Background Studies have shown that the psychiatric burden of progressive and debilitating spectrum of neurological diseases increases the general prevalence of psychiatric illnesses in neurology wards to up to 64%.

Aim This service evaluation is to analyse the interface and referral patterns to liaison psychiatry (RAID) in neurology inpatients compared to general medicine inpatients.

Methods Our retrospective data collection and analysis studied 100 neurology inpatients and 100 general medicine inpatients randomly selected within 1 year.

Results The RAID referral rate from neurology inpatients was three-fold to that of general medicine inpatients. In this group, the neurological inpatients had twice the length of hospital stay, higher re-referral rates and required highly specialised psychiatry input.

Clinical Implications This highlights the growing overlap between psychiatry and neurology as well as its vulnerable sustainability as separate entities. We discuss the possibility of altering the formal training curriculum to accommodate the cross-overs between specialties and introduce better screening processes for psychiatric illnesses within neurology wards, hence providing a more cost-effective and holistic service.