scholarly journals Discrepancies and inaccuracies in statistics for detained patients

1995 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 28-32 ◽  
Author(s):  
Teresa Nemitz ◽  
Philip Bean

While conducting a study on the nature and extent of compulsory admissions to mental hospitals within the four London regional health authorities, discrepancies and inaccuracies were revealed in many of those mental hospital in-patient statistics. The nature and extent of some of these are examined. It is suggested that the value of such statistics for government planning must be questioned as is their value for research. It is recommended that a centralised system of collecting and collating such data be introduced as a matter of priority and that such a system be operated by the Mental Health Act Commission.

1996 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 143-145 ◽  
Author(s):  
Phillip J. Vaughan

A postal survey was conducted within four regional Health Authorities to ascertain how widely the supervision register had been applied in its first year of operation in adult mental health. A 72% response rate was achieved. The results showed that the register has been absorbed organisationally but is less accepted professionally. One hundred and nineteen of the 367 consultants in the sample (32%) had no entries on the register at 31st March 1995. The provision of training on its use had a significant effect on compliance, although London-based services had marginally less registrations per consultant than their colleagues elsewhere. Very few outside agencies had required access to the register.


1995 ◽  
Vol 35 (3) ◽  
pp. 225-230
Author(s):  
Benjamin Andoh

Statutory authority for retaking absconders from mental hospitals has existed ever since county asylums (the forerunners of mental hospitals) were first built in the nineteenth century. Today under the Mental Health Act, 1983 that ‘right’ can be exercised by the police, mental hospital staff, approved social workers, etc. This article looks at jurisprudential aspects of that ‘right’. It points out that ‘right’ actually means ‘power’ (not ‘privilege’, ‘claim’ or ‘immunity’). In addition it argues that the Mental Health Act, 1983 does only confer a power (rather than impose a duty) to retake absconders from mental hospitals and that there should not be statutory or other imposition of such a duty.


1989 ◽  
Vol 13 (7) ◽  
pp. 355-357
Author(s):  
P. Kupituksa ◽  
J. F. Macmillan ◽  
K. L. Soothill

There are national differences relating to compulsory admission to mental hospitals. As a visitor from Thailand, it was of interest to me (PK) to compare procedures relating to admission, treatment and aftercare of the mentally ill in England and Thailand. In Thailand there is no equivalent of the Mental Health Act 1983. Although there are some legal provisions affecting patients' rights in Thai law, there are no legal provisions concerning ‘detained’ patients in mental hospitals.


1996 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 177-177 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Storer

The major problem of manpower planning in psychiatry has until fairly recently been one of securing enough posts in the training grades to place doctors wishing to train in psychiatry and to ensure an adequate supply of applicants for consultant posts. Numerous consultant vacancies and a ‘bottleneck’ between registrar and senior registrar grades was the frustrating combination largely consequent upon the failure of some regional health authorities to fund the posts which Joint Planning Advisory Committee (JPAC) had approved.


1962 ◽  
Vol 108 (452) ◽  
pp. 59-67 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Barr ◽  
D. Golding ◽  
R. W. Parnell

The statistics on mental hospitals published by the Ministry of Health (1957) show that the average length of stay for admissions to mental hospitals decreased in the period 1952–1956. According to the Registrar-General's Mental Health Supplement (1961) there was an average saving, between 1951 and 1958, of sixteen days for men and thirteen days for women, among patients staying less than one year. But these figures for stay only relate to the patients discharged each year, irrespective of the year of their admission, and furthermore we do not know what happens to particular groups such, for example, as schizophrenics. Although remarkable changes are occurring at the present time, study of them is hampered by lack of appropriate and up-to-date information.


2016 ◽  
Vol 30 (6) ◽  
pp. 891-907 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Garpenby ◽  
Karin Bäckman

Purpose From the late 1980s and onwards health care in Sweden has come under increasing financial pressure, forcing policy makers to consider restrictions. The purpose of this paper is to review experiences and to establish lessons of formal priority setting in four Swedish regional health authorities during the period 2003-2012. Design/methodology/approach This paper draws on a variety of sources, and evidence is organised according to three broad aspects: design and implementation of models and processes, application of evidence and decision analysis tools and decision making and implementation of decisions. Findings The processes accounted for here have resulted in useful experiences concerning technical arrangements as well as political and public strategies. All four sites used a particular model for priority setting that combined top-down- and bottom-up-driven elements. Although the process was authorised from the top it was clearly bottom-up driven and the template followed a professional rationale. New meeting grounds were introduced between politicians and clinical leaders. Overall a limited group of stakeholders were involved. By defusing political conflicts the likelihood that clinical leaders would regard this undertaking as important increased. Originality/value One tendency today is to unburden regional authorities of the hard decisions by introducing arrangements at national level. This study suggests that regional health authorities, in spite of being politically governed organisations, have the potential to execute a formal priority-setting process. Still, to make priority-setting processes more robust to internal as well as external threat remains a challenge.


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