Partnerships in mental health are possible without multidisciplinary teams [letter]

In the United Kingdom a generic specialist multidisciplinary mental health service for children and adolescents at tier 3 with teaching responsibilities providing evidence based interventions for 0-17 year olds would need a minimum of 20 whole time equivalents per 100 000 population. In the university hospital in Ibadan Nigeria one child psychiatrist serves a population of three million without the support of a multidisciplinary team. This situation creates tremendous frustrations but it also actively encourages creativity through the forging of links with schools religious organisations and other child services. The lean resources seem to propel practitioners to push ahead and surmount obstacles. (excerpt)