summary
background In the last few years mental healthcare has had to become increasingly accountable to health insurance companies, the government and patient groups with regard to the efficacy, appropriateness and patient-friendliness of the care provided. Routine outcome assessment, based on various measuring instruments, is likely to become more and more frequent in the years to come.
aim To assess whether the Health of the Nation Outcome Scales for elderly people (HoNOS65+) can be successfully implemented within a psychiatric unit for older persons, whether the instrument is suitable for use in clinical practice and whether it provides an adequate picture of the older population in general.
method The implementation phase consisted of training 51 social workers within the various sections of the unit. The trained social workers used the HoNOS65+ with 387 patients from various units for older persons within Lentis.
results The social workers found the HoNOS65+ to be a useful instrument and for each treatment setting and diagnosis it differentiated significantly between types of behaviour problems, symptoms and social problems.
conclusion The HoNOS65+ can be used profitably with individual patients and patient groups and it highlights the problems in relevant areas of psychiatry for older persons.