Psychiatrists in primary care: would general practitioners welcome them?

During the spring of 1988 a postal questionnaire was sent to all general practitioners in one health district, enquiring about their present links with psychiatrists and asking for their views on the desirability of psychiatrists visiting their surgeries regularly. At present only a minority of general practitioners have a regular link of this kind but a substantial majority would welcome such an arrangement. The type of link most commonly desired is one in which the general practitioner shares actively in the assessment and treatment of the patient. A degree of ambivalence about the role of other mental health professionals was detected.