Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-v9fdk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-19T13:03:30.283Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Discharge of Mentally Handicapped Patients to Residential Care

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

Douglas A. Spencer
Douglas A. Spencer*
Affiliation:
Meanwood Park Hospital, Tongue Lane, Leeds LS6 4QB
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

The present policy of reducing the number of patients in hospitals for the mentally handicapped involves the discharge of many patients to residential care outside hospital. This paper considers 89 patients discharged from a hospital in the five years 1971–75. 64 (70%) went to facilities controlled by the Social Services Department, ten to other residential homes, eleven to lodgings and four to other institutions. Thirty five (40%) were subnormal (WAIS Full Scale IQ 55–69); the remainder, an unexpectedly high proportion, severely subnormal (WAIS Full Scale IQ, under 55). The majority of the patients discharged were the normal-looking mentally handicapped, few of whom had a specific cause for their condition. The suitability of patients for discharge in relation to the services available was more relevant than their ages or their years in hospital.

Type
Research Article
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 130 , Issue 2 , February 1977 , pp. 127 - 130
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists 1977 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Improving the Effectiveness of the Hospital Service for the Mentally Subnormal. Enclosure to H.M. (65) 104. 1965.Google Scholar
A Glossary of Mental Disorders, General Register Office, London: Studies on Medical and Population Subjects No. 22. 1968.Google Scholar
Better Services for the Mentally Handicapped. Cmnd. 4683. June 1971. HMSO.Google Scholar
Primrose, D. A. (1971) A survey of 502 consecutive admissions to a subnormality hospital from 1st January 1968 to 31st December 1970. British Journal of Mental Subnormality, 18, 25–8.Google Scholar
Primrose, D. A. (1974) The changing pattern of admissions to a mental deficiency hospital. Health Bulletin, 33(5), 1–3 Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.