Several community psychiatry projects have been developed in Lisbon; nevertheless, there are patients whose needs are not fulfilled by the existing structures. For this reason, our institution created a domiciliary care unit (PreTrarCa).

To assess if this program has an impact in admission rates, length of stay and follow-up appointments.

To improve the quality of care provided by PreTrarCA.

All active patients followed by PreTrarCA in 2015 were selected (n = 90); only those with F20 and F31 (ICD-10) diagnoses, admitted to the program after 2013, and who had information regarding duration of illness were chosen (n = 21). A control group with similar characteristics (age, gender, ICD-10 diagnosis, disease duration) was paired to our sample. Information concerning social/demographic data, disease duration, hospital admissions and appointments, before and after the patients started the program was retrospectively collected. All data and statistical analyses were performed via SPSS program.

Our patients were mostly female (n = 12); mean age 54,92; 10 and 11 had F-20 and F-31 diagnosis respectively. The test patients had fewer admissions (P = 0.027). No statistical significance was found concerning number of appointments, missed appointments or length of stay, between the groups before or after the patients had started the program.

Results suggest that domiciliary care may reduce costs associated with mental health care due to a decrease in admission rates. Our sample was paired to a similar group, which can account for the similar length of stay in both groups. Further studies should take into account other confounding variables.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.