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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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| The assessment of patients with alcohol disorders by an old age psychiatric service | | Author(s) | H Pennington, R Butler, S Eagger |
| Journal title | Aging & Mental Health, vol 4, no 2, May 2000 |
| Pages | pp 182-184 |
| Source | http://www.tandfonline.com |
| Keywords | Alcoholism ; Psychiatric treatment ; Evaluation ; Hammersmith and Fulham. |
| Annotation | There is evidence that older patients with alcohol problems may not be seen by psychiatric services, either because they do not present, or because their alcohol problem is not detected. Even those who are found to have alcohol problems may not receive thorough assessments by old age psychiatrists. To test this hypothesis, the authors looked at referrals to the old age psychiatric service at St Charles' Hospital in West London over a 9 year period. 102 of the referrals (5%) had a diagnosis of disorders due to alcohol, were younger, and more likely to be male than general referrals to the service. 41% of them also had a diagnosis of dementia. Examination of the notes of 61 patients showed that only 28% had a collateral history taken and half the sample had a physical examination. Less than half had blood tests (39%). Of the whole group, 33% were referred to social services and 10% were referred to alcohol services. These findings support the hypothesis that older patients are not fully assessed by old age psychiatric services, and suggest that more attention should be paid to this vulnerable group. (RH). |
| Accession Number | CPA-001018220 A |
| Classmark | ETA: LP: 4C: 82LE |
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing |
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| ...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing. |
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