Aim: To describe principles and characteristics of mental health care in Rome.
Method: Based on existing data, service provision, number of professionals working in services, funding arrangements, pathways to care, user/carer involvement and specific issues are reported.
Results: After the Italian psychiatric reform of 1978, an extensive network of community-based services has been set up in Rome providing prevention, care and rehabilitation in mental health. A number of small public acute/emergency inpatient units inside general hospitals was created (median length of stay in 2002 = 8 days) to accomplish the shift from a hospital-based to a community-based psychiatric system of care. Some private structures provide inpatient assistance for less acute conditions (median length of stay in 2002 = 28 days), whilst the large Roman psychiatric hospital was closed in 1999.
Discussion: Whilst various issues of mental health care in Rome overlap with those in other European capitals, there also are some specific problems and features. During the last two decades, the mental health system in Rome has been successfully converted to a community-based one. Present issues concern a qualitative approach, with an increasing need to foresee adequate evaluation, especially considering mental health patients' satisfaction with services and economic outcomes.