On-site mental health professionals can modify doctors' clinical behaviour

Mental health professionals are increasingly working in primary care, and it is thought that the costs of their provision could be recouped in part through changes in general practitioners' behaviour, such as reductions in prescribing and referral to secondary care. Bower and Sibbald (p 614) systematically reviewed evidence for this effect. Referral of patients to on-site mental health professionals reduced the likelihood of general practitioners prescribing psychotropics or referring patients to secondary care. The effects were, however, not consistent over different studies and there was little evidence for their long term stability. On-site mental health professionals did not alter the behaviour of general practitioners towards the wider practice population who were not directly referred to mental health professionals.

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Relevant Article

Systematic review of the effect of on-site mental health professionals on the clinical behaviour of general practitioners

Peter Bower and Bonnie Sibbald
BMJ 2000 320: 614-617. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]