The procedure of involuntary hospitalization has been an ongoing subject of study. Its implementation requires the systematic co-ordination between the Justice and Health Care systems around the globe. In the case of Greece, the procedure under discussion is regulated by Law 2071/1992, which designates the Police as the agent that links the aforementioned systems together. The present study aims to shed light upon the procedure of involuntary hospitalizations, regarding the preparatory stage and the Police involvement up to the individuals' admission to the on-call hospital for a mental health assessment (MHA). The entry data of two police stations in Athens was recorded by the respective Duty Officer responsible for each case. The police records were retrospectively inspected and information on socio-demographic, clinical and parametric characteristics was extracted. The data collection took place between March and July 2020 and included 324 cases, 80.3% of which referred to involuntary hospitalizations; 17.6% of sample cases did not meet the criteria of the procedure, as opposed to 1.9% of the cases in which the patients eventually ended up being voluntarily admitted and afterwards hospitalized for treatment. There was a statistically comparison of socio-demographic, clinical and parametric variables in relation to the status of hospitalization groups (involuntary, voluntary and no hospitalization). Additionally, statistical comparisons were made between parametric and clinical variables in relation to the type of prosecution order (written: standard route, oral: emergency route). Acute mental health deterioration accounted for around 45% of the total data and it has been identified as the main factor for informing the Hearings Prosecutor office mainly by the patient's family and subsequently proceeding to the issuance of an order (in either written or oral form) to the Police. This enables the Police to escort the individuals and lead them to a psychiatric unit for mental health assessment (MHA) and based on this, for involuntary hospitalization if deemed necessary. In 87.9% of the cases, the individual was transported by police vehicles over a time span ranging from the very same day to 22 days. In total, the written prosecution orders (63.6%) outnumbered the oral ones (36.7%). The findings of the present study demonstrate that the Prosecution order type varies significantly depending on the causes that instigated the involuntary hospitalization procedure. The psychiatric decision whether there should be hospitalization or outpatient therapy also significantly varies depending on the diagnosis. Lastly, the results point out that the need for improvement and further clarification of the aforementioned Greek Law is absolutely essential.

非自愿住院程序一直是一个持续的研究课题。它的实施需要全球司法和医疗保健系统之间的系统协调。就希腊而言，正在讨论的程序受第 2071/1992 号法律的管制，该法律指定警察作为将上述系统联系在一起的代理人。本研究旨在阐明非自愿住院的程序，包括准备阶段和警方介入直至个人进入待命医院进行心理健康评估 (MHA)。雅典两个警察局的录入数据由负责每个案件的相应值班人员记录。对警察记录进行了追溯检查，并提供了有关社会人口、提取临床和参数特征。数据收集发生在 2020 年 3 月至 7 月之间，包括 324 例，其中 80.3% 涉及非自愿住院；17.6% 的样本病例不符合该程序的标准，而最终自愿入院并随后住院治疗的病例为 1.9%。对与住院组（非自愿、自愿和未住院）状态相关的社会人口学、临床和参数变量进行了统计比较。此外，在与起诉令类型相关的参数和临床变量之间进行了统计比较（书面：标准途径，口头：紧急途径）。急性精神健康恶化约占总数据的 45%，已被确定为主要由患者家属通知听证会检察官办公室并随后继续下达命令（书面或口头形式）的主要因素给警察。这使警方能够护送这些人并将他们带到精神病院进行心理健康评估（MHA），并在此基础上在认为必要时进行非自愿住院治疗。在 87.9% 的案件中，该人被警车运送的时间跨度从同一天到 22 天不等。总的来说，书面起诉令（63.6%）多于口头起诉令（36.7%）。本研究的结果表明，起诉令类型因引发非自愿住院程序的原因而异。是否应该住院治疗或门诊治疗的精神病学决定也因诊断而异。最后，结果指出，对上述希腊法律进行改进和进一步澄清是绝对必要的。