Involuntary hospitalisations in 2000 according to German PsychKG in the city of Hannover

Objective: To examine for one year which psychiatric services are involved in involuntary hospitalisations according to PsychKG (German law concerning psychiatric practice) in the City of Hannover. Method: All available data within the health administration of the former city and former county of Hannover of compulsory admissions in the year 2000 were evaluated. Results: In 2000, 524 patients were involuntary admitted to psychiatric hospitals according to the data of the health administration of the city of Hannover. The two major diagnoses were schizophrenia or substance addiction of involuntarily admitted patients, most hospitalisation were documented for Fridays, the most frequent time was between 9 and 1 hour p.m. The services in Hannover which dealt most with involuntary admissions were the either physicians of ,,KV (Kassenarztliche Vereinigung, the German physicians organisation who is in charge of the treatment of all patients for non-private health insurances) or the physicians of the psychiatric departments of the Hannover Medical School. Conclusions: The major provider of psychiatric assistence for compulsory admissions within the City of Hannover are the physicians of the KV and the psychiatric departments of the Hannover Medical School.