A standardized assessment of patients referred to primary care and hospital psychiatric clinics.

General practice based psychiatric clinics have increased in number in recent years. Case-note and case-register data examining the nature of the psychiatric disorder of the patients seen in this setting have shown contradictory findings. In this study comparison of 113 patients referred to primary care and hospital out-patient clinics is made using standardized clinical and social measures. Our results show that both groups had similar degrees of physical and social dysfunction and comparable levels of psychiatric morbidity. However, in the primary care population there were more women, and schizophreniform psychoses predominated. In the hospital sample affective illnesses and personality disorders were more common. The majority of patients preferred to consult in the primary care setting.