Psychiatrische patiënten op het politiebureau in de regio Zuid-Holland Zuid: beoordeling door de wachtdienstarts van de Gemeenschappelijke Gezondheidsdienst

To describe the epidemiological characteristics of ambulant psychiatric patients who were either brought to the police station or who came by themselves, but who were not kept in a cell, as a basis for the development of a reception protocol.

Design

Descriptive.

Method

The data from the medical records from 2000 kept by the forensic doctors employed by the district health services for the Southern South Holland region were inventoried.

Results

On request by the police, the forensic doctors examined 203 clients. The majority of these were middle-aged men who did have a place of residence. The reason for police involvement was bizarre or confused behaviour in public. Half of the patients had received or were receiving some form of psychiatric treatment from the mental health service. In approximately half of the cases the forensic doctor found a solution together with the police. In the other half of the cases the forensic doctor asked the crisis intervention team at the mental health service for an evaluation. Two thirds of these patients were hospitalised and one third was sent away. Because examination by both the forensic doctor and the mental health service psychiatrist and other procedures were lengthy (up to 6 hours), patients had to spend a long time in a holding cell at the police station that was not designed for stays of this length of time, and often lacked toilet facilities.

Conclusion

The forensic doctor treated about half the clients without the need of assistance from the crisis intervention psychiatrist. The temporary accommodation for these confused clients was inadequate.