Program Description & Referral Forms

 

To Referring Physician or Health Care professional,

Thank you for referring your patient to the BC Neuropsychiatry Program.

The program consists of two components: Outpatient Clinic and the Inpatient Program. Descriptions of these programs can be found in the "BCNP Program Description" PDF. The outpatient program is sited at UBC Hospital while the inpatient units are located at UBC Hospital in Vancouver (acute assessment and diagnostic unit) and Royal Inland Hospital, Hillside Centre in Kamloops (sub-acute behavioural stabilization unit).

Please note that we are a tertiary provincial program and service all of BC. We take care of the full spectrum of adult neuropsychiatric disorders. We generally do not see patients with neurodevelopmental disorders nor patients under 18 year or over 75 years old. We also do not see patients with an active substance use disorder, patients in litigation for medicolegal consultations nor patients who are referred for primarily neuropsychological assessment.

The demand for this tertiary provincial service far exceeds our capacity (500 referrals in 2018). To be fair and equitable, we screen and triage all referrals at a weekly meeting to ensure that they have failed to improve after being assessed and treated by their local and regional outpatient and inpatient services and that their conditions are consistent with our mandate.

All patients must be under the care of a treating community psychiatrist, mental health team or on an inpatient psychiatric unit that will accept the patient back after we have completed our assessment/treatment. This policy is to ensure a flow through of patients and that our outpatient consultants and inpatient beds remain available for patients on our waitlists.

We provide the following services:

  1. Telephone consultation with the treating psychiatrist.
  2. Single outpatient consultation.
  3. Inpatient admission from an outpatient setting with a return to the community treating psychiatrist for ongoing care.
  4. Transfer from an inpatient psychiatric unit in another hospital to our inpatient neuropsychiatric unit with a return agreement if hospitalization is still needed and with follow-up with a preadmission identified community psychiatrist.

Given the volume of our referrals, we are in most cases not able to provide ongoing community care and rely on community psychiatrists to continue to follow the patient. We remain available to the community treating psychiatrist to provide follow-up assessments and offer further treatment suggestions on an as-needed basis by telephone or a videoconference platform in the event that further input is required.

If your patient is accepted into the Program, he or she will be assigned to one of the treatment settings listed above, depending on the clinical issue. Outpatients are assigned to a physician according to the physician's area of expertise and the length of the physician's waitlist.

We will notify your office following the triage meeting. Accepted outpatients will be notified by the doctor’s office where your patient is assigned. 

For outpatients, the treating community psychiatrist or mental health team should be responsible for making the referral. For current inpatients the inpatient unit must agree to accept the patient back after we have completed our evaluation and a return agreement is in place. All relevant prior neurological and psychiatric consultations, and neurodiagnostic studies (such as EEGs, CTs, MRIs) must be included with the referral.

IN ORDER FOR US TO ADEQUATELY ASSESS YOUR PATIENT FOR OUR PROGRAM, PLEASE COMPLETE AND SIGN THE REFERRAL FORM, THE CHECK LIST, INCLUDE THE REQUESTED CONSULTATIONS AND SPECIAL INVESTIGATION REPORTS.

We apologize in advance for potentially lengthy wait times and our inability to see all patients referred to our program. These ongoing difficulties are directly due to the volume demand for our services.

Yours sincerely,
Trevor A. Hurwitz
Medical Director  BC Neuropsychiatry Program
Clinical Professor, Department of Psychiatry, University of British Columbia
MBChB, MRCP(UK) , FRCP(C) psychiatry, FRCP(C) neurology
Diplomate in psychiatry ABNP, Diplomate in neurology ABNP
Diplomate Neuropsychiatry and Behavioral Neurology UCNS

 

Please read the following PDF for program description and criteria used in the triage process:
BCNP Program Description

Referral package must be completed in its entirety.
BCNP Outpatient Referral Package (March 2024 update)

BCNP Inpatient Referral Package (June 2024 update)

 

Resources

Somatoform Brochure - General information for patients about somatoform disorders (special thanks to Dr. Howard).