Section 47: Bradford 1925--United Kingdom 1988.
Surveys of the use of the powers of compulsory removal of elderly people who are not mentally ill--Section 47 of the 1948 National Assistance Act--have been conducted covering two four-year periods from 1974 to 1986. These data, which are not collected centrally, show a wide range in the frequency with which these powers are used, and it is argued that the main reason for this is that the criteria employed to decide whether or not to invoke the powers vary widely from community physician to community physician. It is argued that a review of this legislation is now essential.
District Department of Community Medicine and Public Health, Radcliffe Infirmary, Oxford.
J A
JA
Gray
D000368:Aged; D002961:Civil Rights / Q000266:history / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D005260:Female; D049673:History, 20th Century; D006760:Hospitalization / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D006801:Humans; D010820:Physicians; D012926:Social Control, Formal; D006113:United Kingdom