On Friday 22/01/2021, the inauguration of the new University Psychiatric Clinic (UPK) of the Department of Nursing of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, took place, at the “Aghioi Anargyroi” General and Cancer Hospital. The clinic was inaugurated by the Deputy Minister of Health, with responsibilities for mental health and addictions, Zoe Rapti, in the presence of the Rector of NKUA Professor Thanos Dimopoulos, and the Dean of the School of Health Sciences Professor Hara Spiliopoulou. The Director of the Clinic, Professor George Alevizopoulos, presented the history of the establishment and the prospects of the new Clinic.
The creation of the clinic is the result of an effort of almost a decade. The idea for such a clinic, came from the time-honored findings of research, which show that patients with severe psychiatric illnesses have a significant lower life expectancy than the general population, even after the exclusion of suicide deaths. The main causes of death remain the same as those of the general population, such as e.g. cardiovascular diseases. It is considered that one of the main aggravating factors, is the inadequate and unequal provision of care between the general and this special population, when both populations suffer from the same physical diseases.
The idea was initially adopted in 2013 by the Ministry of Health and was after that actively supported, with the issuance of the relevant legislation from the Rectorate of NKUA. The governments that followed supported the project, solving a series of problems that arose and finally became a reality, only in 2020, with the constant and effective support of the Hospital Management. This was followed by its rapid reconstruction, with resources mainly from the Ministry of Health as well as resources from research programs, of the faculty members of the clinic.
The U.P.C. is a clinic focused on Dual and Multiple Diagnoses with a capacity of 15 beds. It is fully digitized and has the infrastructure for immediate treatment of any acute medical condition, other than psychiatric illness, as well as the support of other clinics of the general hospital. The only prerequisite for hospitalization in it, is that the patient suffers from a serious psychiatric disorder, in an acute phase, and at the same time from one or more physical illnesses or conditions, which cannot be treated in a general psychiatric clinic. Of course, such a clinic could only be set up in a general hospital, which can support the full range of co-morbidities. The clinic is unique in Greece and one of the few corresponding internationally.
Its inclusion in the on-call duty of the NHS, concerns on-call 24 hours a day, accepting referrals and transfers from other psychiatric or general hospitals for patients who will meet the conditions mentioned above. It would be an omission, not to mention, that within the framework of U.P.C., there is a University Mental Health Centre that, in the near future, will expand its activities to the special interests of U.P.C. with an ultimate goal, to develop primary day care facilities, that will be able to operate under the supervision of highly trained nurses.
Our primary aims are to provide a high level of health services provided to psychiatric patients with more than one diagnoses, to acquire relevant know-how and impart it to younger colleagues, as well as research that will contribute to a better understanding of the factors that lead psychiatric patients to be one of the most vulnerable groups of patients in health care systems globally.
