without these co-morbidities.

Changes in the structure and use of acute services, including the introduction of intermediate, have resulted in those in need of most complex care occupying hospital beds. This also has implications for older people in general hospital settings. These changes, in conjunction with recommendations made in the National Service Framework for Older People - for the implementation of an integrated approach and appropriate skill mix to meet the complex needs of older people, further impel us to consider what and how psychiatric services are provided.

The evidence of current care needs and the recommendations made to address these and future needs provide impetus for practitioners working with older people to form partnerships to improve the care of older people in general hospitals.