Psychiatric Referral from a General Practice

Referrals for psychiatric specialist treatment under the National Health Service have increased steadily in numbers, until the annual rate for new patients in England and Wales now stands at over 200,000 (Ministry of Health, 1965). The trend has led some critical observers to conclude that, in the words of one of their number, “Partly because it has oversold itself psychiatry has become oversubscribed” (Kessel, 1963). This is a serious charge, but in the absence of proper evaluative studies it must be judged non proven.