Follow-up for a successful transition to community care after psychiatric admission
A successful transition to community-based care is critical for people being discharged after a hospital admission for psychiatric illness.
Without adequate follow-up, mental health care patients are more vulnerable and at increased risk of readmission. This transition period can also be a time of great stress and uncertainty for families and carers.
A responsive community support system is essential to maintain clinical and functional stability.
Community follow-up services include:
- community-based crisis assessment and treatment teams
- day programs
- mental health outpatient clinics, provided by either hospital or community-based services
- child and adolescent outpatient and community teams
- social and living skills programs
- psychogeriatric assessment services
- hospital-based services for admitted patients in non-psychiatric and emergency settings
- home-based treatment services
- hospital-based outreach services.
They can be in person, or by telephone, video link or another form of direct communication.
Measuring the rate of community follow-up within seven days of discharge
EMHS aims to follow-up with at least 75 per cent of people who are discharged after psychiatric admission within the first seven days, as per the target set by the Health Chief Executives Forum’s Mental Health Information Strategy Standing Committee.
A follow-up contact is an activity that is relevant to the patient’s clinical condition. It does not include services of an administrative nature (eg. telephone contact to schedule an appointment), unless it would normally warrant a dated entry in the person’s clinical record.
How do we measure up?
The graph below shows the combined rate of community follow-up within seven days of discharge from psychiatric admission, across the EMHS hospitals.
Chart: Percentage of community follow-up within seven days of discharge from psychiatric admission.
What the figures mean
The graph shows that EMHS is consistently performing better than the 75 per cent benchmark for follow-up within seven days of discharge from a psychiatric admission.