Liaison Psychiatry. Planning Services for Specialist Settings Robert Peveler, Eleanor Feldman, Trevor Friedman, London: Gaskell. 2001. 216 pp. £30.00 (pb). ISBN: 1-901 242-47-1

As the focus of psychiatry has moved from hospitals to the community, the speciality of liaison psychiatry has developed to meet the psychological needs of patients in the general hospital. However, there is a risk that neither acute nor mental health trusts see liaison psychiatry as a priority in the competition for resources. Indeed, despite College recommendations, there are many general hospitals without a dedicated liaison psychiatry service.

This book is an important weapon in the battle for funding. The first chapter sets the scene by detailing how to compile a case of need for service development. This is supplemented by practical tips, such as the importance of personal and professional relationships in making a bid. I would also have welcomed an example of a (successful?) business plan to illustrate the advice given.

The book goes on to describe the role of liaison psychiatry in a number of general hospital departments, such as the pain clinic, intensive care unit and maternity wards. In discussing the high psychiatric workload of the accident and emergency department, David Storer refutes the misconception that liaison psychiatry is an ‘optional extra’. Other chapters illustrate how this argument applies throughout the hospital.

The book goes further than its title in describing common problems faced by a liaison psychiatry service. I particularly recommend Eleanor Feldman's chapter on the use of the Mental Health Act and common law in the general hospital as a clear distillation of a potentially confusing topic.

The final chapter returns to the biggest obstacle to service development in liaison psychiatry, the issue of ‘who pays?’. Both the mental health trust and the acute trust may see it as the responsibility of the other to fund a liaison psychiatry service in a general hospital.

The book highlights the danger that physical illness may be a barrier to general hospital patients receiving good mental health care. Despite having a high level of psychological morbidity, this is a neglected population. Liaison Psychiatry will help those who seek to fulfil one of the key aims of the National Service Framework for Mental Health in providing comprehensive mental health care for all.