Psychiatric emergencies in an urban borough.

An analysis is presented of all emergency calls made in one year, "out of hours," to local authority mental health social workers as part of a comprehensive psychiatric service in an urban community. Of 212 calls received, more related to men than women, and in both sexes the peak age group was 40 to 49 years; 72% of referrals were in the psychosis or personality disorder diagnostic groups. A minority of cases referred had symptoms of only recent onset, and 70% of all calls related to patients previously known to the local services.