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Informing Policy
Primary Care
The key role of primary care
It is from psychiatric epidemiological studies that the full magnitude, scale and burden of the non-psychotic disorders become fully apparent. The non-psychotic disorders, otherwise known as minor psychiatric morbidity, the neuroses or the common mental disorders are extremely common. Most people with mental disorders will need to be seen and cared for by members of the primary health care unit. The consequences of inaction in primary care are great including repeated general practitioner consultation, sickness absence, labour turnover reduced productivity and impact on families and children.
In the development of policy on primary care of mental illness it is important to have epidemiological data about the pathways to care of people with mental disorders, to examine the existing primary care system, its staffing, its system of basic and continuing training for each of the professional groups involved and the existing system of information collection from primary care.