Weekday and seasonal patterns in psychiatric referrals in three major London A&E departments, 2012–2014

• DOI: 10.1192/bjb.2017.4
• Publication Date: 2018-01-30T11:04:04Z
• Authors: James Dove; Amit Mistry; Nomi Werbeloff; David Osborn; Nora Turjanski
• Keywords: Staffing; Declaration; Psychiatric units; Psychiatric hospital

Aims and method To identify temporal demographic trends in referrals made to psychiatric liaison services. Routine clinical data from 16 105 individual three central London accident emergency (A&E) departments services 2012 2014 were obtained analysed using the Clinical Record Interactive Search (CRIS). Results Referrals A&E increased 16% over 3-year study period. There fewer winter months compared with other seasons. weekend weekdays (average 15.4 daily weekday v . 13.2 weekend, z = 5.1, P < 0.001), slightly less likely result admission hospital (11.3% 12.8%, respectively, χ 2 6.33, 0.01). implications Psychiatric staffing inpatient wards requires planning meet regional variations pattern of demand. Declaration interest None.