Psychiatrist in primary care service (referral)

Overview

The Pinnacle primary care psychiatrist provides Waikato Pinnacle GPs with support and advice to manage mental health conditions in general practice, and to give assistance with comprehensive patient assessments and management.

This is a referral service only. It is not a claimable service.

This is NOT a clinical guideline.

Details

Which practices can refer to this service?

Who is eligible for the service?

Who is excluded from the service?

Accessing this service

This service is during normal business hours only. It is not a crisis service (i.e. if admission to hospital or assessment within 48 hours is required, then the Crisis Assessment and Home Treatment team will need to be contacted via Te Whatu Ora).

Dr Muller’s advice can be accessed by sending a BPAC e-referral and ticking the box for "Request for non-urgent advice from primary care psychiatrist". A brief paragraph that specifies your clinical question or difficulty you are having is very helpful in ensuring the advice you receive meets your needs.

Dr Muller can also be contacted via phone during working hours for advice that is either more pressing, or requires a discussion.

If you phone for advice, please also send Dr Muller a brief BPAC referral that includes a copy of your consultation note and summary of the agreed recommendations discussed, as he may have additional information to add.

Dr Muller is not able to offer patient consultations in this role.

Secondary Care continues to be the referral destination for severe mental illness (e.g. severe depression, psychosis and mania) beyond the capability of primary care.

How is the service funded?

Also available under

Mental health and wellbeing

View all programmes →

Co-response team (CRT) redirect

This service is designed to support a co-response team where mental health clinicians, kaimahi Māori, Police and St John will work together when responding to mental health emergency calls.

Learn more

ICCT – physical and transition of care pathway for patients with long term mental illness

The service focuses on collaboration between the patient, their GP and mental health providers to remove barriers for these patients to access primary care, and to assist the patient to reach a stage where they are able to self-fund their primary care.