More time
Your initial appointment provides a dedicated hour to begin understanding your history and current needs.
New Patient Intake Programme
A more personal way
to begin mental health care in Malta.
A structured, tailor-made mental health pathway where you are assessed, supported and followed throughout the early stages of your care.
We want to understand you
Beginning mental health care should be more than simply booking an appointment, seeing a doctor and leaving with a prescription.
What brought you to us? What have you been experiencing? How long have you been struggling? What has changed? What are you worried about? What support have you already received? And, most importantly, what do you need from us now?
Our New Patient Intake Programme has been specifically developed to provide patients with a more personal, attentive and coordinated introduction to mental healthcare. From your first detailed appointment, through to psychiatric assessment and the follow-up afterwards, you are supported and followed by our team throughout the pathway. You are not just attending appointments — you are entering a pathway of care.
What is the New Patient Intake Programme?
The New Patient Intake Programme is a structured pathway for individuals beginning their care with Prijorità. Rather than moving immediately into a short psychiatric appointment, we first dedicate time to understanding the person behind the symptoms.
The programme includes:
- A 1-hour comprehensive intake appointment
- Consultation with a mental health nurse or psychologist
- Detailed medical and mental health history gathering
- Discussion of your current concerns and circumstances
- Mental health triage
- Assessment of your current support needs
- A subsequent appointment with the psychiatrist
- Ongoing care coordination
- A follow-up call from your mental health professional
- Discussion of how you have been feeling following your appointments
- Guidance regarding appropriate next steps
Why our intake is different
Mental health is deeply personal. Two people can arrive at Prijorità describing similar symptoms while having completely different histories, circumstances, experiences and needs. That is why we do not want your first experience of mental healthcare with us to feel rushed.
Our intake pathway provides something increasingly important in healthcare: time to listen.
Time to understand your history. Time to understand what you are experiencing now. Time to identify what matters to you. And continued contact so that you do not feel that you have been left alone to navigate what happens next. We place particular importance on continuity, communication and follow-up.
Your new patient journey
1Step one
Your 1-hour comprehensive intake
Your journey begins with a dedicated one-hour appointment with a member of our mental health team — a mental health nurse or a psychologist, depending on your needs and the pathway identified for you. This is a detailed conversation designed to give you enough time to explain what has been happening without feeling that everything needs to be condensed into a few minutes.
We start by listening
You may know exactly why you are seeking help, or you may simply know that you have not been feeling like yourself. Both are completely valid starting points. The discussion may include:
- What has brought you to Prijorità
- Your current concerns
- How you have been feeling
- Changes in your mood
- Anxiety or excessive worry
- Sleep
- Stress
- Emotional wellbeing
- Changes in behaviour
- Difficulties with everyday functioning
- Relationships and family circumstances
- Work, studies or other pressures
- Previous mental health difficulties
- Previous diagnoses
- Previous psychological or psychiatric support
- Current concerns and priorities
Detailed medical & mental health history
Mental and physical health can be closely connected, so the intake also gathers an appropriate history. Having this available helps the psychiatrist understand your background before determining the treatment pathway. This may include:
- Relevant medical history
- Mental health history
- Previous psychiatric care
- Previous psychological therapy
- Previous diagnoses
- Current medication
- Previous psychiatric medication
- Relevant investigations
- Family history where appropriate
- Previous hospital or specialist care
- Other information relevant to your current presentation
Mental health triage
Your intake is not simply information gathering. The professional will also consider your current presentation and support needs, helping determine the appropriate next stage of your care and whether any concerns require different or more timely clinical attention. Where something is identified that requires further assessment, this can be communicated to the appropriate member of the clinical team.
No medication is prescribed during your intake
Your first session is dedicated to assessment, history gathering, understanding your current needs and clinical triage. Medication decisions require appropriate medical or psychiatric assessment and are made by an appropriately qualified prescribing clinician. This allows the first appointment to remain focused on understanding your situation properly rather than rushing directly towards medication.
2Step two
Your psychiatric appointment
Following your initial intake, the next stage is your appointment with the psychiatrist. This would normally take place approximately 4–6 weeks after your initial intake, subject to clinical priority and appointment availability. By this stage, important background information has already been gathered, so the psychiatric consultation can build upon the work already completed with your mental health professional.
Depending on your circumstances, this may involve:
- Psychiatric assessment
- Discussion of symptoms and concerns
- Diagnostic considerations where appropriate
- Treatment planning
- Medication where clinically indicated
- Psychological support
- Further investigations
- Additional assessment
- Lifestyle or wellbeing recommendations
- Ongoing psychiatric review
- Referral to another appropriate service
What if you need support before 4–6 weeks?
The 4–6 week timeframe is the expected pathway for routine psychiatric follow-up. However, one of the important reasons we carry out a detailed initial assessment is to help identify patients whose needs may require a different level or timing of clinical attention.
If concerns arise during the intake, the clinical team can consider the appropriate next step according to the patient's presentation and clinical priority. The programme should not be understood as simply "wait 4–6 weeks and see what happens" — you have already entered our care pathway, and your needs have begun to be assessed.
3Step three
We follow up with you
Our care does not finish when you leave the psychiatrist's room. This is one of the most important elements of the programme. Following your appointment, the mental health nurse or psychologist involved in your pathway will follow up with you. We want to know how you are:
- How have you been feeling?
- How have things been since your appointment?
- Do you understand your treatment or next steps?
- Has anything changed?
- Is there something you are concerned about?
- Do you feel that you need further support?
This follow-up allows us to listen to your experience and understand how you are progressing.
Care that does not feel transactional
Mental healthcare should not feel like a series of disconnected transactions — appointment, payment, consultation, goodbye.
You meet a professional who begins to understand your story. That information supports the next stage of your care. You then meet the psychiatrist. And afterwards, we reconnect with you to understand how you are doing. This creates a more connected journey where patients can feel that there is a team around them rather than having to repeatedly start again.
A tailor-made mental health journey
There is no single mental health pathway that is appropriate for everyone. Following assessment, your care may involve different combinations of support, so your pathway is developed according to what you need rather than expecting every patient to follow exactly the same treatment journey.
Depending on your individual needs, this could include:
- Psychiatry
- Psychology
- Mental health nursing
- KONTINWITÀ mental health support
- Medication management
- ADHD or neurodevelopmental assessment
- Medical assessment
- Investigations
- Ongoing review
- Another appropriate specialist or service
Attention at every stage
One of the principles behind our New Patient Intake Programme is that patients should feel they have somewhere to turn. Beginning psychiatric care can involve uncertainty.
You may have questions after an appointment. You may need clarification. Your symptoms may change. You may not know whether something you are experiencing is important. You may simply need reassurance about what happens next.
Our multidisciplinary structure allows us to provide greater continuity and help patients navigate these different stages of care.
We listen. We assess. We follow up. We guide the next step.
The benefits of the programme
More understanding
Relevant mental health, medical and personal information is gathered before progressing through the pathway.
More continuity
Your care is connected across the different stages rather than consisting of completely isolated appointments.
More follow-up
We actively reconnect with you to understand how you have been feeling and how your care is progressing.
More personalisation
Your next steps are based on your individual needs rather than a standard pathway for everyone.
More support
Our multidisciplinary team means that where additional psychological, psychiatric, nursing or medical support is appropriate, this can be considered as part of your wider care.
A note about our pricing
At Prijorità, people and their wellbeing always come first.
We choose to openly display our services and prices because we believe that every person seeking care deserves clarity, transparency and peace of mind. We want our clients and their families to understand the services available to them and to be aware of the associated costs before making any decisions about their care.
Displaying our prices is not about putting a monetary value on care. It is about being open and respectful towards the people who place their trust in us.
We understand that seeking support — particularly for mental health, wellbeing or ongoing medical needs — can sometimes feel overwhelming. The last thing we want is for anyone to feel uncertain or surprised by costs along the way.
Our aim is to provide compassionate, ethical and transparent care, where every person feels listened to, respected and supported.
At Prijorità, care comes first. Transparency is simply part of how we care.
See our full price listFAQ
Questions about the intake programme
- How much does the New Patient Intake Programme cost?
- The complete New Patient Intake Programme is €200.
- How long is my first appointment?
- Your initial comprehensive intake appointment is approximately 1 hour.
- Who will I see first?
- Your first appointment will be with an appropriate member of our mental health team, such as a mental health nurse or psychologist.
- What happens during the first appointment?
- Your professional will take time to understand why you are seeking support, gather relevant medical and mental health history, explore your current wellbeing and carry out appropriate mental health triage.
- Will I receive medication during my first appointment?
- No. Medication is not prescribed during the initial intake appointment. Medication can only be considered following appropriate assessment by an appropriately qualified prescribing clinician.
- When will I see the psychiatrist?
- For the routine pathway, the psychiatric appointment would normally take place approximately 4 to 6 weeks after the initial intake, subject to clinical priority and availability.
- What if the professional thinks I need psychiatric support sooner?
- The purpose of triage is partly to identify current needs and concerns. If the initial assessment identifies concerns requiring different or more timely clinical input, the team will consider the appropriate next step according to clinical need.
- What happens after I see the psychiatrist?
- We follow up. A mental health professional involved in your pathway will contact you to ask how you have been, understand how you are feeling following your appointment and gather feedback regarding your progress and current needs.
- Will I be left to arrange everything myself?
- Our aim is the opposite. One of the key benefits of this programme is care coordination and continuity. Where further care is required, our team can help guide you towards the appropriate next step within Prijorità or another suitable service where necessary.
- Is this an emergency mental health service?
- No. The New Patient Intake Programme is a planned mental health assessment and care pathway. It is not a substitute for emergency or crisis intervention.
Begin your care with someone who listens
You are more than the symptoms that brought you through our door.
At Prijorità, we want to understand your story, your concerns, your needs and how you are feeling throughout your journey. Our New Patient Intake Programme gives you the time to be heard, a structured route into psychiatric care and continued professional follow-up afterwards.
New Patient Intake Programme
€200 — complete care pathway
1-hour detailed intake
Mental health nurse or psychologist
Medical & mental health history
Mental health triage
Psychiatric appointment
Professional follow-up
Personalised next steps
More than an appointment. A pathway of care built around you.
The New Patient Intake Programme is an assessment and care-coordination pathway. The exact timing, professionals involved and subsequent recommendations may vary according to individual clinical needs, clinical priority and availability.
The programme does not replace emergency or crisis services. If you or someone else is at immediate risk or experiencing a mental health or medical emergency, please contact the appropriate emergency services.