Aspects of mental health care provision of the elderly in Switzerland

In Switzerland the majority of elderly persons with psychiatric disorders live in their own families or in their own community and receive – if necessary – support by professional care services. The demographic development, the multi-dimensional nature of the care of the elderly, and the complexity of the in-patient and out-patient provision of services necessitates a specifically interdisciplinary approach involving medical, geriatric, and geronto-psychiatric concepts and interventions. Strategies adopted to ensure a high standard of care provision must be coordinated at the appropriate levels of responsibility which include the federal, the cantonal, and the communal levels. A further basic necessity is the inclusion of patients, their families, special interest groups, and advocacy groups especially in the treatment of dementia disorders.