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Resources For Professionals

Referral guidelines for GPs when considering a Community Mental Health Team (CMHT) referral

 

Who should be referred?
Anyone between the ages of 18-65, registered with a Plymouth GP. Patients will need to have consented to a referral. If your patient is over 65, please refer to older people’s mental health team.

 

Those appropriate for a referral
If you consider that there is a risk as a result of mental ill health which cannot be managed in primary care.
This may be an individual who has a pre-existing mental health problem or alternatively might be experiencing a first acute episode.
An example of this might include the following:

  • Psychotic presentation
  • Acute anxiety
  • Treatment resistant depression
  • Relapse bipolar, psychotic illness

 

When should people be referred?

 

How do you refer?

Emergency patients should be referred directly, via phone to the CMHT as soon as possible.
Urgent patients should be phoned through to the CMHT and added to DRSS. CMHT will triage.
Routine patients should be referred via DRSS.