Hostname: page-component-7dd5485656-zlgnt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-10-31T19:26:26.561Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

‘Dissolution of the Mental Hospital’: Fifteen Years On

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

Donal F. Early  and
Michael Nicholas
Donal F. Early
Affiliation:
Glenside Hospital, Stapleton, Bristol
Michael Nicholas
Affiliation:
Glenside Hospital, Stapleton, Bristol
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

The pattern of decline of a mental hospital population over fifteen years is described. Continuing problems are commented on, particularly the presence of ‘old’ long-stay patients and the accumulation of ‘new chronic patients'. The number of beds required for each of these categories is estimated.

The dissolution of the mental hospital service by degradation is deplored, and a suggestion is made that some of the good points of the old service might be salvaged before it is too late.

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 130 , Issue 2 , February 1977 , pp. 117 - 122
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.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Bewley, T. et al (1975) Census of mental hospital patients and life expectancy of those unlikely to be discharged. British Medical Journal, ii, 671.Google Scholar
Birley, J. L. (1973) Policy for Action. A Symposium on the Planning of a Comprehensive District Psychiatric Service. Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Cooper, A. B. & Early, D. F. (1961) Evolution in the mental hospital. British Medical Journal, i, 1600.Google Scholar
Early, D. F. & Magnus, R. V. (1966) Population trends in a mental hospital. British Journal of Psychiatry, 112, 595.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Early, D. F. & Nicholas, M. (1971) The developing scene: ten-year review of a psychiatric hospital population. British Medical Journal, ii, 793.Google Scholar
Early, D. F. (1975) Schizophrenia and the community. In Studies of Schizophrenia (ed. Lader, M.). British Journal of Psychiatry Special Publication No. 10.Google Scholar
Fottrell, E. et al (1975) Identification and definition of long-stay mental hospital population. British Medical Journal, ii, 675.Google Scholar
Hewitt, S. & Ryan, P. (1975) Alternatives to living in a psychiatric hospital—a pilot study. British Journal of Hospital Medicine, 2, 65.Google Scholar
Hospital Services for the Mentally Ill. DHSS Memorandum. H.M. (71) 97.Google Scholar
Life Tables. Institute of Actuaries and the Faculty of Actuaries.Google Scholar
Magnus, R. V. (1967) The new chronics. British Journal of Psychiatry, 113, 555.Google Scholar
Mann, S. & Cree, W. (1975) The ‘new long-stay’ in mental hospitals. British Journal of Hospital Medicine, 2, 56.Google Scholar
Measey, L. G. & Smith, H. (1973) Patterns of new chronicity in a mental hospital. British Journal of Psychiatry, 2, 349.Google Scholar
Owen, David (1975) In The Guardian, p 4, 8th December, 1975.Google Scholar
Wing, J. K. (1973) Policy for Action. Symposium on the Planning of a Comprehensive District Psychiatric Service. Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Wing, J. K. (1974) Providing a Comprehensive District Psychiatric Service for the Adult Mentally Ill. HMSO.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.