Study of psychiatric admission patterns before and after out-patient psychotherapy in a district service setting

There is a need for evidence to demonstrate the clinical and economic effectiveness of psychotherapy as a component of mental health service delivery. A naturalistic cohort study was carried out in a specialist psychotherapy department in a district mental health service. Thirty‐six patients were identified with hospital admissions in the study period who had also received a course of outpatient psychotherapy. There was a significant decrease in hospital in‐patient usage temporally associated with receipt of psychotherapy and associated cost savings. Out‐patient psychotherapy leads to less in‐patient bed usage and significant health‐care savings among previously hospitalized psychiatric patients (approximately £6700 per patient).