Health And Social Care Level 3 Unit 14

Practitioners and Provisions
There are a number of practitioners and provisions that are available for people with schizophrenia and generalized anxiety disorder. These practitioners and provisions have different routes of access; this includes professional referral, self referral and third party referral. Professional referral means when a professional such as a general practitioner (G.P) refers you to a specialist or to another service which would benefit the patient more for the condition. Self referral is where the person who wants to access a service will attend themselves such as booking an appointment to see the G.P. Third party referral is where a family member or a friend will refer the person to a service such as making an appointment on their behalf.
General practitioner
General practitioners (G.Ps) are based at your local surgery or practice. General practitioners are often the first point of contact
for people who suffer from schizophrenia or general anxiety disorder and for most medical services.
GPs provide a complete variety of care within the local community: dealing with problems that often combine physical, psychological and social components. They increasingly work in teams with other professions, helping patients to take responsibility for their own health. GPs call on an extensive knowledge of medical and mental health conditions; such as schizophrenia and generalized anxiety disorder, GPs will then be able to assess a problem and decide on the appropriate course of action. They know how and when to intervene, through treatment, prevention and education, to promote the health of their patients and families. Many patients who experience psychotic symptoms consult their GP which therefore is putting the GP in a prime position to identify the problem early and make a prompt referral. The two main facets to early detection a GP will follow is: identifying individuals with prodromal symptoms before the
emergence of frank psychosis; and recognizing early or incipient psychotic symptoms. GPs will then therefore carry out a prodromal assessment which involves Schizophrenia cannot be diagnosed on the basis of prodromal symptoms alone because these are non-specific. They include impaired concentration, anxiety, depression, irritability, rebelliousness, social withdrawal, loss of interest or motivation, impaired function at school or work, deteriorating self-care, somatic complaints, restlessness, self-injury or suicide attempts, alcohol and drug abuse, emotional liability, and uncharacteristic aggression or poor impulse control. Also, it is important to note that the odd ideas or perceptions and peculiarities of speech or behavior occurring in the prodromal stages of schizophrenia may also occur in normal adolescents. In schizophrenia, such phenomena may be present for two years or more, although usually not longer than 6-12 months, before the onset of psychotic symptoms. If such non-specific problems occur in an adolescent or young adult, they should be taken seriously, the possibility of schizophrenia kept in reasonable perspective, and the patient referred for psychiatric assessment with a letter detailing the main findings. The GP can provide ongoing support to the patient and family while diagnostic uncertainty prevails by acknowledging the problems identified and helping to implement any recommendations made by specialist services. The treatment that a GP will often prescribe a schizophrenic is medication such as antipsychotics to help cope with their symptoms. To access the GP is either by self referral or by third party referral.