Evidence consistently demonstrates that people with long-term mental health conditions develop serious physical comorbidities at an earlier age than the average population. These physical comorbidities are often exacerbated because long-term psychiatric conditions reduce the patient's ability to manage somatic symptoms effectively, thus hindering treatment. This highlights the critical importance of continuous support by primary care physicians and nursing staff. People with persistent mental illnesses typically require long-term care significantly earlier than people without mental illness.

As a consequence, elderly patients with chronic mental illnesses who are essentially unable or unprepared to function in the outside world or are in need of constant medical attention are typically placed into long-term care facilities and nursing homes geared to serving physically disabled elderly.

These LTC institutions have no capacity to provide specific care for mentally ill patients. Difficulties in treating psychiatric patients in these LTC facilities often result in transfers to and repeated admissions in acute psychiatric hospitals.

In an effort to resolve the “revolving-door” situation of these patients and reduce the rates of re-admission to acute psychiatric hospitals, Modell Donaustadt was developed. In the talk, Modell Donaustadt will be presented as a best practice example for the treatment of mental and physical comorbidities in long-term care.