[Dementia and psychiatric service]

The study objective was to describe the service provision in geriatric psychiatry in 1997 and the trends in admission patterns for the elderly to psychiatric hospitals in Denmark from 1988 to 1996. Information concerning admission pattern was obtained from the Danish Psychiatric Case Register. The information on the supply of geriatric psychiatric services was collected by a questionnaire to the individual geriatric psychiatric departments. All geriatric psychiatric departments in Denmark have been identified. The number of demented patients admitted to psychiatric hospitals decreased considerably as did the length of stay for demented patients admitted from 1988 to 1996. For all other diagnoses the number of admissions increased in the same period. Four counties out of 14 did not have a special unit for geriatric psychiatry. There were considerable geographical variations in supply as well as target groups in the counties that supplied geriatric psychiatric service. The unequal access to geriatric psychiatric services and variations in target groups underlines the need for a discussion of future directions for this service provision.