The study focuses on the use of follow-up social services by psychiatric patients following their discharge from a psychiatric hospital. The content solely addresses the issue of client referrals to mental health centres ("MHCs") in the Moravian-Silesian Region after discharge from the Psychiatric Hospital in Opava. The research aims to determine why follow-up social services are underused by individuals discharged from a psychiatric hospital, which factors primarily lead to the unsuccessful follow-up of the patient to an MHC after hospitalisation in a mental health facility, and the main reasons for rehospitalisation of persons with mental health challenges from a community MHC back into a psychiatric hospital. The study is based primarily on information from the internal patient database at the Psychiatric Hospital in Opava for 2023, and on field research in MHCs in the Moravian-Silesian Region - in which interviews with MHC staff and questionnaire surveys with clients of these organisations were conducted. The research survey findings identify gaps in the referring of clients to the MHC, which may include, for example, a client's failure to be within a target group, inadequate health condition, a client's lack of cooperation with the referred MHC, or lack of support of the client's family in the process of service referral. The capacity of mental health centres and regional differences in the availability of these services are also important constraints.

University of Ostrava Faculty of Social Studies Department of Health and Social Studies Ostrava Czech Republic

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