Redefining old age psychiatry—a pragmatic approach

Comparison of service utilisation and costs of working age adults and older adults receiving treatment for psychosis and severe non‐psychotic conditions in England: implications for commissioning

“…Ideally, tariffs would go beyond a two‐tier structure that reflects the potential additional complexities of treating older people to reflect individual patient differences. In fact, it has been suggested that the definition of older adult psychiatry in the United Kingdom might now be defined by needs‐led criteria reflecting complexity, rather than the traditional passing of a 65th birthday (Rajenthran et al, ). But in practice, a pragmatic solution is needed, and an appropriate age‐related tariff for each cluster would be fairer than the proposed uniform reimbursement.…”

Wither old age psychiatry?

“…These were designed after extensive stakeholder consultation and ratified at our last executive. The hope is that they may help to overcome the definitional issues that have contributed to the erosion of the discipline (Rajenthran et al , 2013). The new criteria are: People of any age with a primary dementia. People with mental disorder and physical illness or frailty which contributes to, or complicates the management of their mental illness.…”

The importance of psychiatry of old age

“…3 The threat of the development of ageless mental health services and potential disintegration of POA services has prompted our UK colleagues to clarify their criteria of POA services. 4 Recently, the RANZCP Faculty of POA also decided to revise the core entry criteria for a POA service:…”