HELSE 9 00 VEST - Helse Fonna

1. Summary
The Norwegian Knowledge Centre for the Health Services conducted the second national
survey among general practitioners’ (GP) assessment of community mental
health centres in the autumn of 2008. The previous survey was conducted in 2006.
In 2008 eighty centres participated in the survey and a total of 2,209 GPs answered
the questionnaire.
The survey shows that GPs are most satisfied with the quality of the discharge letters,
competence at the centres, and the centres sensitivity to the GPs’ assessments.
The national results show that 54% in large or very large degree perceived the quality
of the discharge letters from the local centre to be of good quality, 50% in large or
very large degree meant the centre has good professional competence, and 52% perceived
that the local centre was sensitive to the GPs’ assessments.
The survey also showed that the centres have several areas with improvement potential.
According to GPs this especially relates to cooperative meetings and guidance,
number of doctors at the centres and feedback from the centres to the GP during
treatment processes. The national results show that 68% of the GPs meant that the
centre in little degree or not at all offer organized guidance and professional seminars
of good quality, while 59 % in little degree or not at all has cooperative meetings
with the centre. 56% of the GPs responded that they in little degree or not at all received
necessary feedback from the centre during treatment processes, while 50 %
responded that the centre in little degree or not at all has good doctor coverage.
The results for the health enterprises and the centres in 2008 are compared on six
scales: emergency situations, guidance, competence, workforce situation, discharge
letter and waiting time. There are substantial differences in scores on these scales
between the health enterprises and between the centres, especially for workforce
situation and guidance.
A comparison of survey results from 2008 and 2006 show small changes. However,
the national result for the guidance scale was significantly higher in 2008; three
points higher on a scale from 0 to 100 where 100 is best. In addition, the GPs general
satisfaction with the centres has a two point significant improvement. There are
few significant changes in scale scores for regions and health enterprises, but a lot of
changes at the centre level for guidance and workforce situation.
4 1. Summary