Comparison was made of patterns of referral of first admissions to psychiatric hospital in a city in the North of England. The groups compared were: native-born, New Commonwealth-born and foreign-born. Police and social workers were involved in the referral of New Commonwealth-born to a significantly greater extent than with the other groups. This finding applied across the range of diagnostic categories, and was not necessarily associated with compulsory admission. It was hypothesized that the pattern was associated with the concentration of immigrants in inner-city districts; this was not supported. Emergency admissions from the casualty ward of a general hospital were rare among immigrants for the New Commonwealth. It is suggested that general practitioners tend routinely to call social workers to admissions of cultural minorities. The reasons for police involvement are more complex. © 1980 Pergamon Press Ltd.

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hospital admission central nervous system immigrant schizophrenia human Ethnic Groups geographic distribution Paranoid Disorders Great Britain bipolar disorder Mental Disorders Adolescent male female patient referral Referral and Consultation therapy adult ethnic or racial aspects mental hospital Emigration and Immigration Middle Age Hospitals, Psychiatric