Pitigala, NirupamalZeng, IreneNarayanan, NishanthCullum, SarahNg, Lillian2024-11-122024-11-122024-05-09Australasian Psychiatry, ISSN: 1039-8562 (Print); 1440-1665 (Online), SAGE Publications, 32(4), 336-341. doi: 10.1177/103985622412519991039-85621440-1665http://hdl.handle.net/10292/18284AIM: To review the baseline and clinical characteristics of patients referred to a New Zealand Early Psychosis Intervention (EPI) service across a 4-year timeframe. METHOD: We compared two cohorts, and identified variables associated with being accepted or declined, and reasons for decline, by an EPI service between 2013 and 2017. RESULTS: There were 576 people with suspected psychosis referred to the EPI service for assessment: 300 (52%) were accepted, 221 (38%) declined and 55 (10%) were not processed. Reasons for being declined by EPI services were a long duration of psychosis (DUP, 48%) and no evidence of psychosis (47%). There were no significant differences between the accepted and declined group in Emergency Department presentations for self-harm or suicide attempts and acute admissions to a psychiatric inpatient unit over the 3-year follow-up period. CONCLUSION: To optimise the identification of true positive cases, EPI services require clear entry criteria. Replicating this study in other EPI services with different entry criteria may provide evidence to develop a more uniform screening process. Improved outcomes may be enhanced by measuring effectiveness and liaising with other EPI services.© The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists 2024. Creative Commons License (CC BY 4.0). This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) which permits any use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the Sage and Open Access page (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage).https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/early interventionpsychosisscreeningearly interventionpsychosisscreening4203 Health Services and Systems42 Health Sciences52 PsychologyClinical ResearchMental HealthSerious Mental IllnessMental IllnessHealth ServicesPreventionBrain DisordersMental health3 Good Health and Well Being11 Medical and Health Sciences17 Psychology and Cognitive SciencesPsychiatry32 Biomedical and clinical sciences42 Health sciences52 PsychologyHumansPsychotic DisordersMaleReferral and ConsultationFemaleAdultNew ZealandEarly Medical InterventionYoung AdultMental Health ServicesPatient Acceptance of Health CareFollow-Up StudiesSuicide, AttemptedAdolescentHumansFollow-Up StudiesSuicide, AttemptedPsychotic DisordersMental Health ServicesAdolescentAdultReferral and ConsultationPatient Acceptance of Health CareNew ZealandFemaleMaleYoung AdultEarly Medical InterventionHumansPsychotic DisordersMaleReferral and ConsultationFemaleAdultNew ZealandEarly Medical InterventionYoung AdultMental Health ServicesPatient Acceptance of Health CareFollow-Up StudiesSuicide, AttemptedAdolescentJournal ArticleOpenAccess10.1177/10398562241251999