Planning for community care. Long-stay populations of hospitals scheduled for rundown or closure.
Using the Community Placement Questionnaire, the long-stay populations of five hospitals were surveyed. The results suggest that there is little need for large hospitals if adequate community provision is made. However, a small number of patients continue to accumulate for whom community placement is hard to envisage. Investigating the characteristics of the 'new long-stay' patients suggests that the usual definition should be extended to include those over 65 years old with no diagnosis of dementia and those in hospital for 1-10 years. About 20% of 'new long-stay' patients have organic diagnoses and the needs of this group require assessment.
Clifford
P
P
Research and Development for Psychiatry, London.
Charman
A
A
Webb
Y
Y
Best
S
S
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D003156:Community Mental Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D003688:Deinstitutionalization; D005260:Female; D006271:Health Facility Closure; D006285:Health Planning; D006778:Hospitals, Psychiatric / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D007902:Length of Stay; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000145:classification / Q000628:therapy*; D008875:Middle Aged; D010347:Patient Care Planning; D012017:Referral and Consultation