We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.
To save content items to your account,
please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies.
If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account.
Find out more about saving content to .
To save content items to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org
is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings
on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part
of your Kindle email address below.
Find out more about saving to your Kindle.
Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations.
‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi.
‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.
Early intervention services (EIS) can significantly reduce the rate of relapse, risk of suicide and number of hospital admissions for people with first episode of psychosis (FEP). However, care pathways in FEP can be complex, thus extending the period before patients commence appropriate treatment. Recently in the UK, guidelines have set a limit of two-weeks before patients with a FEP receive treatment at EIS.
Objectives
We explored the impact of this new policy on referrals to an EIS in the area City and Hackney, London, which has one of the highest incidence of psychosis in the UK.
Methods
Referrals from 6 months of 2015 have been compared with the data from the same period of 2016, once the waiting standard had been implemented.
Results
We observed more than a two-fold increase in the monthly number of referrals (9.4 in 2015; 20 in 2016) and this wasn’t due to a rise of inappropriate referrals (2.23% in 2015; 1.53% in 2016). Moreover the number of referrals doubled further when, in addition, the City & Hackney EIS went from a 18–35-year-service to an “ageless” adult service.
Conclusion
The recent focus on FEP in the UK might have increased awareness and reduced stigma, leading to the increment in referrals. Also, shortening the waiting time made the service more accessible for those that would have gave up in front of a longer waiting list. Interestingly enough a peak in the number of referrals has been observed from September 2016 when another standard was implemented.
Disclosure of interest
The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.
Recommend this
Email your librarian or administrator to recommend adding this to your organisation's collection.