To determine the characteristics of adult patients referred to a Liaison Psychiatry service in a general teaching hospital in London, UK with 950 inpatient adult beds.

All referrals for adult inpatient psychiatric consultation made during a period of 9 months were reviewed; those that involved a patient with a diagnosis of diabetes were analysed. Descriptive statistics were used; data were collected on demographic characteristics and physical and mental health parameters, including type of diabetes, number of years since diabetes diagnosis, glycaemic control, presence of diabetes-related complications, reason for Psychiatry consultation request, psychiatric diagnosis, psychotropic medication, frequency of admissions to general hospital, psychiatric risk issues and outcome of psychiatric consultation.

Pilot results indicate that 30 diabetic patients were referred for a psychiatric consultation in 9 months. Of those, 9 had type 1 diabetes, 17 had type 2 diabetes and 1had pre-diabetes 3 were unknown. 13 were male and 17 were female; the median age was 46 (range 18 to 68); the ethnicities were 6 White, 15 Black, 1 Asian and 8 other.

Diabetes-related complications were present in 77% (retinopathy 10%, kidney disease 27%, neuropathy 13%, diabetic foot 16%). 6% had comorbid cardiovascular disease. 10% were on dialysis and 3% had had amputations.

The main reason for referral for psychiatric consultation was low mood and self harm; other reasons were recurrent DKA, anxiety and self neglect. Psychiatric risk issues included 20% risk of self-harm/suicide; 13% risk of violence; 10 risk of self-neglect. The outcomes of liaison psychiatry consultation were: 30% received an assessment that led to recommendations to the general medical team and did not require further psychiatric input; 27% received continued psychiatric follow-up during the admission. With regards to treatment, 36% had psychiatric treatment (including medication) reviewed; 47% received general treatment recommendations, including recommendations for new laboratory or radiological investigations or change in level of nursing care. 20% required transfer to an inpatient psychiatric unit, with 33% discharged to care of community mental health.

Our findings indicate the scope of practice for a Liaison Psychiatry service with regards to adult hospital inpatients with diabetes. Our data suggest that patients with type 2 diabetes are the majority of inpatients with diabetes that require psychiatric consultations, and that the majority of those are patients already known to psychiatric services due to long-term severe mental disorders, particularly schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder or bipolar disorder. Most of those patients have medical comorbidities and severe diabetes-related complications. Patients with type 1 diabetes, despite making up a smaller proportion of referrals for psychiatric consultations, also tend to have recurrent hospital admissions and features of self-neglect.