Integrating mental health services for older people in England - from rhetoric to reality

The provision of integrated, person-centred care is particularly important for older people with mental health problems. Nevertheless, a series of reports at the end of the last century highlighted unacceptable differences in collaborative working practices in England, variations that a national service framework specifically aimed to address. This study utilized a cross-sectional survey of old age psychiatrists to explore the extent to which, some three years after the publication of this guidance, structures to deliver integrated care across the interfaces between specialist old age mental health and primary, acute and social care services were in place. Three hundred and eighteen (72%) consultants responded. Measures to facilitate integrated practice were generally poorly developed: many areas missed targets to agree protocols for the management of older people with mental health problems with primary care; more than 45% of respondents reported the presence of fewer than two of four indicators of integration with the acute sector; and approaching 30% of respondents reported the presence of fewer than four of 13 markers of integration with social care. The implications of these findings and the challenges inherent in providing integrated care for this client group are discussed.