As part of an investigation concerned with investment by both hospitals and local authorities in mental health a number of analyses were made of various published statistics relating to costs and other operating characteristics. In the particular case of spending in mental subnormality hospitals what emerges is a pattern of such surprising variability that it was felt worthwhile presenting the information. It would appear that this particular crude analysis has not been pursued previously despite the existence of the great mass of cost statistics collected, processed, published and circulated within the Health Service. As the Service spent £39·1m. on these hospitals during the fiscal year 1968–69 one might have expected this comparative cost information to have been used in any planning process, particularly when, as will be seen, the magnitude of the variability is so considerable.

It is known that peptic ulcer patients have an increased incidence of blood group O, (1) and that peptic ulcer patients have above average scores for Neuroticism on the Maudsley Personality Inventory (3). In view of this it seemed worthwhile to see if there is any relationship between blood group O and Neuroticism (2).

Thirty alcoholic patients were investigated for evidence of impaired hepatic function and deficits in cognitive functioning, to see if there was any significant relationship between these two complications of alcoholism. Forty-seven per cent had abnormal γ-glutamyl transpeptidase levels, and 63 per cent had abnormal results on the Category test. Only one significant correlation coefficient was found, between one parameter of hepatic function and one of cognitive function. Possible explanations for this (negative) correlation are discussed, and the value of further study is suggested.

The year 1963 was a time of innovation and excitement in British psychiatry, thanks largely to the National Health Service (NHS), which in 1948 had taken the mental hospitals from the control of the local authorities and made them part of a national service, which meant more money and far more medical staff. Rehabilitation of chronically ill patients resulted in a proliferation of out-patient clinics, home assessments, day hospitals, and even halfway houses; doors were unlocked, and informality became the order of the day. Hospitals with enough nurses demonstrated that the whole adult psychiatric service of an area could be successfully provided without a single locked door and almost without a compulsory order in a year. Medical superintendents disappeared and therapeutic communities developed. Suicide ceased to be a crime and became a new subject of research. And, of course, it was the era of successful chemotherapy, chlorpromazine in 1954 and imipramine in 1957 being the first of many drugs used.