COMPARING A COMMUNITY MENTAL HEALTH TEAM IN BEDFORD (UK) WITH COMMUNITY MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES IN PERUGIA (ITALY): DESCRIPTION OF TEAMS AND CASELOADS

Introduction: The aim of our work is to evaluate and compare some of the key indicators that characterize one English Community Health team (Bedford), two Italian Mental Health Services, in Bastia and Magione, and one University Hospital Mental Health Service, in Perugia. Our work was conducted on the basis of a collaboration between Cambridge University (UK) and the University of Perugia (Italy). Subjects and methods: We analyzed and described the teams supplying information about the number of psychiatrists, types of staff and populations in the catchment areas. Furthermore, we analyzed their caseloads, referring to the epidemiologic features and the diagnostic aspects. We considered the population that were referred to the services in February 2013. Results: There are some differences between the organization of the teams and the caseloads of the Community Mental Health Services in Italy and in England and between the community health services and the hospital service. As for the diagnostic aspects, Mood Disorders seem to be the most frequent diagnosis in each service (Bedford 53.8%, Perugia 48%, Magione 45%, Bastia 38%). Conclusions: The World Health Organisation identifies strong links between mental health status and development for individuals, communities and countries. In order to improve the mental health of the population, countries need effective and accessible treatment, prevention, and promotion programs. Achieving adequate support for mental health in any country requires a unified and shared approach. Little research has been done to describe the Mental Health Services in the different countries of the world, consequently more studies are needed to assess the improvements in the mental health system in relation to the services available for the population. In our study, according to the literature, we detected that mood disorders are the most frequent cause of referral to mental health services in all the populations studied.