General hospital psychiatric and substance abuse consultation

The objective of the consultation is that the patient receives a timely assessment of their condition and of the necessity of further treatment, produced by the substance abuse or psychiatric special care service. The need for a psychiatric consultation may stem from, for example, an attempted suicide, fluctuating moods, anxiety, life crisis, psychosis or some other symptom that indicates a mental health disorder. The primary objective of a substance abuse consultation is to screen the possible problem users in the early stages and steer them to the appropriate further treatment. In addition to this, substance abuse nurses evaluate the patients, who are heavy users and give them health counselling.

Current Care Guidelines form the basis for the consultation operations.

The services are free of charge to the patient.

The service aims to reply to emergency services consultation requests the same day and to requests from wards within 1 to 7 days. The number of consultation visits per patient is usually 1 to 5. The patients assessed at the consultation clinic are from age 16 to senior citizens.

Prerequisites:

The target group of the consultation are patients in somatic care with various psychological symptoms and/or substance abuse problems.

The service is intended for residents of Helsinki.