Evaluation of a psychiatric court liaison scheme in north London
BMJ 1996; 313 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.313.7056.531 (Published 31 August 1996) Cite this as: BMJ 1996;313:531
- Nick D Purchase, forensic social work managera,
- Alison K McCallum, senior lecturer in public health medicineb,
- Harry G Kennedy, consultant forensic psychiatrista
- a North London Forensic Psychiatry Service, Camlet Lodge, Enfield Community Care Trust, London EN2 8JL,
- b Department of Primary Care and Population Sciences, Royal Free Hospital School of Medicine, London NW3 2QG
- Correspondence to: Mr Purchase.
- Accepted 22 March 1996
Court diversion schemes were established to ensure that people with mental illness who are brought before the courts obtain appropriate care from health and social services.1 In July 1993 a psychiatric court liaison scheme, one of about 300 in England and Wales, was established at Tottenham Magistrates' Court in north London to cover two boroughs, or one health authority. We evaluated the outcome for all defendants attending the scheme over 18 months.
Subjects, methods, and results
Between July 1993 and December 1994, 104 defendants were seen. We report the data on the 89 local residents. Subjects were monitored by address, postcode, age, ethnic origin, previous contact with psychiatric services, criminal record, and offence. Their outcomes were measured against the rate of discharges of inpatients from the …