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HoNOS v. GP opinion in a shifted out-patient clinic

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

John R. Taylor  and
Greg Wilkinson
John R. Taylor*
Affiliation:
North Mersey Community Trust, Mossley Hill Hospital, Park Avenue, Liverpool LIS 8BU
Greg Wilkinson
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Royal Liverpool University Hospital Liverpool L69 3BX
*
∗Correspondence
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Abstract

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This study compared the mean change in the total Health of the Nation Outcome Scales (HoNOS) with the general practitioners' (GPs) assessment of clinical improvement and satisfaction, in a shifted psychiatric out-patient clinic. The total HoNOS fell significantly between the first and last appointment, suggesting that it was sensitive to change even in patients with a lower level of morbidity. There was a weak association between change in the total HoNOS and the GPs' assessment of clinical improvement (r=0.4; P=0.06), and a trend towards a greater HoNOS fall in patients that the GPs assessed as having improved clinically (5.3) compared with those the GP thought had not changed (2.5), but this difference was not significant (95% Cl, 6.6 to −1.1). There was no evidence of a relationship between change in HoNOS and GP satisfaction, and no trend towards a greater fall in the HoNOS in cases where the GP was satisfied, despite a lack of improvement being the commonest reason given by GPs for dissatisfaction. The results suggest that the fall in total HoNOS relates to some degree with GPs' own assessment of clinical improvement in their patients, and that the HoNOS may be regarded as useful by GP fundholders.

Type
Original Papers
Information
Psychiatric Bulletin , Volume 21 , Issue 8 , August 1997 , pp. 483 - 485
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright
Copyright © 1997 The Royal College of Psychiatrists

References

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