Urgent Psychiatric Consultation Program

This is a zone wide community program that is currently located at Anderson Hall, which is on the footprint of the Royal Alexander Hospital. The Urgent Psychiatric Consultation Clinic is part of a broader program known as Access 24/7.  This is a unique clinic that offers 24/7 care to individuals requiring care and connection to our broader community addiction and mental health programs.

The Urgent Psychiatric Consultation Clinic (UPCC) provides assessments for patients who self-present or are referred by a primary care or other community provider. The clinic works collaboratively with Centralized Intake, Stabilization, PACT (Police and Crisis teams), Crisis, RPACT (RCMP and Crisis teams) and CREMs (EMS and Crisis) as part of a Unified Urgent Addiction and Mental Health Service.

Patients assessed in the UPCC are subsequently either connected to a community addiction and mental health program, where ongoing care/treatment is provided based on identified psychological and biological needs, or they are discharged back to the care of their primary care provider with treatment recommendations.

Patients who are acutely unwell are offered short term follow-up by the stabilization team.  Follow up will be provided till the short-term goals identified are obtained and then, they are transitioned back to their community care provider and/or a new provider is identified.  Standardized rating scales are incorporated into assessment of patients seen at UPCC.

The clinic has support of a multidisciplinary team that consists of:

  • Pharmacist: who review’s the medication profile of complex patients prior to the Psychiatric Consultation and offers advice to psychiatrist around medication options based on patient’s profile.
  • Nurses
  • Social workers
  • Peer and Family Peer support workers
  • Addiction Counsellors
  • Mental Health Therapists

This is a rare opportunity for Psychiatry and Family Medicine Residents, and medical students to assess and discuss treatment options for patients with a range of acute mental health conditions and to gain experience into multi-disciplinary team working within addiction and mental health services.  There is also the opportunity to participate in quality improvement projects and research.