Creating primary care access for mental health care clients in A community mental health setting

Abstract

Successful support of persons living with a mental illness in the community is challenged by the lack of primary care accessible to this population. The Canadian Mental Health Association-Windsor Essex County Branch explored options to provide mental and physical health care, initially creating an integrated primary care clinic and later a larger community health clinic co-located with its mental health care services and staffed by a multidisciplinary team. A retrospective review of 805 charts and a client satisfaction survey were conducted in 2001 to evaluate this service. Findings indicate that access to primary care and mental health care co-located at a community-based clinic has reduced the number of emergency room visits and admissions, and length of stay in hospital, for individuals with moderate to serious mental illness. A client survey in January 2008 supports these preliminary findings.