[Observation of psychogeriatric clients and home care service]

In cooperation with the community mental health care for the elderly clients are assessed in a day hospital of a psychogeriatric nursing home. Time and again, former clients of the day-hospital who have been discharged with a fair prognosis are admitted to a nursing home. This research indicates that it is sometimes hard to carry out the advice of the day-hospital because of insufficient knowledge concerning psychogeriatrics in primary care and homes for the aged, lack of day-care centres for psychogeriatric clients, lack of informal care and the detrimental influence of general hospital admission. Admittance to a nursing home may be prevented when care-providers receive more training in psychogeriatrics, more facilities like day-care centres are available and when the disorders of clients have a strong psychiatric component (compared with clients with cognitive disturbances).