Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gxg78 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-31T14:32:17.662Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Physical Health of the Long-Term Mentally Ill in the Community

Is There Unmet Need?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Traolach S. Brugha ,
John K. Wing  and
Brian L. Smith
Traolach S. Brugha*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, University of Leicester
John K. Wing
Affiliation:
MRC Social Psychiatry Unit
Brian L. Smith
Affiliation:
The Bethlem and Maudsley Hospital, Beckenham
*
∗Clinical Sciences Building, Leicester Royal Infirmary, PO Box 65, Leicester LE2 7LX
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

A clinical assessment was made of 145 long-term users of hospital and social-services day psychiatric facilities, and 84 consented to laboratory pathological screening. We recorded data on relevant medical care where that was being provided. Based on clinical assessment, 59 patients (41%) were judged to have medical problems potentially requiring care. Based on pathological screening 39 (44% of those assessed) had unmet needs, and this rating was associated with poor compliance with attendance and treatment plans. Altogether, 12 patients had important unmet needs, mainly for detailed medical investigation, although none required immediate hospital admission. Long-term patients should be medically reassessed and supervised at appropriate intervals.

Type
Papers
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 155 , Issue 6 , December 1989 , pp. 777 - 781
Copyright
Copyright © The Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1989 

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

Andrews, G., Schonell, M. & Tennant, C. (1977) The relation between physical, psychological, and social morbidity in a suburban community. American Journal of Epidemiology, 105, 324–329.Google Scholar
Brewin, C. R., Wing, J. K., Mangen, S. P., et al (1987) Principles and practice of measuring needs in the long-term mentally ill. Psychological Medicine, 17, 971–981.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Brewin, C. R., Wing, J. K., Mangen, S. P., et al (1988) Needs for care among the long-term mentally ill: a report from the Camberwell High Contact Survey. Psychological Medicine, 18, 457–468.Google Scholar
Brugha, T. S., Wing, J. K., Brewin, C. R., et al (1988) The problems of people in long-term psychiatric day care: an introduction to the Camberwell High Contact Survey. Psychological Medicine, 18, 443–456.Google Scholar
Department of Health and Social Security (1975) Better Services for the Mentally Ill, Cmnd 6233. London: HMSO.Google Scholar
Farmer, S. (1988) Medical problems of chronic patients in a community support program. Hospital and Community Psychiatry, 38, 745–749.Google Scholar
Gidlow, D. A., Church, J. F. & Clayton, B. E. (1983) Haematological and biochemical parameters in an industrial workforce. Annals of Clinical Biochemistry, 20, 341–348.Google Scholar
Glass, J., Garrett, J. T., Barnhart, F. D., et al (1985) Chest X-ray and laboratory findings in a private psychiatric hospital population. American Journal of Psychiatry, 142, 664–665.Google Scholar
Lancet (1979) Psychiatrists with blinkers (Editorial). Lancet, ii, 81.Google Scholar
Office of Population Census and Surveys (1981) Census. Small Area Statistics. London: OPCS.Google Scholar
Royal College of Physicians (1983) Obesity: a report of the Royal College of Physicians. Journal of the Royal College of Physicians, 17, 3–58.Google Scholar
Sturt, E., Wykes, T. & Creer, C. (1982) A survey of long-term users of community psychiatric services in Camberwell. Demographic, social and clinical characteristics of the sample. Psychological Medicine (ed. Wing, J. K.), Monograph Supplement 2. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.