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Cited by 27Psychiatric care and mental health servicesHealthcare Decision-Making and RestraintsHealthcare Quality and Management

The use of the Health of the Nation Outcome Scales (HoNOS) to inform discharge and transfer decisions in community mental health services

Open access
Prowse, Liz, Coombs, Tim·2009·Australian Health Review
DOI 10.1071/ah090013
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Abstract

Discharge from public community mental health services has proven difficult for mental health workers and managers. Mental illness can often be long term, with ongoing disability, requiring a need for corresponding long-term care. Community mental health services are now becoming recovery focused and are recognising the need for alternative management arrangements for individuals with long-term care needs. There are, however few tools to assist in the decision making about discharge or transfer of care between community mental health teams. This article describes a quality improvement project to develop a flag for mental health workers to prompt decisions regarding discharge and transfer using the Health of the Nation Outcome Scales (HoNOS). Relevant literature and HoNOS data collected as part of routine clinical practice were reviewed to develop the flag. The implementation process is described along with plans for future developments.

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  • Research from Prowse and Coombs found a cut-off of 12 as indicative of the need for intensive psychiatric care.

    “this finding matches research from Prowse and Coombs [33] that found a cut-off of 12 as being indicative of the need for intensive psychiatric care.”

    From Blended care in in-patient acute psychiatric care. The example of a group training for social competences in adults—A pretest–posttest feasibility study (2021) · cites this paper as [33]

    In Models of Care, Prowse and Coombs propose a HoNOS score below 12 as a prompt to consider transferring someone from intensive Mobile Assertive Care to lower-intensity shared care. They propose a score above 14—not 12—as the prompt to consider transfer into intensive care. These are local decision-making flags, not a finding that a score of 12 establishes a need for intensive psychiatric care. (LLM, conf=0.87)

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Cites

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Research works printed but not linked: 1

  1. Wing JK, Beevor AS, Curtis RH, et al. Health of the Nation Outcome Scales (HoNOS). Br J Psychiatry 1998; 172: 11-18.

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Related

Authors
Prowse, L., & Coombs, T.
Affiliations
  • Flinders Medical Centre (AU)
  • New South Wales Institute of Psychiatry (AU)
ORCID
Coombs, Tim
Venue
Australian Health Review
Publisher
CSIRO Publishing
Published
2009-02-01
Volume
33
Issue
1
Pages
13-18
ISSN
  • 0156-5788 (ISSN-L)
  • 1449-8944
DOI
10.1071/ah090013
OpenAlex
W2072903251
Cited by
27
References
8
Citations by year
2026: 4 · 2025: 1 · 2024: 1 · 2021: 1 · 2020: 1 · 2019: 1 · 2018: 1 · 2017: 1 · 2016: 2 · 2015: 1 · 2014: 1 · 2013: 1 · 2012: 7
FWCI
3.90
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Australian Health Review (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Funders
Flinders University
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Psychiatric care and mental health services
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Healthcare Decision-Making and Restraints
  • Health Sciences › Health Professions › Health Information Management › Healthcare Quality and Management
Keywords
Health of the Nation Outcome Scales, discharge decisions, care transitions, community mental health services, long-term care, recovery-oriented care, clinical decision support, quality improvement, mental health professionals, outcome measurement
MeSH terms
Australia, Community Mental Health Services, Health Status Indicators, Patient Discharge, Patient Transfer, Psychiatric Status Rating Scales, Quality Assurance, Health Care, Decision Support Systems, Clinical

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