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Who's in the lions' den?

The community's perception of community care for the mentally ill

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Geoffrey Wolff ,
Soumitra Pathare ,
Tom Craig  and
Julian Left
Geoffrey Wolff*
Affiliation:
MRC Centre in Social Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry, Institute of Psychiatry
Soumitra Pathare
Affiliation:
Academic Department of Psychiatry, St Thomas's Hospital UMDS
Tom Craig
Affiliation:
Academic Department of Psychiatry, St Thomas's Hospital UMDS
Julian Left
Affiliation:
MRC Centre in Social Genetic and Devlopmental Psychiatry, Institute of Psychiatry
*
Dr Geoffrey Wolff, Clinical Scientist, MRC Centre in Social, Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry, Institute of Psychiatry, DeCrespigny Park, Denmark Hill, London SE5 8AF
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Most long-stay patients discharged from psychiatric hospitals under community care policy are being accommodated in suburban communities. The communities' attitudes have a major bearing on the success of this policy. A census of perceptions of psychiatric services was conducted in two areas prior to the opening of long-stay supported houses for the mentally ill. Many respondents (37%) had a negative perception of psychiatric treatment in hospital. Most (82%) had heard of community care policy but few (29%) knew about the imminent opening of supported houses for the long-term mentally HI in their own street. Most respondents (66%) were against the closure of psychiatric hospitals and many saw It as a cost cutting exorcise. The majority agreed with the idea of long-stay patients being discharged into smaller units in the community although a substantial minority (20%) thought it would have a bad effect on the local community. An overwhelming majority of respondents (91%) thought it was important for local residents to be given information about new mental health facilities in their neighbourhood. Respondents were worried that patients would not get adequate support and that they might be dangerous. If community care policy is to succeed, attention needs to be paid to the community's opinions and desire for information about local services.

Type
Original Papers
Information
Psychiatric Bulletin , Volume 20 , Issue 2 , February 1996 , pp. 68 - 71
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1996

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