Alternatives to psychiatric in-patient care: A case-by-case survey of clinician judgements

Acute psychiatric beds in the UK are under pressure. More beds are often called for, yet conceivably many in-patients might benefit from alternative care-settings. We studied an admissions cohort of 730 cases in four hospitals over a 5-month period. Using a structured instrument, Consultant Psychiat...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of mental health (Abingdon, England) England), 2001, Vol.10 (5), p.535-546
Main Author: Bartlett, John Holloway, Mark Evans, John Owen, Glynn Harrison, Christopher
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Admissions
Alternatives
Biological and medical sciences
England
Inpatient care
Institution therapy. Inpatient treatment
Judgments
Medical sciences
Mental health care
Patient admissions
Patients
Psychiatric hospitals
Psychiatrists
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychopathology. Psychiatry
Treatments
Citations: Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Acute psychiatric beds in the UK are under pressure. More beds are often called for, yet conceivably many in-patients might benefit from alternative care-settings. We studied an admissions cohort of 730 cases in four hospitals over a 5-month period. Using a structured instrument, Consultant Psychiatrists recorded an opinion, on a case-by-case basis, stating whether admission was divertible or whether discharge was delayed, recommending alternative placements where applicable. One hundred and seventy-nine of 543 cases with stays completed in the study period were deemed inappropriately placed at some point (33.0%, 95% CI 29.0 to 36.9), with 112 (21%) being divertible admissions. When surveyed systematically, clinicians reported that many in-patients could benefit from alternative caresettings, the majority being community-based services, although more specialised hospital beds were also needed. Divertible admissions are judged to impose more pressure on acute beds than delayed discharges, although a small number of difficult-to-place patients with protracted stays can occupy many bed-days.
ISSN:0963-8237
1360-0567
DOI:10.1080/09638230126726