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Community Care of the Acutely Mentally Ill

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

John Hoult
John Hoult*
Affiliation:
Mental Health, Department of Health NSW, Northern Metropolitan Region, Cox's Road, North Ryde, NSW 2113, Australia
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Extract

Deinstitutionalisation is a two-part process: the first involves discharging patients from hospital to the community, which has been done in many countries. The second part—the provision of adequate resources for good community care—has still to materialise almost everywhere. In New South Wales, the inpatient mental hospital population dropped by two-thirds in 20 years, yet the total number of hospital staff increased considerably during this time; on the other hand, in the community, where most of the patients are, there are relatively few staff. This has important consequences: it means that for many patients, their episode of illness has to progress unchecked until it is of sufficient severity for them to be admitted to hospital. When that happens, there will then be enough staff to give them good quality care, so that their symptoms can subside, but afterwards there will again be hardly anyone available to help maintain them and to prevent relapse.

Type
Lecture
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 149 , Issue 2 , August 1986 , pp. 137 - 144
Copyright
Copyright © 1986 The Royal College of Psychiatrists 

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