[Organization of a psychiatric department in the Hamburg-Eilbek general hospital--a description].

In January 1980 a Psychiatric Department was established at the General Hospital for decentralised psychiatric treatment of inpatients. The article describes the preparatory planning which went into the concept of the Department. First of all, the Hospital is scheduled to look after a district with a population of 110,000. If patients are in need of psychiatric inpatient treatment, they are not selected according to diagnostic or other criteria. In connection with the Federal German Government's "Psychiatric Key Plan" the hospital set up an outpatient department and--financed at its own cost and from own resources--a psychosocial contacting department, a temporary and permanent home, decentralised sociopsychiatric services located in the community itself, and other projects. The article then describes the treatment concept which includes, besides psychosomatic and sociopsychiatric elements, psychotherapeutic aspects as well, the latter having a point of emphasis in group therapy. Finally, the article underlines fundamental concepts regarding the problem of co-operation with a large psychiatric hospital. It is pointed out that it will be necessary to develop a comprehensive treatment concept so that it becomes possible to find out for each patient which type of treatment and care will be most appropriate in his particular case both as regards outpatient and hospital treatment.