AN ANALYSIS OF A NEW LONGSTAY POPULATION - THE NEED FOR MENTAL-HOSPITALS

Objective: The Objective of this study was to analyse the characterist ics and disabilities of patients becoming new longstay in a Mental Hea lth District, to describe their needs and define the implications for service development. Method: All patients entering into the new longst ay category between January 1st 1981 and December 31st 1991 were analy sed. New longstay patients were defined as those remaining continuousl y in hospital for one year or longer. An accumulated inpatient group, still resident in the hospital, was examined using the Community Place ment Questionnaire (CPQ), a standardised questionnaire useful for esti mating needs for care and accommodation. Results: The analysis reveale d a globally disabled patient group, largely intractable to treatment, the majority of whom required care and supervision in the longterm. A n estimate of new longstay bed requirements, based on a stay of 1-5 ye ars, was 11.3 per 100,000 for those under 65. The assessment team cate gorised current inpatients into four groups with regard to placement r ecommendations. An analysis of the CPQ results supported these recomme ndations which were: Specialist Unit for chronically disturbed Geriatr ics, Geriatric Unit, High Support Staffed Hostel and Medium Support St affed Hostel. Conclusions: Despite current service practice and commun ity provision new longstay patients continue to accumulate. Given furt her specialist alternative community structures, it is suggested that these patient's requirements can be met without the need for continued longstay mental hospital beds.