[Assessment of community mental health centres by general practitioners]

General practitioners' evaluation of Community Mental Health Centres (CMHC) has become a part of the Norwegian system of quality indicators. On the basis of a national survey, we present the way in which GPs have assessed the quality of 77 CMHCs.

A questionnaire was posted to every GP in Norway from November 2005 to March 2006. This was followed up with 2-3 reminders and telephone interviews. 2,415 out of 3,704 GPs (65%) responded.

GPs gave highest score for professional competence, the average being 55 on a scale of 0-100, where 100 is best. They gave lowest score for counselling (30) and staff situation (45). The average score given to the various CMHCs varied a lot for all dimensions, the largest difference being for counselling, with the highest average 58 and the lowest 8. There were many significant differences between various CMHCs' scores and the national average. When it came to counselling, the average score for 20 CMHCs was significantly different from that for the other CMHCs.

As GPs are important collaborators and users of the CMHCs, their views are valuable. The present findings need to be discussed. Many of the community mental health centres received all in all positive feedback from the GPs, suggesting that they may have useful experiences to share.