In a recent survey of the psychiatric outpatient services at three Manchester Hospitals (Johnson, 1973), the diagnoses, treatments and disposals of new patients were discussed. The survey concentrated on the psychiatrist's role in the out-patient department, whereas in fact two other important viewpoints are involved, that of the referring doctor (usually the general practitioner), and the patient. Despite the importance of these viewpoints they have been largely neglected in the psychiatric literature. Only the study of Kaeser and Cooper (1971) attempts to investigate the out-patient department from all points of view, and their findings are likely to be atypical in certain respects since 60 per cent of their patients sample were referred to an emergency clinic, and dealt with by non-consultant medical staff. The present study attempts to answer the following questions about patients referred to the psychiatric outpatient department of a provincial teaching hospital.