Studied the adequacy of information in the psychiatric referral letters that were originated from primary health care centers (PHCCs) and general hospitals (GHs) and were sent to a regional mental health hospital facility in Saudi ArabiThe sample comprised of randomly selected 540 photocopied psychiatric referrals (402 from PHCCs, 138 from GHs) of patients referred for psychiatric consultation. Analysis of data shows that the noted age and gender of referred patients were not significantly associated with the 2 sources of referral. Although PHCCs' letters were quantitatively deficient in clinical information, the completeness of letters between the 2 referral sources did not differ significantly. GH referrals reveal statistically significant clinical findings and comorbid physical conditions. A proportion of diagnoses in overall GH referrals as compared to PHCC referrals significantly matched the final diagnoses made by referred psychiatrists. Overall, it seems that psychiatric referrals both from PHCCs and GHs need further improvement in quantity and quality of data notation, and general practitioners, including GH physicians, need a condensed course on clinical psychiatry in general, but psychiatric referral system in particular.